Cheesy Chipotle Turkey Sliders
If you have some leftover turkey you are looking to use up, there is no better recipe than these easy and delicious Cheesy Chipotle Turkey Sliders! King's Hawaiian rolls are filled with caramelized onions, smoky seasoning, sharp cheddar and topped with a savory butter sauce for a flavor explosion.
- Prep15 minutes
- Cook20 minutes
- Total35 minutes
- Serves12
If you have some leftover turkey you are looking to use up, there is no better recipe than these easy and delicious Cheesy Chipotle Turkey Sliders! King’s Hawaiian rolls are filled with caramelized onions, smoky seasoning, sharp cheddar and topped with a savory butter sauce for a flavor explosion.
Baked Turkey Sliders
I am so excited to share these Cheesy Chipotle Turkey Sliders with you. My family devoured this easy recipe with sweet and spicy onions, lots of melted sharp cheddar cheese over leftover turkey with rich buttery Hawaiian buns.
Spicy Turkey Slider Recipe
The chipotles in adobo offer just a hint of spice and punch of flavor, but if you love your foods flaming hot, add a couple extra. I was making these turkey sliders for my family and they are old, white and midwestern, so I have to take it easy on the spice level.
My mother, who prefers to stick to her casseroles and roasts, even loved these turkey sliders! I can’t emphasize enough what kind of ringing endorsement that is.
How to Store Chipotles in Adobo
When I open a can of chipotles in adobo sauce, I usually only use one or two and it feels incredibly wasteful to throw out the rest. So I will add the remaining chipotles and sauce to a resealable freezer bag and squish them flat, getting all the air out.
I toss the chipotles in the freezer and when I need one or two chipotles for a recipe like this amazing Chipotle Ranch Chip Dip or my favorite Chipotle Lime Southwest Dressing, I break a piece off. They are really easy to chop up finely when they are frozen and don’t need to be thawed at all.
Chipotles in Adobo Sauce Substitution
If you don’t have any chipotles in adobo on hand for these Cheesy Chipotle Turkey Sliders you can substitute 2 teaspoons of smoked paprika and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, depending on your spice preference.
Leftover Turkey Sliders
I’m hesitant to even share the fact that I don’t love Thanksgiving food all that much, but it is the truth. From roast turkey to corn and mashed potatoes with gravy, those foods just aren’t how I would choose to celebrate with a big feast.
You know what I do love about Thanksgiving food though? Leftover turkey! Using it for a quick and easy protein on recipes like these Cheesy Chipotle Turkey Sliders or Spicy Turkey & Sweet Corn Soup.
How to Make Easy Turkey Sliders
It really doesn’t get much easier than these Cheesy Turkey Sliders. They take 15 minutes of prep work, pop them in the oven for 20 minutes and you have a delicious dinner or game day snack on the table!
To get started, carefully slice the entire pack of Hawaiian buns in half horizontally. While keeping all of the buns attached to one another, remove the top of the buns and set aside.
Place the bottom half of the buns in a sprayed 9×13 pan. Top with the sliced turkey and cheese. If you don’t have leftover turkey available, deli sliced turkey or leftover rotisserie chicken work great.
Meanwhile in a large skillet over medium high heat, sauté the sliced onions in olive oil and season with salt. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are caramelized.
Stir the finely diced chipotle, ground cumin and minced garlic into the onions and cook until fragrant. Layer the onions over the turkey and cheese. Place the tops of the buns over the onions and brush the melted butter and Worcestershire mixture on top of the buns.
Cover the pan with tinfoil and bake at 375° for 10 minutes. Remove the tinfoil from the top of the pan and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes. Serve immediately.
King’s Hawaiian Sliders
The balance of sweet and spicy flavors in this Cheesy Chipotle Turkey Slider recipe is what makes it shine. The Hawaiian rolls add a touch of sweetness that is great but the texture and size of the buns is also perfect.
I tend to use King’s Hawaiian rolls because they are smaller and a bit sweeter. I grabbed a bag of Hawaiian rolls from Whole Foods over Thanksgiving weekend because they didn’t have King’s and I just wasn’t as big of a fan of their buns. I wasn’t a fan of the bill with the $22 container of cooked cranberry squash when checking out either, but that is whole different rant. (I thought it was $11 for the container… not per pound. UGH!)
King’s Hawaiian buns are just my personal preference for sliders, but you can use whatever buns you would like. It is important to note that some other brands make much bigger buns and may require more filling ingredients.
Hawaiian rolls are just perfect for sliders. From Cheesy BBQ Pork Baked Sliders to Cranberry Turkey Baked Sliders, they do the job best in my opinion.
There is nothing better than the sweet buns filled with cheese and meat and topped with that savory butter sauce. The butter crusts up the top and bottom of the buns and is just melt in your mouth heaven.
What Kind of cheese should I use in leftover Turkey Sliders?
For these sliders I used slices of extra sharp cheddar. If you don’t have a pack of sliced cheddar, you could also shred a block of sharp cheddar and achieve the same goal, wiht just a bit more elbow grease involved.
The cheese I would avoid using is pre-shredded cheddar. While it serves it’s purpose for quick and easy recipes, when you want an ooey gooey pull of cheese like you get with these turkey sliders, you really want to use natural cheese and avoid the powdered shreds.
Other types of cheese that would be great on these Cheesy Chipotle Turkey Sliders are Havarti, Manchego or Pepper Jack. Again, slices (not the processed kind with a plastic wrapper) or a block of shredded cheese work equally good.
More easy recipes using leftover turkey!
You will obviously be making these Cheesy Turkey Sliders, because they are phenomenal. But if you still have a few pounds of leftover turkey in your refrigerator that you need to use up over the week, here are some more delicious suggestions.
These popular recipe calls for chicken, but turkey is easily substituted.
- Mini Buffalo Turkey Pizzas
- Cranberry Turkey Quesadillas
- Thai Peanut Crunch Slaw Salad
- Cranberry Farro Salad
- Avocado Corn Chicken Nachos
- Harvest Chicken Quinoa Salad
Notes
Substitute 2 tsp. smoked paprika and 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper, depending on spice preference, for chipotles in adobo.
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