How To Turn Leftover Hot Dog Buns Into A Deliciously Sweet Dessert

Hot dogs and buns belong together like, well, sandwich fillings and bread. (Not that I'd ever call a hot dog a sandwich, since I'm a huge fan of AEW wrestling commentator Jim Ross and he's firmly in the anti-sandwich camp.) Still, there's one big problem with this combo and that's the fact that the buns often come in eight packs while hot dogs are usually sold in packages of 10. This still seems to be the case, despite Heinz launching a 2021 petition to redress the imbalance. Since every dog must have its bun, this means you'll need to buy two packs of the latter, resulting in a six-bun surplus. What to do with the leftovers? One way to use them up is to make bread pudding.

As hot dogs are essentially bread, you can basically plug them into any bread pudding recipe you like. To make the buns even more absorbent, you might want to dry them out in the oven first. (Contrary to popular wisdom, stale bread doesn't allow much liquid to soak in, but oven-dried bread really sucks it up.) The Takeout has an extra-easy bread pudding recipe made with hot dog buns and melted ice cream that's perfect for those after-cookout leftovers. It's also the kind of thing that's great to have on hand in case a summer storm knocks out the power to your fridge and freezer since it will allow you to rescue both eggs and ice cream in one go.

If bread pudding's not your thing, I'm with you — for some reason, I've never been a fan. That's okay, though, since hot dog buns can also be used to make French toast or be swapped out for the French bread in our Wake and Bake French toast casserole. (No, this dish doesn't contain any mind-altering substances, unless you count the brown sugar-pecan topping.)

If you're willing to take a slightly more creative approach to repurposing hot dog buns into a dessert, you can leave them intact. Fill them with a spread such as frosting, Nutella, peanut butter, or sweetened cream cheese, then garnish them with sliced bananas or berries. Chocolate chips or chopped nuts can be added to provide texture, while caramel or chocolate sauce and a generous squirt of whipped cream take these dessert dogs over the top. If you prefer something a bit more minimal, you could also use hot dog buns as the basis for a Japanese-inspired fruit sando. These trendy treats are filled with sweetened whipped cream along with fruits such as bananas, kiwis, mangoes, and strawberries.