Cheeseburger Sliders with Homemade Slider Buns

These cheeseburger sliders with homemade slider buns are easy to put together and are perfect to take to a party. 

 

These slider burgers have all of the flavors of your favorite burger, including a "secret sauce," but in a smaller size. 

You can scale the recipe for the beef up or down to make burgers for a crowd, or for smaller groups. Plus, you can make the meat ahead of time... perfect for bringing to a pot luck. 

For the "secret sauce," you use a combination of mayo, ketchup, mustard, barbecue sauce, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne powder, and chopped dill pickles. It's so good on burgers. 

For the cheese slices, I used American cheese for its melty qualities as well as for a touch of nostalgia. Feel free to use your favorite cheeseburger cheese. Colby jack cheese melts nicely while still giving you a cheddar-y flavor. 

I also added dill pickle chips, chopped onions, and lettuce. Simple and delicious. 

For these sliders, I made homemade buns, but feel free to use packaged soft dinner rolls or slider buns. These burgers are just as delicious either way. I'm just a bread geek who loves baking bread. 

The dough is super easy to put together. You just dump all of the ingredients together at once and then knead it by hand or machine for about 7 minutes. Let it rise for an hour, shape the rolls, and then place them in the baking pan. 

The shaped buns rise overnight in the refrigerator. 

Here they are the next morning ready to be baked.....  

The dough for these rolls is pretty sticky, but I didn't add any more flour because I wanted a light and airy burger bun. 

These buns are super soft and squishy, but still have enough structure so that they will stand up to juicy burgers, melty cheese, and lots of secret sauce. We've also used them for breakfast sandwiches and even dinner rolls. They seem to stay fresh for quite a while!

I love the slighly open crumb and the light and soft nature of these rolls. The nooks and crannies are perfect for absorbing meaty juices and delicious sauces. 

I think this might be my new favorite sandwich bun recipe! 

In fact, if you like just a small bun with your big meaty burger (as opposed to a little burger with your bun), these could easily be served with full-sized burger patties. 

To Prepare the Hamburger Meat:

I had a lot of fun playing with the method to prepare the meat for these sliders. I wanted something where you could easily prepare the meat all at once without using a frying pan and that could be portable enough to take to a pot luck. 

You actually bake the beef! 

To make the burgers, mix the meat with minced onions, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper, and add beaten egg to bind the mixture together. 

Next, press the beef into a rectangle that is about 1/2 inch thick. I used the same baking pan that I baked the rolls in, including the parchment paper with the pattern that the rolls left behind. I had only enough beef for 6 burgers, so I followed the pattern on the paper to shape the beef. 

Once you've baked the beef, remove it from the oven and blot off any excess fat. If you are going to serve the burgers immediately, layer cheese sliced over the beef and return it to the oven just long enough for the cheese to melt. 

You can slice the rolls in half without separating them, slather them with secret sauce, and then place the meat on top. 

Next, top the cheese with dill pickles, diced onions, and lettuce, and the top of the buns, and then cut the burgers apart after they are assembled. 

Make-ahead Tips:

If you are planning on serving these later, you can cut the meat into squares and save them in the refrigerator. Reheat the meat, covered in a 325 degree oven and add the cheese once the meat has heated through. 

You can also assemble the rolls, secret sauce, meat, and cheese in the same baking pan for a pot luck and reheat when you get to the party. 

Just top with the pickles, onions, and lettuce once you've reheated them. Serve with extra secret sauce. 

This week, the Sunday Funday group is celebrating a birthday! Our host, Stacy of Food Lust People Love, asked us to share recipes for anything we might bring to a birthday party potluck. I thought burgers for a crowd fit the theme perfectly. 

Plus, it's Stacy's birthday!!! Be sure to visit the recipe for her noodle salad and wish her a happy birthday! Happy birthday Stacy!

• Bhagar Rice from The Mad Scientist’s Kitchen
• Borage Sparklers, Both Boozy and Not from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Burmese-style Bean Thread Noodle Salad from Food Lust People Love
• Cheeseburger Sliders with Homemade Slider Buns from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Eggless Gajar Halwa Cake - Carrot Halwa Cake from Sneha’s Recipe
• Four Cheese Ravioli Skillet from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• French Macarons from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Greek Feta Spread (Kopanisti) from Palatable Pastime
• Maple Panna Cotta With Roasted Figs from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Smoked Gouda Mac and Cheese from Making Miracles
• Tandoori Aloo Platter from Sizzling Tastebuds

Cheeseburger Sliders with Homemade Slider Buns

Yield: 12 sliders

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 50 MinCook time: 50 MinInactive time: 8 HourTotal time: 9 H & 40 M

These cheeseburger sliders with homemade slider buns are easy to put together and are perfect to take to a party.

Ingredients

For the Secret Sauce

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon bottled barbecue sauce such as KC Masterpiece
• 10 slices dill pickle chips finely diced
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic or garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne powder

For the Slider Buns

• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/2 cup mashed potato flakes
• 9 ounces (2 cups) bread flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

For the Sliders

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 cup minced onion, divided
• 2 teaspoons granulated garlic or garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 10 slices American cheese
• 12 slider buns
• 1 cup secret sauce
• 24 dill pickle slices
• 1 1/2 cups shredded lettuce

Instructions

To Make the Secret Sauce

1. Mix the ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Cover and refrigerate.

To Make the Slider Buns

1. Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the dough hook for about 7 minutes, until you have a smooth dough.
2. Cover the bowl and let rise until doubled, about an hour.
3. Line a 9 inch by 13 inch baking pan with parchment paper and spray with spray oil.
4. Sprinkle your work surface with flour and turn out the risen dough.
5. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Place the balls in 3 rows lengthwise in the pan. Spray your hand lightly with spray oil and press down on the dough balls to flatten them in the pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
6. The next day, remove the pan from the refrigerator and heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Bake the rolls for 20 minutes, until they are lightly browned and have reached an interior temperature of 195 degrees F.
8. Remove the rolls from the pan, still attached to each other, to cool on a wire rack.

To Make the Sliders

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine the ground beef, eggs, 1/2 cup of the onion, the granulated garlic, salt, and pepper together in a bowl and mix with your hands, trying not to overwork the mixture.
3. Press the mixture into a 9 inch by 13 inch cake pan or quarter sheet baking sheet.
4. Bake the beef for 15 to 20 minutes, until the beef has reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.
5. Remove the pan from the oven and blot up the excess fat from the meat with paper towels.
6. Cover the meat with the cheese slices and return the pan to the oven until the cheese has melted.
7. In the meantime, split the slider buns and spread the bottoms with the secret sauce.
8. Cut the meat into 12 pieces (3x4 squares) and place the meat onto the bottom buns. Top the meat and cheese with pickles, minced onions, and shredded lettuce and add the top bun.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

360.99

Fat (grams)

18.39

Sat. Fat (grams)

6.03

Carbs (grams)

26.96

Fiber (grams)

2.30

Net carbs

24.67

Sugar (grams)

5.20

Protein (grams)

21.25

Sodium (milligrams)

937.68

Cholesterol (grams)

77.15

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2022/01/cheeseburger-sliders-with-homemade.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

burgers, sliders, bread, buns, secret sauce

Main course

American

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The recipe for the slider buns was adapted from one of my favorite bread books, Make Ahead Bread, by Donna Currie. I love this book (and I love Donna). Every bread I've ever baked from this book has worked out perfectly. 

There are 100 recipes for bread where you make the dough in advance and bake it later. It's a complete time saver.