This recipe is for little party-sized meatball sliders topped with a garlic bread bun. I’ve opted to top the buns with garlic butter then re-bake them to take away the raw edge and give the tops a final crisp up.
These are best straight from the oven, ready to pass around at your next gathering, dinner party, or Americana-themed event.
Aren’t meatball sliders Italian?
Well, sort of.
We have Italian immigrants to the US to thank for these saucy bite-sized meals. They’ve brought us highlights like the New York slice, meatball subs, and vodka sauce pasta (recommend you try it with gochujang).
This recipe makes 10 sliders, because that’s how big a packet of Brioche Gourmet sliders from Woolies (an Australian supermarket) is. It also means each meatball contains a neat 50 grams of meat. The perfect size for the slider buns.
Tips before you begin
- You can pre-prepare the meatballs in advance. Just re-heat them before you place them back on the buns.
- There’s a bit of back and forth in the oven at the end of the recipe. Trust the process. If you place the cheesed up buns topped with garlic butter in all at once the brioche and garlic will burn before the cheese has fully melted. Who wants that?
- When slicing the buns in half, make sure the bottom half is thick enough to hold up to the meatball and sauce.
Meatball sliders with garlic bread buns
Baking the meatballs and sauce instead of cooking them on the stove really reduces the amount of cleaning up, and helps to thicken the red sauce without all that spluttering.
Ingredients
Meatballs
Sauce
To serve
Instructions
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Pre-heat oven to 220℃ (200 fan-forced)
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In a large bowl, add the slice of brioche and milk. Allow it to sit for a few minutes until the bread is soft. Add the meat, pecorino, garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper and mix well. I recommend using your hands or a stand mixer if you really don’t want to touch it.
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Roll the meatball mix into 10 golf ball sized balls, and place in a small baking dish.Make sure the baking dish is large enough to hold the sauce as well.
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Bake for 20 minutes, then remove. Add passata, salt and basil leaves. Return to the oven and bake again for 30 minutes.
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In a small bowl, add the butter, garlic, parsley and pecorino. Mix to combine. Slide brioche sliders in half and lay the bottoms out on a lined baking tray.
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Remove the meatballs from the oven and place one on each brioche half. Top with a slice of mozzarella, then return to the oven for five minutes to slightly melt the cheese.
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Remove again, then add the top of the bun and brush with the garlic butter mix. Return to the oven for an additional five minutes to slightly toast the tops of the buns.
Note
Serving clarification: this recipe makes 10 sliders.
