Lettuce wrap
Two or three large leaves of iceberg or butter lettuce, patty in the middle, wrapped tight. Wrap the bottom in paper so it holds.
✓ ApprovedBureau of Bread Standards · Approved list
Approved Alternatives to the Bun
The short answer: for a burger, use a lettuce wrap, a bowl or two slices of sourdough. For a hot dog, use lompe or a tortilla. For a sloppy joe, go open-faced on toast or spoon it over rice. Everything below has been tested by the Bureau and approved. Nothing below is round.
Use 01 · Burgers
Instead of a burger bun
Burger bowl
Everything that would have gone in the burger, in a bowl: chopped patty, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion, sauce on top. Eat with a fork.
✓ ApprovedSourdough slices
Two slices, toasted in the pan with the patty. A slice is a shape. It holds the juices instead of surrendering to them.
✓ ApprovedOpen-faced
One slice of toast underneath, nothing on top. Knife and fork. The contents are visible, as they should be.
✓ ApprovedA fork
Patty on a plate, toppings beside it. The oldest alternative and the most reliable. No structural failure has ever been recorded.
✓ ApprovedUse 02 · Hot dogs
Instead of a hot dog bun
Lompe
Norwegian potato flatbread. Roll it once around the sausage and eat. Norway has done this for generations. See the Norwegian Annex.
✓ ApprovedTortilla
A small flour or corn tortilla, warmed in a dry pan for twenty seconds a side so it folds without cracking.
✓ ApprovedFlatbread
Pita, naan or lavash, folded around the sausage like a taco. Mustard and onions go inside the fold.
✓ ApprovedOn a plate, sliced
Slice the sausage into coins, mustard and onions on the side, eat with a fork. Dignified. Underused.
✓ ApprovedUse 03 · Sloppy joes
Instead of a sloppy joe bun
Open-faced on toast
A thick slice of toast, the filling spooned over it, knife and fork. The bun was never going to contain it anyway.
✓ ApprovedOver rice or a baked potato
Spoon the filling over a bowl of rice or a split baked potato. Both absorb the sauce, which is the job the bun claimed to do.
✓ ApprovedIn a bowl
No base at all. A bowl, a spoon, grated cheese on top. The word "sloppy" was always an admission.
✓ ApprovedUse 04 · Pulled pork and sliders
Instead of slider buns
Flatbread
Warm flatbread, pulled pork down the middle, slaw on top, folded once. Feeds a party without a single round object.
✓ ApprovedLettuce cups
Small inner leaves of little gem or butter lettuce, a spoonful of filling in each. The slider platter, decommissioned.
✓ ApprovedPending
Under review
Protein buns
The bakery trend of 2026. Nature's Own launched a loaf with 22 g of protein per two slices in January 2026, citing Circana data that 41% of US adults are trying to increase their protein intake. Applied to a bun, it is still a bun. Now with protein.
⚠ Under reviewCloud bread
A recipe trend: whipped egg whites, sometimes with cottage cheese, baked into soft discs. No flour involved. Round.
⚠ Under reviewSources: Snack & Bakery, "Nature's Own debuts Life Wheat + Protein bread" (2026). Species identification: Field Guide to Bun Species.