NEW YORK — Joey Chestnut will return to the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4 at Coney Island, he announced Monday.

Chestnut, 41, had won 16 of the previous 17 Independence Day competitions before missing last year’s event due to a contract dispute. Chestnut sponsored plant-based products from Impossible Foods, which Nathan’s and Major League Eating said was disqualifying.

But this year, the sides have squashed the beef and worked out a deal that will see Chestnut return to the competition he has dominated for nearly two decades.

“I’m excited to be back on the Coney Island stage, doing what I live to do, and celebrating the Fourth of July with hot dogs in my hands!” Chestnut wrote on Instagram.

Patrick Bertoletti won the 2024 competition after Chestnut was banned, downing 58 dogs in 10 minutes. In 15 of his 16 victories, Chestnut consumed more than 58 dogs. In 2023, his most recent appearance, he gulped down 62 franks.

Instead of the Independence Day centerpiece last year, Chestnut competed in a Netflix special with old rival Takeru Kobayashi on Labor Day. In that 10-minute event, Chestnut ate 83 hot dogs while Kobayashi housed 66.

In Monday’s statement, Chestnut hinted there was still some disagreement over the nature of his Impossible Foods contract, but he said it would not stop his return to Coney Island this year.

“While I have and continue to partner with a variety of companies, including some in the plant-based space, those relationships were never a conflict with my love for hot dogs. To be clear: Nathan’s is the only hot dog company I’ve ever worked with,” he wrote on Instagram.

“I respect that there were differences in interpretation, but I’m grateful we’ve been able to find common ground.”

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