Meatball-Stuffed Garlic Bread Sliders

Up your football party game with Chef John's fun garlic bread sliders: pull-apart dinner rolls stuffed with beef meatballs, cheese, and tomato sauce.

• Preparation Time: 25 mins
• Cooking Time: 40 mins
• Total Time: 1 hr 5 mins
• Calories: 400 Calories

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 5 cloves garlic, minced, divided
• 2 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley, plus more for garnish
• 1 cup shredded fontina cheese, divided
• 18 dinner rolls
• 2 cups spicy tomato sauce
• 0.25 cup plain bread crumbs

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Step 2

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and 2 cloves garlic; cook and stir until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.

Step 3

Place beef in a large bowl. Add onion-garlic mixture, parsley, egg, bread crumbs, and 1 large handful of fontina cheese, reserving the rest for topping. Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Mix by hand until just combined. Scoop meat mixture into 24 mini muffin cups; meatballs need not be perfectly round.

Step 4

Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the centers, about 12 minutes. Leave oven on. Let meatballs cool briefly while you make the garlic butter.

Step 5

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add remaining minced garlic once butter starts to bubble; stir, then immediately remove from heat. Stir well and set aside.

Step 6

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil; coat foil with remaining olive oil. Transfer rolls, still attached, to the baking sheet. Cut a hole in the top of each roll, about 2/3 of the way down. Brush garlic butter over the insides and outsides of the rolls.

Step 7

Bake until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Pour about 1 tablespoon tomato sauce into each hole. Stuff meatballs into the holes. Top each roll with a spoonful of tomato sauce and remaining fontina cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

Step 8

Continue baking until cheese is melted, 12 to 15 minutes. Garnish with more parsley. Let rolls sit for 5 to 10 minutes to firm up; transfer to a serving platter.