diff --git a/mixin-utils/test/test_native-classic-histogram.libsonnet b/mixin-utils/test/test_native-classic-histogram.libsonnet
index f5139ef96..8a2f90e7b 100644
--- a/mixin-utils/test/test_native-classic-histogram.libsonnet
+++ b/mixin-utils/test/test_native-classic-histogram.libsonnet
@@ -228,3 +228,13 @@ test.new(std.thisFile)
     },
   )
 )
++ test.case.new(
+  name='simple templating',
+  test=test.expect.eq(
+    actual=utils.ncHistogramApplyTemplate('label_replace(%s, "x", "$1", "y", "(.*)")', { classic: 'classic_query', native: 'native_query' }),
+    expected={
+      classic: 'label_replace(classic_query, "x", "$1", "y", "(.*)")',
+      native: 'label_replace(native_query, "x", "$1", "y", "(.*)")',
+    }
+  )
+)
diff --git a/mixin-utils/utils.libsonnet b/mixin-utils/utils.libsonnet
index 84c46c69d..01eeda884 100644
--- a/mixin-utils/utils.libsonnet
+++ b/mixin-utils/utils.libsonnet
@@ -170,6 +170,16 @@ local g = import 'grafana-builder/grafana.libsonnet';
       },
     },
 
+  // ncHistogramApplyTemplate (native classic histogram template applier)
+  // Takes a template like 'label_replace(%s, "x", "$1", "y", ".*")'
+  // with a single substitution and applies to both the classic and native
+  // histogram query.
+  ncHistogramApplyTemplate(template, query):: {
+    assert $.isNativeClassicQuery(query),
+    native: template % query.native,
+    classic: template % query.classic,
+  },
+
   // ncHistogramComment (native classic histogram comment) helps attach
   // comments to the query and also keep multiline strings where applicable.
   ncHistogramComment(query, comment):: {