These sweet and spicy Hawaiian Roll Turkey and Cheese Sliders will literally make your life better! They’re made in under 30 minutes using deli style smoked turkey breast, smoked cheddar, cherry peppers and a sweet and smokey brown sugar chili glaze that’s baked onto fluffy Hawaiian buns! If you like my funeral sandwiches recipe that's viral on pinterest, you will LOVE these!
Table of Contents
What are Hawaiian Roll Turkey Sliders?
To make these turkey and cheese sliders, I took the same approach that I use for my funeral roll recipe but added swaeet and smokey undertones.
Instead of ham and swiss, we're using the Boarshead Smoked Turkey and Smoked Cheddar.
The glaze, while pretty much the same as the regular recipe, calls for chili powder which gives it a smokey, slightly spicy taste.
If my family hadn't come over to try one, I could have legit eaten the whole baking dish by myself!
Ingredients & Substitutions
(scroll all the way to the bottom for the exact measurements and printable recipe card)
- Salty Butter - You could use unsalted too. Just add a hefty pinch of salt.
- Brown Sugar - If you don't have brown sugar, you could use white if you must but I'd recommend brown sugar over any other sweetener.
- Chili Powder - You could use any type of chili powder you have - just watch out for the heat factor if you've got a crazy jar of hot chili powder.
- Dijon Mustard - I use a grainy Dijon because it gives it the perfect tang but you could also use honey mustard or a regular grainy mustard if you'd like!
- Worcestershire Sauce - No real substitution for this. I guess you could use fish sauce if you had to but you need the real stuff to make these smoked turkey cheddar sliders!
- Hawaiian Rolls - I like Hawaiian rolls because they're sweet and fluffy and they balance out the salty smokiness of this dish. However you could use yeast rolls or regular slider buns if you were in a pinch.
- Sliced Smoked Turkey - I'm using Boarshead smoked turkey breast that I got at the deli counter but you could also use smoked turkey breast if you're cookin' up a whole bird!
- Smoked Cheddar - If you can't find smoked cheddar you could either use regular sharp cheddar or smoked gouda.
- Cherry Peppers - If you can't find cherry peppers, you can use banana peppers or even the sweet heat banana peppers.
How to make them
Making these sweet and spicy baked smoked turkey cheddar hawaiian roll sliders is super easy! And best of all, they can be done ahead of time or made right away -- whatever works best for you!
To begin, preheat your oven to 350F degrees.
Meanwhile, melt your butter and then whisk it together with brown sugar, chili powder, dijon mustard and worcestershire sauce.
Set this mixture aside and assemble your sandwiches.
Now grab a baking dish and pour in enough of the brown sugar chili sauce to coat the bottom of the pan; about 3-4 tbsp.
Personally I think these sandwiches are supposed to be a little soggy. But if you don't like them soggy, you can skip this step!
Then split the rolls down the middle and pull them apart.
Line the baking dish with the bottom portion of the buns.
Next, lay down the turkey evenly then top with the cheese
Put the upper half of the buns on top. Then pour the remaining brown sugar chili sauce on over them. Make sure to coat and soak each bun.
If you're not eating them right away, cover them tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the cheese has melted.
What Size Baking Dish Should I use?
I've been on the hunt to find the perfect sized baking dish for these types of baked sandwiches for years!
Luckily, Staub sent me a few new baking dishes to try out earlier this month. And to my surprise, one of them is literally the perfect, magical size for funeral sandwiches!
This size fits a whole pack of hawaiian buns and is only $30! It also fits a full pound of pasta which means it's perfect for any one of my baked feta pasta recipes or the ones that are inspired by it!
The dimensions that work best are around 10.5 x 7.5 inches or slightly larger.
If you're interested, you can buy the same Staub Baking Dish that I'm using from my Amazon Affiliates page!
What to Pair them with
These smoked turkey cheddar sliders can be served as a main dish or an appetizer.
If you were serving them as an appetizer, i would also pair them with some buffalo fries, some cajun deviled eggs or even some air fryer shishito peppers with dipping sauce.
And if they were a main, I would definitely make a big pot of rustic tortellini soup or this kale citrus avocado salad.
If you're interested in the original recipe that this one was inspired by, you should def check out these funeral sandwiches with ham and swiss!
Save them for later
If you’d like to save this smoked turkey cheddar slider recipe for later, go for it!!
I absolutely love when you save my recipes on Pinterest! So thank you for that!
And if you don’t already, feel free to follow me for more cheesy goodness!
Recipe
Hawaiian Roll Turkey and Cheese Sliders
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 1 stick salted butter melted
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
For the Sandwiches
- 1 pack Hawaiian Rolls (12 rolls)
- ¾ lb Deli Style Sliced Smoked Turkey such as Boarshead's new Bold PitCraft™ Slow Smoked Turkey Breast
- ½ lb Smoked Cheddar grated
- ½ cup cherry peppers chopped
Instructions
For the Brown Sugar Dijon Sauce
- In a small bowl, whisk together melted butter, brown sugar, chili powder, dijon mustard and worcestershire sauce and set aside.
For the Sandwiches
- Grease a baking pan and pour in enough of the brown sugar chili sauce to coat the bottom of the pan; about 3-4 tbsp.
- Split the rolls down the middle and pull them apart. Line the pan with the bottom portion of the buns.
- Lay down the turkey evenly then top with the smoked cheddar.
- Put the upper half of the buns on top and pour the remaining brown sugar chili sauce on top - making sure to coat and soak each bun. They can sit in the marinade for up to 24 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F degrees and bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the cheese has melted.
