These 5-ingredient BBQ chicken sliders are packed with tender pulled chicken thighs, red onion, and loads of cheese. They’re super simple and highly customizable with options like buffalo or chicken bacon ranch. If you need a crowd pleaser for your next game day or holiday get together, look no further.
I’ll walk you through the recipe below and give a few customization notes along the way. Feeling confident? You can hit the jump to recipe button above to skip straight to the recipe card. If you have any questions about these chicken sliders I forgot to cover, drop a comment at the bottom of the post.
Making the BBQ Chicken
The recipe calls for my Instant Pot BBQ chicken thighs, but you could use rotisserie chicken tossed with BBQ sauce for a shortcut. You could also use other recipes like my Dutch oven BBQ chicken, slow cooker BBQ chicken thighs, bbq smoked boneless chicken thighs, Carolina BBQ slow cooker chicken breast, or spicy BBQ pulled pork tenderloin.
More Ideas for Chicken Sliders
You could make buffalo chicken sliders with the chicken from my shredded buffalo chicken nachos recipe or chicken bacon ranch sliders with the filling from my chicken bacon ranch quesadillas. And for another rotisserie chicken option, check out my buffalo rotisserie chicken stuffed peppers.
Assembling the BBQ Chicken Sliders
When it comes to making sliders, King’s Hawaiian dinner rolls reign supreme. Since we make kinda healthy recipes around here, I compared the King’s rolls with other options and found the nutrition facts were pretty close to every other option. So why not go with the king of slider rolls?
While the recipe calls for havarti cheese, you could use pepper jack, cheddar, or just about any cheese you’d like. You’ll notice there are 4 slices on the bottom and 4 on top. This makes extra cheesy sliders and protects the rolls from the juices in the BBQ chicken. If you wanted to save about 20 calories per slider, you could omit the second layer of cheese.
Feel free to omit the veggies inside or even add extras like sliced jalapeño. It’s also worth noting, the BBQ chicken I used is super flavorful. If you’re using something else, you may want to add some BBQ sauce inside the sliders.
Baking the Chicken Sliders
I’ve found that a little cooking spray gets the job done just fine when it comes to golden brown chicken sliders. That said, brushing butter on top before baking is never a bad move.
The only other tip I have for baking would be to bake on a baking sheet without a rim (unlike me). That way you can easily cut the BBQ chicken sliders apart after baking. They’re extra cheesy and packed with chicken, making them a bit difficult to cut with a pesky rimmed baking sheet in the way!
What to Serve with BBQ Chicken Sliders
Fries are the obvious match made in heaven. And lucky for you, I have a beaucoup of recipes for fries.
- Spicy Air Fryer Sweet Potato Fries
- Crinkle Cut Fries (Air Fryer or Oven)
- Air Fryer Cajun Fries
- Low Carb Carrot Fries
If you need some lower carb options, check out my Balsamic Air Fryer Roasted Carrots or Crispy Cast Iron Brussels Sprouts recipes.
And that should cover it. You’ll find the full recipe card below. Be sure to come back and let me know what you think about these BBQ chicken sliders in a recipe review!
BBQ Chicken Sliders
Tender BBQ pulled chicken thighs with havarti cheese and red onion inside sweet Hawaiian rolls.
Ingredients
- 12 King's Hawaiian Sweet Dinner Rolls
- 8 slices Havarti Cheese
- 16 oz Pulled BBQ Chicken*
- 1/4 Red Onion, cut into thin strips
- 1-2 handfuls Parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 375ºF and use a bread knife to cut the dinner rolls in half. Place the bottom of the rolls on the baking sheet. Set the top of the rolls aside.
- Place 4 slices of cheese on top of the bottom half of the rolls, followed by the chicken, red onion, and parsley. Add the remaining 4 slices of cheese on top and place the top half of the rolls on top.
- Spray the tops of the rolls with cooking spray or brush with butter and bake for 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the tops are golden brown.
- Use a knife to cut the rolls into 12 individual sliders. Enjoy!
Notes
*The nutrition facts are with my Instant Pot BBQ Chicken Thighs, but you can use rotisserie chicken tossed in BBQ sauce or any of the protein options included in the post above.
**To reduce the fat, skip the top layer of cheese. With 4 slices of cheese, each slider has 190 calories, 13g of protein, 17g of carbs, and 9g of fat. Using other non-thigh protein options will reduce the fat content as well.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Sliders Serving Size: 1 SliderAmount Per Serving: Calories: 215Total Fat: 11gCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 14g
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