Don't Throw Out Leftover Grilled Hot Dogs, Turn Them Into Breakfast Instead

One of the best ways to cook hot dogs is on the grill, and one of the best places to eat them (besides the ballpark, where they always seem to taste better) is outdoors, so you can drip mustard all over the grass. If you've been over-enthusiastic and wound up with a surplus of grilled hot dogs, however, don't you dare throw them out. (Food waste is a cardinal culinary sin.) Instead, refrigerate them right away, then use them to make breakfast tomorrow.

Hot dogs for breakfast is actually not that radical an idea since there's a classic Mexican dish called huevos con salchicha that consists, at its most basic, of sliced hot dogs sauteed and then scrambled with eggs. A similar Puerto Rican dish known as huevos revuelto con salchicha — "huevos revuelto" being Spanish for scrambled eggs — can be made with Vienna sausages, but leftover hot dogs will also work. For a heartier, healthier breakfast, you can mix in vegetables such as onions, peppers, and potatoes, while shredded cheese, cilantro, chives, and chiles can all add to the flavor.

Starting with your basic egg and hot dog scramble, you can use it as a filling for either corn or flour tortillas to make, respectively, breakfast tacos or burritos. The hot dogs could also be diced and used in place of the meat in a breakfast casserole — after all, they are a kind of sausage, and sausage is breakfast food. If you're willing to go to the trouble, you could also cut the hot dogs in half lengthwise, then crosswise, to make four thinner strips that can be incorporated into a hot dog benedict. (Mustard-spiked hollandaise or cheese sauce would make the perfect topping.)

If you have leftover buns as well as hot dogs, you can include them in your breakfast plans, too, by using them to make French toast. If you're more of a savory breakfast person, however, there's a way to use up both hot dogs and buns at once. Warm up the former by wrapping them in wet paper towels and zapping them in the microwave for about 30 seconds, then return them to their buns and top them with bacon, eggs, shredded cheese, and hash browns to make super-deluxe breakfast dogs.