Little but loaded, these ground beef sliders, smothered in melted cheese and barbecue sauce, are baked in the oven for a quick crowd favorite!
If you love sliders, your time has come! Sliders are now a prime staple for game day parties or any kind of hungry gathering. Who wants old chip and dip when they can have something hot and delicious, like these Easy BBQ Cheeseburger sliders. Sliders are so popular because they never become boring…there’s and endless variety of flavor combinations to choose from.
Awesome sliders can be made from already cooked ingredients, like Italian Ham and Cheese Sliders or easy to cook ones, like the eggs in Egg Sausage Breakfast Sliders. And let’s not forget what started it all…little hamburger sliders! Lately, I’ve developed an obsession for making beef sliders, using a quick and easy oven method to cook the mini burgers.
HOW TO MAKE BBQ CHEESEBURGER SLIDERS
This recipe uses a technique for cooking the beef that you will probably find yourself using over and over again. I know that I do! Making the beef sliders on a sheet pan in the oven will result in perfect, juicy beef slider patties every time.
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat the oven to 400°. Start by spreading out the ground beef on a quality 13 x 18 rimmed baking sheet, end to end. There is no need to grease the pan. Note – There will be some shrinkage of the meat as the fat renders out during baking.
- Bake the beef on the center rack of the 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.
- Once the beef is cooked, pour off the fat, then cut into patties. I like to use a pizza wheel to cut the beef into slider bun sized portions, but a sharp knife will do the job just fine. Then, place the cheese right on top of the cut slider patties. Be sure to keep the patties together on the pan. They should be touching. Return to the hot oven to melt the cheese.
- While the cheese is melting, separate the slider buns, place each half on another pan and lightly toast in the same oven. I just toss the pan on the bottom rack until the buns are heated and slightly crisped. It brings out the flavor but the buns are still soft inside.
- After heating, top each bottom bun with lettuce leaf. Transfer one slider patty with melted cheese to each. Add a dollop of homemade barbecue sauce on top of the cheese, and add pickle and red onion. Finish by replacing the top of the bun.
WHAT TYPE OF GROUND BEEF SHOULD I USE TO MAKE SLIDERS
For this BBQ Cheeseburger Sliders recipe I used 3 pounds of 73% ground beef (I know…I know… but it was on sale) and you can see in the photo how much shrinking there was of the beef while cooking. What started as a 1/4 pound for each slider becomes much less than you would think. The leaner the ground beef, the less shrinkage.
Generally, if I use 93% lean ground beef, I can get the same 12 sliders from only 2 pounds of beef.
MORE BURGER SLIDER IDEAS:
If you like mushrooms and Swiss cheese, how about a Swiss Mushroom Burger Slider. Or for the bacon lover, juicy Easy Bacon Cheeseburger Sliders. You could top a burger with a pile of caramelized onions or even fried jalapenos for lots of heat. Anything you can pile on a bun that gives big flavor can be made into a slider! Here’s a few more:
- Buffalo Sauce and Chicken
- Pepperoni and Cheese
- Roast Beef and Horseradish Sauce
- Ham and Pickle Cubans
- BBQ Sauce and shredded chicken
- Bacon and Fried Eggs
- Taco Meat and Cheddar
EASY BARBECUE CHEESEBURGER SLIDERS
These ground beef sliders are smothered in melted cheese and barbecue sauce for an easy made in the oven crowd favorite!
Ingredients
- 3 pounds groound beef or 2 pounds lean ground beef
- salt and pepper
- 12 small slider rolls
- 6 slices american cheese
- 4 large green leaf lettuce leaves . torn into 3 pieces each
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce or homemade barbecue sauce
- 1 small red onion sliced
- 12 medium dill pickle slices
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°.
- Spread out the ground beef on a rimmed 13 x 18 inch baking sheet, end to end. No need to grease the pan. Place on center rack of oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and pour off fat as needed. Using a pizza wheel or sharp knife, cut the cooked beef into 12 slider bun sized portions.
- Place the cheese right on top of the cut slider patties. The patties should be touching together on the pan. Return to the hot oven to melt the cheese.
- Separate the slider buns, place each half on a sheet pan and lightly toast in the oven with the melting cheese. Place the pan on the bottom rack until the buns are heated and slightly crisped. The buns should still be soft inside.
- Remove buns from the oven and top each bottom bun with a torn lettuce leaf. Transfer one slider patty with melted cheese to each. Add a dollop of barbecue sauce on top of the cheese, then add pickle and red onion. Finish by replacing the top of the bun.
Chef Tips
Nutrition Facts
© Copyright Christine Mello for Must Love Home. We would love for you to share a link to this recipe but please do not copy/paste the recipe instructions to websites or social media. We are happy for you to share a photo with a link back to this website instead.
