The scores
Sundays: A (90/100) — Top-tier dehydrated. Four beef proteins in top positions, zero synthetic additives, 12 whole-food fruits and vegetables in the tail.
The Honest Kitchen: B (78/100) — Upper-B dehydrated. Dehydrated chicken leads, whole grain carb base, human-grade production facility (AAFCO-defined).
12 points is one of the larger rubric gaps inside a single format class. Both are legitimate dehydrated products; this matchup shows how meaningfully ingredient stacking matters even within the same category.
How the ingredients compare
Sundays (Beef): Beef, Beef Heart, Beef Liver, Beef Bone, Quinoa, Pumpkin, Fish Oil, Sunflower Oil, Zucchini, Kale, Flaxseed, Salt, Parsley, Dried Kelp, Dried Chicory Root, Turmeric, Mixed Tocopherols, Ginger, Selenium Yeast, then 12 fruits and vegetables.
The Honest Kitchen (Wholemade Whole Grain Chicken): Dehydrated Chicken, Organic Barley, Potatoes, Organic Flax, Organic Oats, Green Peas, Carrots, Bananas, Parsley, Organic Kelp, Celery, then supplements.
Sundays front-loads four named beef proteins before any non-animal ingredient appears. The Honest Kitchen front-loads one named chicken protein followed by three starch sources (barley, potatoes, oats) before the vegetable fraction begins. Under our rubric, Sundays earns position-2-through-5 additional-protein bonuses (+4 per named organ in top 5, capped at +8 cumulative); Honest Kitchen doesn’t earn those bonuses because positions 2–5 are all plant carbs.
Where Sundays pulls ahead
Four named beef proteins stacked: Beef (muscle), beef heart (organ with CoQ10 and taurine), beef liver (organ with vitamin A, B12, iron), beef bone (natural calcium and phosphorus). This is raw-prey-model nutrition density without the raw safety concerns. The Honest Kitchen’s recipe has only one named animal protein at position 1.
Zero synthetic additives: Sundays delivers complete-and-balanced nutrition entirely through whole-food ingredients plus mixed tocopherols (natural vitamin E) and selenium yeast (more bioavailable than sodium selenite). No "zinc oxide," no "copper sulfate," no "sodium selenite." The Honest Kitchen uses a conventional vitamin-and-chelated-mineral premix — good quality by category standards, but not the whole-food-only approach Sundays takes.
12-vegetable micronutrient tail: Sundays includes blueberries, carrots, apples, tomatoes, shiitake mushrooms, broccoli, oranges, cranberries, spinach, beets, cherries, and strawberries in the ingredient tail. That’s a polyphenol and antioxidant spectrum no synthetic premix can replicate. Shop on Amazon →
Where The Honest Kitchen holds its own
AAFCO-defined human-grade production: The Honest Kitchen was the first commercial pet food manufacturer to earn the AAFCO human-grade designation (food AND facility both meet human food standards). Sundays uses USDA-inspected ingredients with "human-grade" language in its sourcing claims but doesn’t emphasize the AAFCO-defined human-grade facility credential as prominently.
Whole grain carb foundation: Organic barley and organic oats (both whole grains) dominate the carb base. For dogs with reliable tolerance to whole grains, this is a defensible choice with documented fiber content and B-vitamins. Sundays uses quinoa (a pseudo-cereal) as its primary non-protein ingredient, which fills a similar role.
Shelf stability and storage: Both products are dehydrated and pantry-stable. The Honest Kitchen’s rehydration ratio is well-documented (10-pound box rehydrates to approximately 40 pounds of food), which makes cost-per-serving calculations more transparent than many dry formats. Shop on Amazon →
The bottom line
Sundays is the clear rubric winner in the dehydrated category — the four-beef-protein stack plus zero-synthetic-additive approach produces an A-tier recipe in a pantry-stable format. The Honest Kitchen is a solid B-tier option with genuine strengths (AAFCO human-grade production, whole grain foundation, transparent rehydration ratios) but the ingredient stacking isn’t competitive with Sundays under our scoring. If you’re choosing between dehydrated formats and don’t have a specific reason to prefer chicken-plus-grains, Sundays is the clear rubric winner. For dogs with specific chicken preferences or grain tolerance needs, The Honest Kitchen remains a defensible alternative. Read the full reviews: Sundays and The Honest Kitchen.