Forget Plain Hot Dog Buns; This Olive Garden Trick Brings Next-Level Flavor

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Hot dogs are a shockingly versatile food, and there are tons of ways to eat them that aren't in a traditional potato bun. You can drench them in batter to make a corndog, chop them up and mix with baked beans for beanie weenies, or wrap pastry around them to make pigs in a blanket. People often seek out other ways of serving hot dogs because even the best store-bought buns are boring. But maybe the fix lies in using a different kind of bread as a bun — more specifically, turning an Olive Garden breadstick into a hot dog bun.

As one creative Facebook user discovered, Olive Garden breadsticks make for pretty flavorful hot dog buns. All you have to do is slice open your breadstick on one side, leaving the bread attached on the other side, and slide your hot dog right in. This is a simple way to bring a pop of flavor to your hot dogs, adding notes of butter, garlic, and salt.

All you need to do afterwards is decide what to top your hot dog with. Will ketchup and mustard mesh with the breadstick bun's flavor notes? You might just have to try it to find out. Or maybe it'd be better to steal some toppings off your favorite regional hot dogs. Cheese might work out nicely, considering cheesy garlic bread is very real and very delicious. You could also go full garlic bread style by topping with garlic butter.

Now, if you were just trying to plan how to smuggle Olive Garden breadsticks out of the restaurant the next time you go, no need. You can order the breadsticks from the restaurant itself as either ready-to-eat or unbaked for you to cook in your oven — the latter is ideal for the freshest, hottest hot dog buns.

But if you don't have an Olive Garden nearby, you can always make a copycat version of Olive Garden breadsticks or pick up a box of frozen breadsticks from the store. Really, you just need some kind of breadsticks; they don't have to be from Olive Garden. One popular brand you can try out is the New York Bakery brand, known for making a variety of frozen garlic breads including breadsticks. Walmart's Great Value Garlic Breadsticks and Furlani's Garlic Breadsticks also make for solid options.

If you're wondering about what hot dogs to use, the poster of the hack uses Oscar Meyer Wieners, which are a mix of chicken, pork, and turkey. But if you prefer a quality all-beef hot dog, Hebrew National Bun Length Beef Franks or Nathan's Famous Restaurant Style Beef Franks are tasty options to stuff into your breadstick bun. This bun trick might also be nicely paired with brats for an even more flavorful bite (if you can fit the sausage in the breadstick, that is).