Don't Toss Your Stale Hamburger Buns – Make Bread Pudding

It's not always easy to make it through an entire bag of hamburger buns. Most are sold in eight-count packs, so unless you're feeding a crowd (or just really like hamburgers), there's a chance that some of them will go stale. This isn't necessarily the be-all and end-all for the buns. Stale bread should be safe to eat as long as it isn't moldy. However, a squishy bun is one of Bobby Flay's secrets to a perfect burger, and even using an expert-approved revival technique like toasting probably won't bring the bread back to the Iron Chef's standards.

So what should you do to avoid wasting all that stale bread? Heading to the local duck pond to feed the birds wouldn't be the smartest move because it could cause pollution, overcrowding, and diseases like avian botulism. What is a smart move, however, is using those stale buns to make a delicious bread pudding. All you have to do is cut the buns up into chunks. Then, you can use them as the bread base for any bread pudding recipe without any other alterations to the recipe.

Using old hamburger buns instead of a fresh loaf for bread pudding may sound odd. However, this is actually considered the traditional way of making the dessert. Most bakers in 13th century England couldn't afford to toss food, so repurposing their old bread into the treat that was known at the time as "poor man's pudding" avoided being wasteful.

In the 21st century, avoiding waste is still a great reason to use this substitution when making bread pudding — though it's not the only reason stale hamburger buns are perfect for the treat. When stale bread is soaked in creamy custard, it does a better job of keeping its shape, preventing it from turning into an unappealing mush.

One thing to keep in mind is that the type of hamburger buns you're using may have some outcome on the dessert. According to Tommy Leung, who developed our Classic Bread Pudding recipe, bread pudding made with breads that have a higher fiber content won't be as moist. Therefore, if you happen to be using stale high-fiber hamburger buns to make your bread pudding, you may want to add a scoop of ice cream or drizzle a sauce on top of the dessert to make up for any dryness.