These little ham and cheese caramelized onion sliders are the best little miniature sandwiches you’ll ever eat (of course we’re a little biased here). They are delicious. And what’s more, they are simple to make.
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If you’ve been on this site and browsed our recipes you noticed that we have several recipes with caramelized onions. Caramelized onions are so good to us that we will put them on damn near anything.
Sure, those little bits of caramelized deliciousness take a long time to make but they are so good that it makes the whole process worthwhile. We went back and forth a little before finally deciding to make the caramelized onions. But once we mentioned them our fate was sealed, we just had to make them. So, a recipe that would take less than 20 minutes became one that required a much larger time investment. But again, so worth it!
But it’s not just the onions that make these sliders irresistible. While the caramelized onions are the star of the show, that smoked ham and guda cheese had main roles in this dynamite ensemble.
You know, for certain foods, brand can matter. Other times the generic/store brand is just fine. When it comes to deli meats we’ll choose the option we find on the intersection of quality and price. We used Sara Lee ham for this recipe and it tasted so good. So juicy, and so tasty. And it was perfect. Not too cheap and not too expensive. It was right in the Goldilocks zone.
As for the cheese, we went with the store brand. We considered using smoked Guda cheese but sometimes smoked cheeses can taste too smoky and end up drowning out all of the other flavors.
For the bread, we went with dinner rolls. You can get whatever is on the shelf. We were concerned with the rolls burning so we went with a “bake and serve” variant. These rolls are white and will brown in the oven.
Okay, so now lets’s cover how to put these little masterpieces together.
The only time-consuming part of this recipe is the caramelized onions. And even those aren’t hard to make, it’s just that they take time. Now, if you are strapped for time, you could definitely omit them. But it would be like cake without icing.
Add butter to a large pan on high heat add the onions and cook for 5 minutes. Then add ¼ cup of liquid water or stock and cook until the liquid has evaporated. Then add 1 teaspoon sugar and cook for 2 minutes. Lower the heat to medium low and add another ¼ cup of liquid. Cook until evaporated. Cook for another 15-20 minutes until the onions are golden brown. Stir occasionally to prevent the onions from burning.
Cut the dinner rolls in half, horizontally.
Spray a pan with pam or other nonstick cooking spray.
Place the bottom half of the rolls in the pan.
Spread a teaspoon or so of caramelized onions onion on the roll bottoms.
Fold a slice of ham so that it fits onto the roll. Repeat to cover all of the roll bottoms.
Place a slice of cheese on top of the ham.
Place the tops of the dinner rolls.
Brush the dinner rolls with melted garlic butter.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Ham Cheese and Caramelized Onion Slider
Ingredients
- 12 Slices of Smoked Ham
- 12 Slices of Gouda Cheese
- 12 Bake and Serve Rolls
- 2 Medium Onions Chopped
- 1 Teaspoon Sugar
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ½ Cup Water
- 1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
Instructions
- Start by chopping up the onions. (See note) Add the oil to a medium pan on high heat. Add the chopped onions and ½ teaspoon of salt cook for 5 minutes to start sweating the onions.
- Add ¼ cup of the water to the pan and lower the heat to medium low and cook until the water evaporates about 5 minutes. Add the sugar and cook for 2 minutes until the sugar dissolves. Add another ¼ cup of water and cook until evaporates about 5 minutes. Continue to cook for another 15 minutes until the onions are a deep golden brown color. Stir occasionally to prevent the onions from burning.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut the rolls in half (horizontally). On the bottom half of the roll add 1 slice of ham, 1 slice of cheese, and ½ teaspoon of caramelized onion. Add the top and put the slider in an 8x8 baking dish.
- Continue with step 4 until all rolls are in the baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes. Serve hot and enjoy!
Notes
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