Barbecue Chicken Sliders with Pickled Onions

It's time for me to get together with the lovely ladies who join together once a month for the Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club!

This month's theme was "Best of the Beach'. I confess to being beach challenged - I despise 'em. I will go, look at the pretty waves, dip my feet in the water, and then I am done. When it came time to select a 'best of the beach' recipe I had no clue.

Anyway, I selected these chicken sliders (mis-named IMHO but more on that later). With these mini-sandwiches shredded, grilled chicken thighs are dipped in Carolina-style barbecue sauce, a vinegar-based mix with mustard, a little honey, seasonings, and butter. They are served with some flash pickled onion which adds a delicious contrast to the chicken.

I was worried that Paul would hate these since he is NOT a fan of mustard. I can make a nice sandwich for him some ham, sliced havarti, lettuce, tomato, mayo and if I put a bit of mustard on the bread I am accused of making him a mustard sandwich. Shredded chicken dipped in a mustard based sauce might be too much for him to take.

I need not have worried. He LOVED these, declaring them to be amazing and then asking for the leftovers the next two nights in a row! That, ladies and gentlemen, is high praise.

Now about this 'slider' nonsense . . .

A  slider is a small sandwich, typically around 3 in (7.6 cm) across, served in a bun. The term refers to small hamburgers. The term originated with the fast food chain White Castle, which trademarked the spelling variant "Slyder" and used it between 1985 and 2009.

Sliders have an identity crisis of sorts these days. It seems that anything on a tiny bun is to be called a slider.  BAH

Barbecue Chicken Sliders with Pickled Onions

1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
3 tablespoons sherry vinegar, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons honey, divided
2 tablespoons water
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1 tablespoon butter
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, trimmed
1/8 teaspoon salt
Cooking spray
8 (1.5-ounce) pull-apart dinner rolls (such as Sara Lee)

Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

Combine sliced onion, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 1 1/2 teaspoons honey in a small bowl; toss well. Cover and refrigerate onion mixture at least 30 minutes.

Combine remaining 2 tablespoons vinegar, remaining 1 tablespoon honey, 2 tablespoons water, mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a simmer (do not boil). Simmer 5 minutes; stir in butter. Remove from heat; keep warm.

Sprinkle chicken with remaining 1/2 teaspoon pepper and salt. Place on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from grill; cool slightly. Shred chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add chicken to saucepan with mustard mixture, and toss gently to coat.

Cut rolls in half crosswise. Place rolls, cut sides down, on grill; grill 1 minute or until toasted. Spoon about 1/3 cup chicken mixture over bottom half of each roll. Top each roll with about 1 teaspoon drained onion slices and top half of roll. Serve immediately.

Comments

[bellini]

The name aside I can attest to the fact that these are truly delicious! I made them a while back and simply loved them! Glad you had the taste test too and they are Paul approved.

[giz]

All I can really say is YUM - I would have this over the best steak anytime

[sandi @the whistlestop cafe]

I will let a slyder slide...
beacuse I am also a firm believer that anything in a martini glass is a martini.

[JDeQ]

Now that is a fine point Sandi. I should just let it go then shouldn't I?

I agree giz - far better than a big ol' steak!

I was shocked at the Paul approval on these bellini - perhaps the taste buds are growning . . .

[Kayte]

Oh, I want to make these, and especially those pickles!! LOL on Paul and the mustard...I just counted, we have 17 different kinds of mustard in the frig at the moment...this is a mustard-loving household, we pick up jars everywhere to try. Paul would not be happy allocating that much space to it all. We just returned from the beach (the idea being that none of us would do anything but relax this week...I'm not all that great at relaxing as you can imagine, I don't sit still well, so the beach is a bit of a stretch for me as I can't read on the beach for some reason), I had to laugh at your description of a beach vacation...ditto.

[JDeQ]

It's funny Kayte - for we are a mustard loving house as well - he just doens't know it. People are always giving us mustards as gifts. I add it when I am cooking on a regular basis. I just have to keep from slathering it excessively on his sandwiches!