The 16-time winner of Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest spoke to PEOPLE about his favorite foods and his partnership with Pepsi’s #BetterWithPepsi campaign
Pepsi
Joey Chestnut has teamed up with Pepsi for the #BetterWithPepsi campaign
Despite missing Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest for the first time in 20 years, Joey Chestnut isn’t tired of hot dogs. In fact, he eats them regularly outside of competitions.
“Oh my God, I still love them,” he tells PEOPLE in an interview about his partnership with Pepsi. “When I’m at a baseball game, I’ll have a hot dog and Pepsi with it, and that’s one of the things I love.”
Instead of competing at Coney Island, he participated in a July 4 fundraiser for military families at Fort Bliss Air Force Base in Texas, where he ate 57 hot dogs in five minutes. He set his record of 76 hot dogs in twice that time at Nathan’s, where contestants have ten minutes.
While Chestnut, 40, said the lemonade is a perfect complement, it’s not the only thing he likes to eat with a hot dog.
“My favorite toppings are mustard and raw onions,” Chestnut tells PEOPLE. “Oh, a good chili cheese dog… The right proportions of chili cheese really help.”
Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock
Joey Chestnut after winning the 2022 Nathan’s Contest
Chestnut, holder of over 50 competitive eating records, also has special standards when it comes to preparing a hot dog.
“I’m a little picky – if someone gives me a bad hot dog or it’s boiled, that’s tough,” he says.
The 16-time Nathan’s champion says the sausages should ideally be prepared on a flat-top grill.
“That way the juices flow and they cook really well so they get some bite,” Chestnut explains, adding that he likes all-beef sausages with natural casings when possible, but “there are only four brands that make them, so they’re a little hard (to find).”
Related: Nathan’s 4th of July Hot Dog Eating Contest: See the Faces of the Contest Through the Years
Although Chestnut and other competitive eaters are seen dunking hot dogs in jugs of water to make the buns more digestible, the Indiana native says a bun is an essential part of his perfect hot dog.
“The bun is constantly overlooked. Often you get a hot dog, unwrap it and the bun is split down the middle – you never want a split bun,” he says.
Chestnut has competed in dozens of foods during his 20-year career as a competitive eater, but says he still has a strong appetite for almost everything.
“Runners still love to run, even after a bad race they still want to get back out there and run. So I think about food the same way, even if I have a bad outing I still like to eat,” he says.
He even has trouble choosing his favorite dishes.
“I have a fiancée, she’s my favorite woman, but I could have a different favorite food every day of the week,” he jokes. “I really love tacos. Some days I’m really craving good seafood, king crab or shrimp. And my fiancée makes pasta with pesto, with fresh pesto. Oh my God.”
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Joey Chestnut at the National Chicken Wing Eating Contest
Related: Why is Joey Chestnut banned from Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest? All about the professional eater
He has a busy summer ahead of him. In addition to promoting the #BetterWithPepsi campaign (in which Pepsi is partnering with Instacart), Chestnut and rival Takeru Kobayashi will participate in a hot dog eating contest on September 2nd, which Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef, which airs live on Netflix.
“I’m excited and nervous and I feel like a kid,” Chestnut said of his feelings before the match. “We’re going to push each other to the limit and that’s competition… He pushes me and I’m so motivated in training.”
Although he appreciates his rival, that doesn’t mean they are friends.
“I respect him, but I don’t like him either. He’s my only rival that I have, it’s so weird… We both have friction. And he still blocked me on Twitter and Instagram,” Chestnut says, laughing. “It’s great.”
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