Ground Beef Sliders With Onion Soup Mix

Why You'll Love This Recipe:

You will love this recipe for ground beef sliders with onion soup mix because:

• These ground beef sliders are quick to make, and you don't need to stand over the grill flipping burgers.
• You don't need to use fresh bread rolls for this recipe, which means you can use bread a day or two old - making it a budget-friendly recipe.
• The recipe can be scaled up and made to feed a crowd.
• They can be made in advance, making them great for meal prep for parties, game-day, or easy weeknight dinners.
• These easy burger sliders are freezer-friendly too!

Ingredients In This Recipe

The printable recipe further down the page has the complete list of ingredients, including quantities and step-by-step instructions.

Bread rolls - small rolls are great for making these mini burgers, either individual rolls or a sheet of attached rolls. Use Hawaiian sweet rolls or plain dinner rolls or brioche buns.

Note: For this recipe, we used small hamburger buns because that was the smallest bread we could find and ended up making 6 medium-sized rolls. These rolls were then cut to make 12 servings.

Minced beef - our preference is to use lean beef mince, but you could use regular ground beef and drain off the fat after cooking.

Onion soup mix - is used as the seasoning. You can use a store-bought packet of French onion soup mix (that's what we used) or use a homemade dry onion soup mix.

Mayonnaise - a little mayo mixed into the meat will help keep it moist, and juicy and helps bind it together, and you won't even taste it.

Onion - use a brown (yellow) onion rather than sweet red onions.

Cheese - Use pre-sliced cheese or slice your own from a block of cheese, or you could use shredded cheese. 

Butter and sesame seeds - these are used as a topping on the buns and are added before baking.

Step By Step Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease or line the base of a rimmed baking sheet with baking paper.

Step 1 - Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the onions and fry for 2-3 minutes to soften. 

Step 2 - Add the ground beef, and cook for a few minutes as you break it into smaller pieces with a spatula. Then mix in the onion soup mix and keep breaking the meat into pieces. 

Cook on medium/high heat until the meat is cooked (about 8 minutes) and most of the liquid in the pan has evaporated. Remove from the heat, drain and discard any excess fat and juices. 

Step 3 - Stir in the mayonnaise and taste for seasoning, and adjust if necessary with salt and pepper.

Step 4 - Cut the buns in half. Place the bottom half of the rolls onto the prepared tray, and arrange a layer of cheese over the top.

Step 5 - Top the cheese with the ground beef and spread it into an even layer.

Step 6 - Cover the ground beef mixture with another layer of sliced cheese.

Step 7 - Place the tops of the buns, with the cut side down over the buns on the tray. 

Step 8 - Brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Step 9 - Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until the cheese has melted and the tops are golden. Serve the slider buns hot or warm.

Recipe Tips

Prevent soggy buns

• After cooking the meat, if there is any excess moisture in the pan, use a spoon to scoop and discard the excess liquid. Doing this will prevent the buns from going soggy.
• We prefer to start with a layer of sliced cheese rather than grated cheese because a solid layer of cheese stops the meat juices from soaking into the bread.
• If you are meal prepping these and are not baking straight away, allow the meat to cool completely before adding it to the buns.

Seasoning

• After mixing in the mayonnaise, taste the meat mixture for seasoning, if you feel that it needs more salt or onion soup mix, add more to taste.

Baking

• For added flavor, mix a little garlic and onion powder into the melted butter before brushing it on top of the buns.
• After applying the butter and while it is still wet, sprinkle on the sesame seeds, this will make them stick better to the buns.
• Don't like sesame seeds, use poppy seeds or everything bagel seasoning.
• Bake the buns uncovered so they become crispy and golden on top.

Serving Size

A single serve is one slider.

Calories Per Serve

There are 261 calories in a slider based on our ingredients of lean ground beef and low-fat cheese slices.

Serving Suggestions

You could serve just about anything with these cheeseburger sliders, like:

• Fries
• Sauteed potatoes
• Pickles like our quick-picked pink onions, easy carrot pickles, or achar.
• Salads like tomato bocconcini salad, coleslaw, or black bean and avocado salsa.
• Thick vegetable soups like roast tomato and red pepper soup or pumpkin and sweet potato soup.
• and more.

Substitutions

Meat - Our family enjoys ground beef, but you could easily make this recipe with ground turkey, chicken, pork, or a combination of pork and beef mince.

Buns - even though this recipe is for sliders, you don't need to use dinner rolls - use whatever buns you have. For example, you could use: 

• hotdog buns
• hamburger buns
• French sticks
• or you could even use crescent roll buns.

And if they are on the large side, cut them into smaller manageable pieces before baking.

Variations

You can add additional fillings before baking:

• Add a layer of sliced pickles on top of the ground beef before adding the final layer of cheese.
• Create a layer of fried onions on top of the meat.
• Use a different cheese, like Gruyere cheese or swiss.

Storage

Refrigeration – Store leftovers in the fridge for up to three days.

Freezing – These sliders freeze very well and can be frozen for up to 4 months. Please see our Meal Prepping section below for freezing tips.

Reheating

Cold leftover sliders reheat very well. Reheat in the microwave oven uncovered for 15- 20 seconds or until hot.

Meal Prepping

These burgers with onion soup mix can be made ahead of time and frozen.

Make the burgers as instructed in the recipe card but cool the cooked ground beef completely after cooking it before putting it on the buns - this will stop them from going soggy.

Wrap the buns with two layers of aluminum foil and either refrigerate overnight or freeze.

When ready to serve, remove the foil, transfer the buns to a baking tray or cookie sheet, and thaw completely if frozen before baking.

Bake in a preheated 180°C (350°F) for 15 - 20 minutes or until the tops are golden and the cheese has melted.

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