Ways to Use Leftover Hamburger Buns and Hotdog Buns

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The other day my husband asked me to buy a package of hamburger buns and hotdog buns.  I was at Costco, so of course, the package had a lot of buns in it.

I got home, brought them in to put them away and lo and behold  – there was already a package of both in the cabinet.  My husband had been camping the week before and forgot that he brought some back with him.  So, needless to say, we ended up with a ton of buns.

I thought I’d put together some ideas on ways to use leftover hamburger buns and hotdog buns, in case you ever find yourself in this predicament.

Ways to Use Leftover Hamburger Buns (or hot dog!)

1.  Garlic Bread

This is by far my favorite thing to do with the buns.  We try not to eat a lot of bread/grains in our house, so more often than not we don’t make garlic bread when we have spaghetti.  If we have leftover hamburger or hot dog buns, I make sure to plan a meal of spaghetti in order to use the buns up.  It doesn’t matter how many pieces of buns we have, they will all be gobbled up with the kids begging for more. You can find a delicious garlic bread recipe here.

2.  Cheese Sandwiches

You can make open faced or closed cheese sandwiches with your leftover hotdog or hamburger buns.

In case you don’t know what I mean by that.  An open faced cheese sandwich uses one slice of bread (or bun in this case), you put some cheese on top of it and put it in the oven on broil.  It only takes a few minutes to cook.  When the cheese is nice and bubbly, it’s ready!  These are super yummy with sliced pickles on top!

A closed cheese sandwich is like how you would cook a panini.  It uses two slices of bread with cheese in the middle, butter the outsides and cook it on the stovetop, making sure to flip it after a few minutes to cook both sides.  If you are using leftover buns, put the outside of the bun facing inside.

3. Pulled Pork/Chicken Sandwich

Have you had pulled pork before?  It is so good!  I had it for the first time when visiting my in-laws in Kentucky.

Here is an excellent recipe for pulled pork.  With this, after you make the pulled pork, you’ll put it into your leftover buns and it will be so tasty!

4. Sloppy Joes

When I was a kid, it seemed like this was on the menu a lot.  Make up the meat mixture, put it on the buns and you are good to go!

5. Bruschetta

Mmmmm, bruschetta!  All you need is some tomatoes, cheese and herbs to add to your leftover buns and your tastebuds will thank you!

6. Croutons

Croutons are easy to make and there are so many good crouton recipes out there.  Here is one if you need it.

7. Freeze for Later

You can also throw the bags of buns in the freezer for a later time.  If you keep them in the bags they came in, they will start to get freezer burn/a frosty layer on them fairly quickly, so I’d make plans to use them within a month or so.  We do this a lot too.  Just take them out and put them on the counter to defrost the morning you have plans to use them.  They defrost fairly quickly.

Hopefully, this gave you a few ideas you can use on ways to use leftover hamburger buns.