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These saucy little Meatball Sliders are baked on Hawaiian rolls, loaded with cheese, and topped with garlic butter. Perfect for an appetizer or a quick dinner!
We’re super ready for the Super Bowl this year.
I mean, I literally do not know what teams are even playing, but I. am. ready. With the snacks. 😉
It is basically my mission to be MVP of game day food and I’m bringing the fire this year. (Can you tell that I don’t sport? I do not know the lingo, but I’m trying my best.)
We’re obsessed with sliders in my house and I always serve up some variety of them at football games. One year I think we had 6 different varieties of sliders for the Super Bowl, including our ham and cheese sliders and chicken parm sliders. It was the best.
These meatball sliders are so cheesy, super easy, and they’re made on Hawaiian rolls which means they’re an instant hit. Everyone goes nuts for Hawaiian rolls.
What We Love About This Recipe:
- We’re making our own meatballs from scratch, but if you’re in a rush you can use frozen meatballs!
- The garlic butter sauce drizzled over the cheesy, meatball sliders is pretty amazing and gives this a meatball slider garlic bread marriage sort of situation.
- These are great for game day or as an appetizer/snack for any event but they also double nicely as lunch or dinner with a side salad!
Meatball Ingredients:
Ground Beef – We like 80-85% lean beef in our meatballs.
Bread Crumbs – We prefer Italian style breadcrumbs as they already have a bit of seasoning added.
Garlic & Onion – Some freshly minced garlic and onion will add loads of flavor to these sliders.
Egg – The egg helps to bind all the meatball ingredients together.
Italian Seasoning – For all those Italian flavors! You’ll also add in some salt and pepper.
Marinara Sauce – We really like Rao’s Marinara! If we’re not making our homemade spaghetti sauce, we’re using a jar of Rao’s.
Slider Ingredients:
Hawaiian Rolls – We like the King’s Hawaiian rolls because they add a little sweetness to the recipe. You can use regular slider buns if you don’t like that.
Mozzarella – Freshly shredded mozzarella is best for maximum meltiness, but a bag of shredded cheese will work fien.
Garlic Butter Sauce – You’ll make this from some melted butter, garlic, minced parsley, and onion powder and drizzle it over the tops of the sliders.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Meatball Sliders:
Combine the beef, bread crumbs, parsley, egg, garlic, and seasonings in a mixing bowl and then roll them into balls. You’ll need 12 meatballs for this recipe.
Heat a little oil in an oven-safe skillet and then brown the meatballs on each side. No need to cook them through, just get some color on them.
My Favorite Skillet!
Cast iron skillets are my favorite! They heat so evenly, get piping hot for searing, and nothing is better than bacon fried in a cast iron skillet.
Pour the marinara over the meatballs and pop them in the oven to bake for about 15 minutes.
Place one meatball on the bottom half of each slider and spoon some of the marinara over the top.
Top the meatballs with the shredded mozzarella. Feel free to really pile it on there.
Spoon the garlic butter sauce over the top of the sliders and popo these in the oven to bake.
Recipe FAQs:
You can keep any leftovers in the fridge for about 2 to 3 days, but these are much better served fresh and hot. The rolls may get a little soggy after storing.
Yes, if you don’t want to go to the trouble of making the meatballs you are welcome to use some premade from the store! Frozen tend to be a lot smaller that these, so you may want to try 2-3 meatballs per roll or look for larger meatballs so that you have meatball in each bite.
More Party Food Favorites!
- White Queso Dip: Grab your chips because this one is impossible to resist.
- Cuban Sliders: My all time favorite slider recipe!
- French Dip Sandwich: The easiest recipe ever and always a hit.
- Olive Dip: Warm, cheesy, and loaded with olives.
- Air Fryer Blooming Onion: Just like the kind you’d get from Outback!
- Buffalo Chicken Sliders: You can’t watch football without some buffalo chicken!
- Dry Rub Chicken Wings: A homemade dry rub adds lots of flavor to these baked wings!
Meatball Sliders
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 1 pound 85% lean ground beef
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup Italian style bread crumbs
- 1/3 cup minced onion
- 2 tablespoons minced parsley
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cracked pepper
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 20 ounces marinara
For the sliders:
- 12 Hawaiian Rolls
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
- ¼ cup melted butter
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons minced parsley
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
To make the meatballs:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add the ground beef, egg, bread crumbs, onion, garlic, parsley, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to a medium mixing bowl and stir well with a wooden spoon or combine with your hands.
- Roll meat mixture into 12 evenly sized balls.
- Heat a 12 inch oven safe skillet, such as cast iron, over medium heat. Add the olive oil to the skillet, just enough to fully coat the bottom of the pan, and let get hot.
- Add the meatballs to the skillet and brown on each side, about 5 minutes total. You may have to work in batches.
- Pour the marinara over the meatballs and place the pan into the preheated oven. Bake for 15 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through.
To make the sliders:
- Slice the Hawaiian rolls in half and separate each roll. Place the bottoms of the rolls in a 9×13 baking dish.
- Spoon one meatball onto each roll and top with marinara from the pan.
- Sprinkle the meatballs liberally with the mozzarella and place the tops of the rolls over the cheese.
- Add the butter, garlic, parsley, and onion powder to a small bowl and stir to combine. Drizzle the garlic butter evenly over the tops of the sandwiches.
- Cover tightly with foil and bake for 15 minutes.
- Serve hot.
Marrisa Figueroa says
Yummy!! I made it with Italian sausage, medium heat on stove top than oven for 15mins and didnt cover with foil when baked with buns!! Came out delish!! Thanks for another good recipe!!!
Karly says
Sounds great with the sausage! Thanks, Marrisa!
Denise Browning says
Hi, Karly! What a delicious dish, perfect for The Super Bowl. Love your other recipes too.
Karly says
Thanks, Denise!
Kelly | Foodtasia says
Karly, these look SO GOOD! These would definitely be a huge hit at my house. The Hawaiian rolls are so perfect for sliders.
heather (delicious not gorgeous) says
holy moly these sound great. i have no idea who’s playing either (nor did i realize that the superbowl was even this weekend oops), but my body is ready for some great party food (;