Break out the good buns for these sustainable and delicious choices.

If you put a premium on great taste and sustainability, these are the best hot dogs and hamburgers you can buy to grill this season, and perfect to anchor your Labor Day menu.

Hamburgers and hot dogs are still the undisputed champions of summertime grill season, no matter how enthusiastic the grill master in your life is for experimenting with other meats and veggies. Crowd-pleasing, kid-friendly, and cost-effective, these go-to grilling staples and their attendant side dishes make for easy and festive summer dining any night of the week.

If you are relying solely on conventional grocery store meats and packaged brands, however, your summer grill favorites can easily fall under the “too much of a good thing” heading. Like, do you really want to deconstruct what all is in your hot dog? Fortunately, even crowd pleasers like burgers and dogs can receive the artisanal or upgraded treatment. Many farms and brands with national availability are producing options using higher quality meats and cuts, blended approaches, and/or organic and sustainable practices. Here are nine of our favorite options for giving you reason to feel good about your grill favorites this season.

Teton Waters Ranch 100% Grass Fed Beef Burgers and Hot Dogs from Instacart (price varies by location)

Beginning with one operation in Idaho, Teton Waters Ranch now sources from numerous cattle ranches that operate with the same principles in mind: 100 percent grass-fed animals with certified humane treatment. Uncured hot dogs and sausages come in numerous flavors, and beef burgers also include a blend of mushrooms or peppers for some hidden veg. All this goodness is coupled with convenience: Burgers can go right from the freezer to the grill without defrosting.

Porter Road Dry Aged Beef, $9+ from Porter Road

Dry aging is a process that concentrates flavor and tenderness in meat, especially beef. Though it is typically thought of as a thing for expensive steakhouses, extreme flavor can be achieved this way for even humble hot dogs and burgers (pre-formed patties or loose ground beef). What’s more, Porter Road sources meat from the whole animal, and has a “if it’s not raised right, it can’t be delicious” mantra to guide their farming practices.

Grass Roots Farmers’ Cooperative Ground Beef, $9.75/lb from Grass Roots Coop

“Real meat, raised right,” is the principle behind this farmer-owned cooperative, which sources its meat from small batch USA farms that emphasize quality over quantity. A commitment to craft-processing and transparency ensures that you know exactly what you’re getting in your ground beef.

Pat LaFrieda Shake Shack Kit, $59 from Baldor Specialty Foods

There was a time when Pat LaFrieda meats and Baldor specialty food products were only available wholesale to restaurants. But in the age of COVID-19, those connections have now been opened up for the home consumer. Pat LaFrieda has been in the butcher business for several generations, creating custom burger blends from specific cuts of meat. Baldor’s Shake Shack kit combines Pat LaFrieda beef with not only the requisite cheese, lettuce, and tomato components, but also Martin’s Potato Buns, signature Shack Sauce, plus paper sleeves to put the burgers in, for an experience that is both high quality and fun. It’s also available on Goldbelly without the veggies or paper sleeves.

Seemore Sausages Variety Pack, $79.99 from Goldbelly

We’ll let this one fly under the “hot dogs” heading, because these sausages are both grill-friendly and bun-worthy. Made in a “less meat, not meatless” approach, this woman-owned, carbon-neutral Brooklyn business combines ethically sourced chicken and pork with vegetables to serve up fun flavors including Loaded Baked Potato and Broccoli Melt.

Snake River Wagyu Burgers and Dogs, $12+ from Snake River Farms

 If you’re still in the “What is Wagyu?’ camp, here’s a quick breakdown: Wagyu is a Japanese breed of cattle that produces meat of exceptional flavor because of its muscle-to-fat ratio. (How it is typically treated and fed also plays into this.) Unlike Kobe, which is a distinction tied to a place in Japan, Wagyu can be raised outside of Japan, as is the case with Snake River Farms Wagyu burgers and hot dogs, giving them every right to call hot dogs “gourmet.” 

Trader Joe’s Grass Fed Angus Beef Burgers, $6.99 from Trader Joe’s

As convenience grocery stores go, it’s no surprise that Trader Joe’s provides a go-to option that is both of a high quality and reasonably priced. As we’ve learned, cows are meant to eat grass, and Angus is a Scottish breed popular for beef because of its exceptional marbling, tenderness, flavor, and texture.

Belcampo Organic Beef Hot Dogs, $9.99 from Belcampo

 Take all of the most desirable qualities that a farm operation can hope to achieve, and apply them all to these hot dogs: certified organic, all grass fed, certified humane, and climate positive farming. Plus, a lightly seasoned, uncured approach takes the sodium down a notch while we’re at it. Ground beef available from Belcampo also more than passes muster on the desirability scale.

Raised & Rooted Angus Beef and Isolated Pea Protein Patties from Target, etc. (price varies by location).

Another option that you may find along with fresh meats in your local supermarket, Raised & Rooted offers a blended approach. Angus beef is mixed with isolated pea protein for a burger that is still rich and meaty in flavor, hearty in texture, but that clocks in at less fat and packs extra protein.