Way back in 2010, in the early days of Our Best Bites, my original blog partner, Kate, and I travelled to Des Moines, IA to participate in a cook off at the Better Homes and Gardens test kitchens. We showed up with this killer recipe for BBQ Bacon Sliders with Blue Cheese and Crispy Onions to wow the judges, and we won the cook off!
The burgers are grilled up to perfection with a delicious BBQ sauce, then assembled with fresh rolls, a tangy blue cheese spread, smoky bacon, and crispy onions. These little sliders could easily be made as full sized burgers as well. I promise these won’t disappoint!
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
Burgers
- High quality 85/15 ground Angus – The fat in the beef results in a juicy, flavorful burger.
- BBQ sauce – You can use your favorite store-bought BBQ sauce here, or make your own Kansas City Barbecue Sauce, like we did.
- Salt and pepper
- Dinner rolls – Or Hawaiian sweet rolls.
- Lettuce leaves – Choose a sturdy, flavorful lettuce. I would avoid iceberg.
- Bacon
- Crispy shoestring onions – Cook up a batch of Crispy Shoestring Onions to top your burger. Although not exactly the same, you could substitute store-bought fried onions. You can also leave them off if you aren’t a fan. Caramelized onions would be great here, too.
Garlic Blue Cheese Spread
- Mayonnaise – Use a good quality mayo like Duke’s or Best Foods/Hellman’s.
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Red wine vinegar
- Fresh garlic
- Crumbled blue cheese – Not a fan of blue cheese? You can leave it out, or use a smaller amount.
How to Make BBQ Bacon Sliders
- First you’ll whip up a garlic blue cheese spread and pop it in the fridge until needed. This mayo is kicked up a notch with blue cheese, fresh garlic, and red wine vinegar. You’ll want to make sure you have some bacon cooked up as well.
- The patties are mixed up with beef, bbq sauce, and salt and pepper then grilled to perfection on the grill and glazed with a little extra sauce.
- Once cooked, you’ll assemble your sliders on dinner rolls with the garlic blue cheese spread, lettuce, bacon, beef patties, and crispy shoestring onions. To die for!
Storing and Other Tips
- These sliders are best eaten fresh off the grill!
- Feel free to make these full-sized if you’d like.
Frequently Asked Questions
These are best eaten fresh off the grill! If you want to plan ahead, the BBQ sauce and garlic blue cheese spread could be made ahead of time. You could even mix up and form your patties a few hours before cooking. Just cover tightly with plastic and store in the fridge until ready to cook.
I have only made this recipe with high quality beef. Feel free to experiment with other ground meats, just make sure they have some fat in them to keep the patties juicy. I would not use plain ground turkey breast, which tends to be dry and flavorless.
BBQ Bacon Sliders with Blue Cheese and Crispy Onions
Ingredients
Burgers
- 1½ lbs high-quality 85/15 ground Angus
- ½ cup BBQ sauce or your favorite bottled BBQ sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 8-10 dinner rolls, small, white or Hawaiian sweet rolls, sliced in half and toasted if desired
- 8-10 crisp lettuce leaves
- 8-10 slices bacon cooked crisp
- crispy shoestring onions or store bough fried onions
Garlic Blue Cheese Spread
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 clove garlic pressed or finely minced
- ¼ cup crumbled blue cheese Not a blue cheese fan? Leave it out!
Instructions
Garlic Blue Cheese Spread
- Combine mayonnaise, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and garlic. Mix well and stir in crumbled blue cheese. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.
Burgers
- Heat a grill pan on the stove top, or an outdoor grill to medium-high heat. Combine beef, 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce, salt and pepper. Divide and shape mixture into 8-10 3/4"-thick patties (keep the size of your buns in mind as wells the fact that the burgers will shrink quite a bit while cooking when shaping the patties). Grill for 2-3 minutes and then flip. Brush the top side of each burger with remaining sauce. Continue grilling for another 2 minutes and flip burgers again, brushing the other side with additional sauce. Continue to cook and baste until the internal temperature of the burgers reach 160-165℉.
Assembly
- Lightly spread the bottom half of each bun with Garlic Blue Cheese Spread and top with a lettuce leaf. Break each bacon piece in half and place on top of lettuce leaves. Place burger on top and drizzle with additional barbecue sauce if desired. Top with a small handful of Crispy Shoestring Onions. Spread remaining Garlic Blue Cheese Spread on top halves of buns.
Questions & Reviews
Made these tonight…the rolls, the onions, the sauce….everything!!!
It was amazing!!!
Still voting!!! You guys are so awesome and doing awesome in the competition. Good luck!
I voted! I agree with other readers – remind us on FB each day.
I discovered your site about two weeks ago, and I think I'm on recipe #10 or so. I've even made some of them twice (like the apple streusel bars…Oh.My.Gosh!). I end up just reading your recipes for the entertainment value (I especially like the comment about eating the no-bake Reeses peanut butter filling while watching the Biggest Loser – that's exactly where I was headed after tasting that stuff!).
LOVE your site – you girls are fantastic!!
My sister in law Katie and I made these for our guys Sunday. We both don't like blue cheese but decided to use the spread anyways. Can I just say YUMMMY! It was a huge hit! My husband mentioned he couldn't wait for the next time around. Hope you all win.
Mmmm, this looks so good! I can't wait for an excuse to make them. I love bleu cheese!
And I voted for you guys! A couple times now. I hope you win – I'm sure you will!
I love Bleu cheese on burgers (and anything else!) I voted and I will be making these yummy burgers this week! Hope y'all win!
LOVE You Girls!! Actually borderline obsessed with your blog … thanks for keeping your recipes and site real and do-able to those of us still learning the ropes of the kitchen!! Thanks You, Thank YOu!! Don't know where dinner would be today without you. YUM!! So happy for the success of your blog 🙂 VoTing!!!
Good luck! Your blog has been a lifesaver for me — you guys totally deserve to win in my humble opinion!
Looks delish!! You girls are WAY ahead on the voting charts! way to go!!!! 🙂
You had my vote at bacon and crispy onions. Good luck!!