Review of IKEA’s Veggie Dog

IKEA’s plant-based hot dog made its debut in all IKEA locations in Canada yesterday, shortly after launching in the United States.

Although there was a sign in-store confirming the date, I was in disbelief that a vegan launch could come to Canada so soon after the United States launch. Still, I made my way over to a local IKEA around 4 p.m. and almost immediately saw this sign:

There was a relatively long line and when I asked the person working at the counter if the veggie dogs had been popular, she stated they had been selling them non-stop all day.

In an Instagram post, IKEA noted that while the hot dog itself is “made from a vegan recipe,” consumers should ask their local stores “if the bun is vegan as well.”

When I did my vegan-duty of asking if the buns were vegan, I was immediately provided with the ingredients list for the bun, the hot dog itself as well as the toppings and condiments:

With the ingredients confirmed, I ordered two hot dogs, 75 cents each. They were ready in less than a minute:

I was happy I ordered two! I tried to isolate the veggie dog itself to see what it tasted like, and I was very pleasantly surprised at how flavorful it was. It was definitely not trying to mimic a meat-based hot dog, and that was kind of refreshing. It was very well seasoned and had more of an Italian-style sausage flavor to it, minus the meaty taste.

I also really enjoyed it after trying it with all the fixings—the fried onions were a great touch and the pickled cabbage added a nice depth of flavor, although both were missing that crunch factor.

I kept the first one simple with just the Swedish mustard provided (which should just be advertised as sweet as there is no spiciness to be found), and on the second added ketchup and more mustard. Surprising myself, I preferred the first option, which definitely reinforced the idea of ‘less is more’.

I don’t find myself at IKEA too often, but I would happily reorder these tasty veggie dogs when I am near one due to the good flavor, incredible price and convenience!

Lena Tashjian

Lena Tashjian manages content and social media for Clearly Veg. She focuses on vegan news, companies, guides, interviews, product reviews and more. You can contact her at [email protected]