Sloppy Joe Sliders

Sloppy Joe Sliders: Taking classic sloppy joes and making cheesy sloppy joe sliders. The perfect appetizer for a party or even a quick and easy dinner idea on a busy night!

Quick Overview: Just a few simple, everyday ingredients, and in only 25 minutes, you’re ready to eat! It’s one of our favorite 30-minute or less dinner ideas.

 

It’s safe to say that we’re obsessed with slider recipes around here because I can’t stop making them!

They’re perfect for hosting a party and even perfect for a main course or easy lunch idea! (But let’s not forget even Hawaiian roll breakfast sliders too!)

Jump to:

• Why You’ll Love These
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Substitutions
• Storage
• Can you freeze leftover sliders?
• Top Tip
• FAQs
• Related Recipes
• Recipe
• Comments

Why You’ll Love These

• Canned Sloppy Joe Sauce: I really thought about creating a homemade sloppy joe sauce for these but I’ll be honest… I’ve made homemade sauce multiple times but our family simply prefers the Manwich sloppy joe sauce. Plus, I know how much you love shortcuts in the kitchen and any kind of timesaver, so canned sauce it is!
• Perfect for a Crowd: There are many times when you need an appetizer ready for a party or need to bring a dish along somewhere, and it’s hard to think of something that will be a crowd-pleaser. But this… this sloppy joe sliders recipe is going to be loved by all!
• The Glaze: Although you can leave the rolls plain, and they’re still absolutely delicious, the glaze takes the little sandwiches to a whole new level.
• The Size: Perfect for little hands, or even a large crowd on game day, these are a great party snack so guests can grab and go and easily add it to their plate of food!

Ingredients

As you can see, the ingredients are simple, and you should be able to pick them up at your local grocery store.

Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.

Sloppy Joe Ingredients:

• Ground Beef: We use ground hamburger for the sloppy joe meat. You can use a ratio of beef but if you use a fatty beef, you’ll need to drain it for sure. But you can find great substitutions below! Or, keep these other ground beef dinners in mind too.
• Hawaiian Rolls: We choose the rolls that are on the sweeter side but you can use regular dinner rolls or slider buns. The glaze (salty and tangy) combined with the sweet rolls is what makes the combo of these sloppy joe sliders on Hawaiian rolls, out of this world!
• Sloppy Joe Sauce: We’re huge fans of Manwich around here but you can use any canned sauce you prefer or even your own homemade sloppy joe sauce recipe! (Or, we’ve even really liked using barbecue sauce instead of sloppy joe sauce, or have fallen in love with this Asian sloppy joe sauce recipe too.
• American Cheese: You can have fun with the type of melted cheese you choose but we use sliced American cheese for these. That smooth, creamy texture is incredible with the sloppy joe meat and buns. See the substitutions below of what you may want to use instead if this isn’t an option.

Glaze Ingredients:

• Butter: Melting the butter, and combining it with the ingredients below, makes a tangy sauce for the top of the buns. We did this with our cheeseburger sliders but only used butter and garlic salt, so that’s an option as well.
• Dijon Mustard: The dijon mustard gives the glaze the tang on top of the rolls.
• Worcestershire: Our favorite Worcestershire sauce is Lea & Perrin’s. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I thought all Worcestershire sauce was the same… but it’s not. The first time I tasted it, it was off-brand and I never used it again… until I had Lea & Perrin’s. Now it’s all I use.
• Garlic Powder: We love putting this on almost everything, so we couldn’t leave it out on this slider recipe! It would even be really good in these cheeseburger subs, too!
• Brown Sugar: Combing that sweet with the tangy is key for the flavor in these! If the Hawaiian rolls are already almost too sweet for you, then you can omit this sugar.

Ingredients for Tops of the Buns

• Parmesan Cheese: Definitely not mandatory but what a lovely presentation it gives on top of the buns!
• Sesame Seeds: Loving the crunch that these small seeds give on top of the buns. If you don’t have them, that’s absolutely ok but if you do, then I recommend using them for sure.
• Crushed Red Pepper: Totally optional but recommended. If you’re worried about the kiddos eating them, my kids ate them, loved them, and didn’t say anything about it being too spicy! Now, I think I’ll be putting them on the Italian slider sandwiches too!

Instructions

1. Begin by browning and cooking your ground beef in a large skillet, over medium-high heat. When it is fully cooked, you may need to drain the grease and add the cooked beef back in to the pan.

2. Pour in the sloppy joe sauce and stir to combine.

3. Let the meat mixture simmer over low heat for a few minutes. (You do this so the flavor can really cook in to the meat and the sauce can warm up.)

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Line a baking dish (or a cookie sheet or baking sheet will do too) with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. (I love my Silpat mat, as I think the bottoms turn out so much better, with whatever I’m baking!)
6. Using a bread knife, cut the Hawaiian rolls in half, horizontally, creating one half that’s the top of the buns and a lower half, creating the bottom of the buns.

Place the bottom buns in the baking tray.

7. Next, spoon all of the beef mixture on to the bottom buns that are in the pan.

8. Then, layer the cheese on top of the warm meat. (We used really thin American cheese slices so we did a couple of layers of cheese but if you have thicker slices, one layer may do just fine!)

9. Place the top half of the buns on top of the cheese.

10. In a small, microwavable dish (I used a one-cup glass measuring cup) add the butter, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, and brown sugar.
11. Microwave for about 30 seconds or until butter is melted. Stir to combine.

12. Using a pastry brush (or if you don’t have one, you can gently pour over buns, as evenly as possible) spread the buttery mixture over the top of the buns.

13. Next, sprinkle sesame seeds, parmesan cheese, and red pepper flakes across the top of the rolls.

14. Cover the pan with aluminum foil, place in preheated oven, and bake for 15 minutes (removing the aluminum foil at 14 minutes to “toast” the tops of the buns for the remaining minute).

The cheese should be melted and the tops of the buns looking a slight golden brown.

15. Remove the Silpat mat or parchment paper from baking dish, carefully lifting the sloppy joe sandwiches out, on to the table or counter so they can be sliced easily.

16. Using a bread knife, gently slice the buns, cutting along the lines of the rolls, and creating individual sliders.

Substitutions

• Meat – If you’re not a fan of ground beef or simply have another type of meat on hand, you can easily make these using ground chicken (we use shredded chicken in the buffalo chicken sliders), ground turkey, venison, elk, etc.
• Bread – Feel free to use dinner rolls, savory butter rolls, or even slider buns! They’ll all work just fine!
• Cheese – Although we love American cheese on these, you can use shredded cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, pepper jack or your favorite for hot sandwiches!
• Mustard – If you don’t have dijon mustard, you can use honey mustard, regular ground mustard or spicy mustard.

Storage

Due to the “wetness” of the sloppy joe mixture, some may not enjoy these sliders’ leftover. However, if you decide to try them, place them (when fully cooled) in an airtight container in the refrigerator, up to 3-4 days.

Can you freeze leftover sliders?

Yes! I wrapped the already-cooked sliders in Press’n Seal and then in a freezer Ziploc bag and froze them to enjoy later, and they turned out amazing, and tasted exactly like they did the day I made them. So making these sliders ahead of time as a freezer meal for meal planning later, is a great idea!

I tested out reheating leftover sliders that I already baked once but don’t see why you couldn’t freeze premade sliders before baking as well. However, I’d wait to brush the tops with butter until right before baking, if freezing to bake later since you wouldn’t be baking the butter in before freezing.

How to Reheat:

Allow leftover sliders to thaw in the refrigerator overnight (however I’ve placed them on the counter in the morning and they were thawed by lunchtime too).

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
• Unwrap and place sliders on parchment paper
• Cover with aluminum foil
• Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.
• Remove the aluminum foil for the last minute to toast the buns.

FAQs

Related Recipes

If you love sliders and sandwiches, then you’ll always want to try our Turkey and Cranberry Sliders, these Crispy Fried Chicken Sliders, and our Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches!

These salmon sliders are hearty enough for great dinner, much like these roast beef sliders too!

But if this is your first time here, make sure you check out our most popular recipe and favorite cooking method for “How to Cook Burgers in the Oven – with a Trick!”

Did you make this? I’d be so grateful if you left a “star” rating below to let me know what you thought! Then, the next time you need a quick and easy recipe, come back to Fantabulosity to browse all of my easy recipes!

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