Cheesy Italian Meatball Sliders with Garlic Butter
These easy meatball sliders are perfect for game day! Made with easy homemade meatballs, melty cheese, red sauce and brushed with garlic butter.
When you’re craving meatball subs but need to make them for a crowd, make this easy meatball sliders recipe! These cheesy meatball sliders are the perfect individual sandwiches for the big game or a small get together.
These meatball sliders are more substantial appetizer made with simple ingredients. The perfect addition to a spread of dips, veggie trays and maybe something like these Nashville Hot Cauliflower Bites, or some Hawaiian Pizza Crescent Rolls.
Each mini delicious Italian sandwich is layered with 1-2 homemade meatballs. On top of each meatball, I put marinara sauce, melted cheese and herbs! I definitely don’t want you to be intimidated by the idea of making homemade meatballs.
If you don’t feel like making your own meatballs, you can absolutely purchase some at the grocery store! I have some suggestions below.
For the best results, I recommend assembling your sliders right before you eat them! With the marinara sauce, the buns can get pretty soggy if they’re left to sit for a while.
Need more easy recipes that are perfect for game day? Check out all of my appetizer recipes on Blackberry Babe.
Substitutions
Feel free to use premade meatballs to save a bit of time. Choose Italian meatballs if possible. Make sure to prepare any frozen meatballs to package instructions first.
- Substitute ground chicken to make Italian chicken meatballs to use on these sandwiches. You could call them Chicken Parmesan Sliders. Yum!
- Substitute Hawaiian sweet rolls or dinner rolls for the slider roll. Or, use garlic bread! Garlic bread meatball sliders sound pretty amazing to me!
- Use your favorite sauce or make this homemade marinara sauce.
- For these meatball cheese sliders, I used slider buns! You can absolutely use Hawaiian rolls if you want to make pull apart meatball sliders.
Looking for more amazing slider recipes? I really love my Cranberry Turkey sliders! You can make them with leftover Thanksgiving turkey, or deli turkey.
Meatball Sliders Serving Suggestions:
Pair these juicy meatballs sliders with a few more festive appetizer recipes! I think these sliders are delicious when paired with Fried Mac and Cheese Bites, this Spicy Ranch Cheese Ball, Bacon Wrapped Water Chestnuts, or my Candied Bacon Baked Brie.
Or, serve these meatball sliders as the perfect meal for the whole family! It’s an easy meal idea when served with garlic bread, Italian Penicillin Soup, and salad.
Storing Leftover Meatballs
Store leftover meatballs in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
The cooked meatballs can also be frozen if the meat was not previously frozen. Allow them to cool completely before putting them in a freezer-safe container. Defrost before reheating in a skillet until hot, about 8-10 minutes.
Looking for more meatball recipes? I recommend my Pork Meatballs with BBQ sauce! They are awesome served with mashed potatoes!
Cheesy Italian Meatball Sliders
These easy meatball sliders are perfect for game day! Made with easy homemade meatballs, melty cheese, red sauce and brushed with garlic butter.
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1 24-ounce jar pasta sauce marinara sauce
- 10-12 slider buns or King's Hawaiian rolls
- (optional) fresh basil or parsley
For the meatball ingredients:
- 1 pound ground beef
- ⅓ cup bread crumbs
- ⅓ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 large egg
For the garlic butter mixture:
- 4 tablespoons melted butter, salted
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon parsley
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- First, make the meatball mixture. Combine beef, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, parsley, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic, and egg in a large bowl. Mix with hands or spoon until meatball mixture has formed.
- Portion out your meatballs with hands or cookie scoop, then roll in hands to form meatballs. Continue with remaining mixture. You should get 18-21 meatballs.
- Heat a non-stick large skillet to medium heat. Add a little olive oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add meatballs and brown on all sides, about 1-2 minutes per side until a light golden brown color begins to form.
- Remove from heat, pour sauce over meatballs, then top with mozzarella cheese. Cover the skillet, and return to the burner over medium-low heat.
- Allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through and the cheese has melted. Garnish with optional herbs.
- Assemble the sliders. Place two meatballs on each bottom bun, making sure that marinara sauce and cheese is scooped up along with each meatball.
- Add the top buns
- Prepare the garlic butter. Melt butter in a small bowl, Add garlic, salt and parsley flakes. Brush garlic butter on top of the sliders with a pastry brush.
- Serve warm.
Notes
If you don't want to finish your meatballs on the stovetop, you can bake them! Transfer the seared meatballs to a baking dish or rimmed sheet pan before you top each meatball with sauce and cheese, then bake for about 15 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
