Creamy, cheesy, spicy shredded chicken is the star of these delicious little buffalo chicken sliders on Hawaiian Rolls. An easy coleslaw topping makes chicken sliders with buffalo sauce absolutely perfect!
Tiny sandwiches, stuffed with tender, cool, creamy, crunchy slaw and flavorful buffalo chicken are going to be perfect for dinner on a busy night, a quick day snack, as an appetizer on game day, or on your next holiday party spread.
What’s not to love about Buffalo chicken? It’s tangy, perfectly spicy, buttery, and ultra tasty.
Plus, shredded buffalo chicken is simple to make! While you can make shredded chicken in the crockpot, or boiled chicken breasts, for this recipe I find it easier to sear chicken breasts in a skillet and finish them in the oven before shredding and seasoning them with wing sauce and ranch dressing.
If you love Buffalo chicken recipes, be sure to grab my recipe for Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Dip too!
And check out all of my other slider recipes: BBQ Chicken Sliders, Cheeseburger Sliders, and Pizza Sliders are fan favorites for game day.
Why You’ll Love This Buffalo Chicken Slider Recipe
- Buffalo Chicken – Everyone loves buffalo wings, and these sandwiches have all of the flavor of wings, in a handheld mini sandwich.
- Tasty Textures – I love adding cold crispy slaw to baked sandwiches. The contrast of hot and cold, spicy and cool is like a party in your mouth!
- Easy Appetizer– Making buffalo chicken sliders is much more simple than frying chicken wings or buffalo shrimp. You can even prepare most of the recipe ahead of time, so you can simply assemble and bake the sliders when you’re ready to eat.
Ingredients In Buffalo Chicken Sliders
This is everything you need to make chicken slider sandwiches:
- Chicken: A pound of boneless skinless chicken breasts is just enough to make this recipe, and I’ll show you how to cook it quickly on the stove. You can also use shredded chicken you’ve already made, or the meat from a rotisserie chicken.
- Ranch Dressing: This savory creamy sauce gives the chicken lots of flavor. Bottled ranch is fine, but homemade ranch will be extra delicious.
- Frank’s Buffalo Sauce: A must for any buffalo-style recipe! This is the hot sauce that makes chicken wings spicy and tangy. Look for the Frank’s bottle that’s labeled “Red Hot Wings – Buffalo“, or use Franks Red Hot Original to make an easy Buffalo Wing Sauce with butter and honey. Be sure not to use the original hot sauce by itself, or your sandwiches will be too spicy!
- Hawaiian Sweet Rolls: I like the classic sweet Hawaiian rolls in this recipe, but you can try the other varieties of slider-sized rolls too.
- Sharp Cheddar Cheese: This will be melted over the creamy buffalo chicken. Grate the cheese yourself for the best flavor. Another good option is Monterey jack cheese mixed with mozzarella cheese, or slices of provolone cheese or Swiss cheese.
- Butter and Italian Seasoning: Hawaiian Roll sliders are best when they’re baked with melted butter brushed on top. A bit of Italian seasoning gives them an extra bit of flavor too.
- Coleslaw: The crunchy topping for this buffalo sliders recipe is made with bagged coleslaw mix, mayo, fresh lime juice, salt, and pepper. If you’re in a hurry, you can just shred iceberg lettuce instead of making a slaw.
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
How To Make Buffalo Chicken Sliders
Start by preheating the oven to 350°F/180°C. Spray or lightly butter a 7×11-inch rimmed baking sheet.
- Cook Shredded Chicken: Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. In a skillet, heat olive oil and sear the chicken breasts on both sides, then transfer the pan to the oven, and bake for 15 minutes, or until the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165°F/74°C. Remove from the oven, let the chicken rest for 5 minutes, then shred it using two forks. Alternatively, you can cook the chicken in the slow cooker.
- Make it Buffalo Style: Combine the shredded chicken with ranch dressing and buffalo sauce in a mixing bowl.
Tip!
Use an oven-safe skillet such as cast iron or stainless steel so that you can easily transfer the chicken from the stovetop to the oven!
- Slice the Rolls: Slice the slider buns in half using a serrated knife to separate the tops from the bottoms. Leave the individual rolls attached to each other.
- Add the Chicken: Place the bottom rolls piece on the prepared pan, and top with shredded buffalo chicken.
- Bake: Add shredded cheddar over the chicken, then place the top rolls on. Brush with melted butter that’s been mixed with Italian seasoning, and bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.
- Mix the Coleslaw: while the sliders are baking, mix shredded cabbage mix with mayo, lime juice, salt, and pepper. You can also add a minced clove of garlic if desired.
- Add the Slaw: Remove the sandwiches from the oven, and carefully pull off the top buns. It’s ok if some of the cheese sticks to bread and some sticks to the chicken. Spread the slaw on top of the chicken, then replace the top rolls.
Recipe Tips
- Serve with Dip and Celery Sticks! Ranch Dressing or Blue Cheese Dressing are both delicious with Buffalo chicken sliders. Celery and carrot sticks are also the perfect accompaniment, and french fries would be amazing here.
- Can’t find Hawaiian Rolls? Pick up a package of dinner rolls instead. Look for the kind that are already cooked and stuck together in a rectangular package.
- A 7×11-inch baking pan is the perfect size for a package of King’s Hawaiian rolls. If you have a standard Pyrex baking dish, it’s probably the right size. You can also bake sliders in a 9×9 pan, you just need to arrange them differently.
- Use a serrated knife to slice Hawaiian rolls. Since they’re so soft, a regular knife will have a hard time sliding through them without squishing the bread.
- To adjust the spice level, add more or less buffalo sauce. If I’m not serving this for kids, I like a spicy buffalo sauce. Use any leftover hot sauce to make this easy Buffalo Chicken Pasta dish!
Storing Tips
These sliders are best when you eat them shortly after making them. If you think there will be leftovers, wait to add the slaw.
Store the baked buffalo chicken sliders in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. When you’re ready to eat them, reheat the sandwiches, and add fresh coleslaw.
What To Serve With Buffalo Chicken Sliders
Having a Party? Chicken Sliders are perfect party food appetizers. Be sure to put out a delicious spread, and include other snacks like homemade Stromboli and my easy Cheeseburger Dip.
Make it a Sliders Party! Give your guests some mini sandwich options. You’ll find simple recipes for ham and cheese sliders, pizza sliders, cheeseburger sliders, turkey sliders, and french dip sliders here.
Don’t Forget Dessert. After all of these savory snacks, you’ll want something sweet. Make a batch of gooey Carmelitas or an easy old-fashioned Mayonnaise Cake to share.
Recipe FAQs
Absolutely! The buttery sweetness of the rolls is the perfect canvas for a sandwich made from spicy, zesty chicken and creamy coleslaw.
If you cook and prepare the shredded buffalo chicken and store it in the refrigerator, you will be almost finished with the recipe, and can just assemble and bake it before you’re ready to eat.
You can easily double this recipe to feed a larger group. As written this recipe makes 12 mini sandwiches, you can double the recipe to make 24 chicken sliders on a rimmed baking sheet, or double that again and make two sheets!
More Buffalo Style Recipes
These Buffalo Chicken Sliders are the perfect appetizer for your next party! Save this recipe for the big game, or add it to your dinner menu plan for the week. Don’t forget to Pin it!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Buffalo Chicken Sliders
Ingredients
- 1 pound (450 grams) chicken breasts skinless and boneless
- Salt and pepper to taste, to season the chicken
- 2 tablespoons olive oil not extra virgin
- ½ cup (120 grams) ranch dressing
- ½ cup (120 grams) Frank’s buffalo sauce
- 12 Hawaiian sweet rolls
- 2 cups (225 grams) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons (28 g) melted butter
- ½ teaspoon italian seasoning
- 2 cups (140 grams) coleslaw mix
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) fresh lime juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Spray or lightly butter a 7×11” rimmed sheet with softened butter, and preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. In a skillet, heat olive oil and sear the chicken from both sides, then transfer to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the thickest part of the chicken reaches 165°F/74°C. Remove from the oven (don’t switch it off), let the chicken rest for 5 minutes then shred with 2 forks.
- In a bowl, combine the shredded chicken with ranch dressing, and buffalo sauce.
- Slice the rolls lengthwise leaving them intact, and place the bottom half in the prepared pan.
- Spread the chicken mixture on the bottom rolls evenly, and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Cover with the top buns over the cheese.
- Combine melted butter with italian seasoning in a small bowl. Brush the buns with melted butter mix. Bake in the oven uncovered for 10-15 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
- Make the slaw, combine coleslaw mix with mayo, lime juice, salt and pepper.
- When the sliders are ready and out of the oven, carefully lift the top part of the rolls and spread the slaw on top of the cheese then return the top rolls. Serve with extra ranch dressing on the side.
Notes:
- Use the right sauce. Look for the Frank’s bottle that’s labeled “Red Hot Wings – Buffalo“, or use Franks Red Hot Original to make an easy Buffalo Wing Sauce with butter and honey. Be sure not to use the original hot sauce by itself, or your sandwiches will be too spicy!
- To adjust the spiciness, you can use more or less hot sauce in your buffalo sauce, or look for Franks wing sauce in “mild” or “hot” varieties.
- Can’t Find Hawaiian Rolls? Try using packaged soft dinner rolls instead.
- A 7×11-inch baking pan is the perfect size for a package of King’s Hawaiian rolls. If you have a standard Pyrex baking dish, it’s probably the right size. You can also bake sliders in a 9×9 pan, you just need to arrange them differently.
- Use a serrated knife. Hawaiian rolls are very soft, so a regular straight knife will crush them. A serrated knife does the best job of slicing through them easily.
- To make the rolls super simple to slice, place the whole package in the freezer for about 15 minutes before you cut them.
- You can make shredded chicken by boiling the chicken breasts rather than using this method. The sandwiches are also delicious with rotisserie chicken!
- To Store: These sliders are best when you eat them shortly after making them. If you think there will be leftovers, wait to add the slaw. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days. When you’re ready to eat them, reheat the sandwiches, and add fresh coleslaw.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Natasha says
These are the best appetizers, our new favorite at home!
Little Sunny Kitchen says
I’m so happy to hear that these are a family favorite, Natasha! Thank you for the great review
Caroline Y says
We couldn’t possibly love these any more! My whole family devoured them.
Little Sunny Kitchen says
Thanks for the kind review, Caroline! So glad to hear that it was a hit.