Costco's Viral Hot Dog Pizza 'Hack' Isn't Even Worth The $3.85 I Spent

The internet has once again applied the term "hack" loosely to a food stunt popularized on TikTok. This time around the food hackers have brought together two of Costco's food court menu items to make one Frankensteined creation.

Across TikTok, you'll find popular videos showing people at their local Costco food court wrapping hot dogs in pizza slices. That's right, this hack is a simple hot dog roll-up substituting pizza for the bun. One TikTok shows the roll-up being made in a matter of seconds on top of a Costco shopping cart; this video has received over 9 million views. But the real question is does this combo need to exist?

The upside to this particular experiment is that it is by no means a pricey one. To execute this Costco creation you'll need to purchase the popular $1.50 hot dog and soda combo and a slice of pizza (whether cheese or pepperoni is up to you). All together, it only cost me $3.85 to test this out. The downside is that this hack isn't a very good way to spend $3.85

Although assembling this food oddity is simple at first glance, the trouble with actually executing it contributes to my opinion that this should not be deemed a hack. If anything, this is a food stunt that's meant to be as over-the-top as it can be.

Costco's hot dog is a quarter pound of beef on its own; placing that in a large slice of pizza just feels excessive. For that reason, finishing this creation in one go is a bit of a challenge. On top of that, the assembly isn't as easy as TikTok makes it look. The tip of the pizza slice has to be well-tucked under the wiener in order to stay in place and not unroll itself.

The sentiment behind this food court experiment might be "Who needs a bun?" but my answer is that some people want the bun. Also, it feels wasteful to discard a perfectly good piece of bread.

The following information may shock some readers: I had never tasted a Costco hot dog up until this taste test. I have always appreciated the renowned $1.50 Costco hot dog and soda combo from afar but never found the opportunity to take a seat in the food court and try it myself.

For a moment I considered getting a slice of pepperoni to wrap around the dog, but I'm thankful I did not. The amount of grease in each bite was just too much, even with a plain slice, and what made it worse was that it was two different types of grease. Grease from an all-beef hot dog mixed with pizza grease is not the savory blend you would think.

The hot dog and the pizza slice didn't come together in harmony despite the idea that the pizza crust could serve as a replacement for the hot dog bun. With each bite I found myself wishing I had condiments like ketchup and mustard for the hot dog and at the same time wishing I could get this wiener off my pizza. The tomato sauce and melted cheese deserve to shine on their own instead of competing with a beef link.

Overall, this hack is just unneeded. No shame to anyone who might want to try it or who already enjoys the roll-up, but I'd just prefer to eat the two food court items separately. For around $4, this amount of food is a steal, and I'd hate to waste it.