- Hey, guys, summertime usually means
lots of grilling outdoors, but I remember,
years ago, when I lived in an apartment,
I didn't have a barbecue, and I always felt
left out every summer, so, today,
I am gonna share with you a classic recipe
for a barbecue chicken slider
that you don't need a grill to pull off.
The whole thing can be made in your kitchen,
and in the oven.
Let me show you how to make 'em.
The first thing we're gonna do is roast our chicken.
You're going to begin with two
bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts.
You can just go ahead and just place it on a rack
on a baking sheet, and pop it in a 400- degree oven,
for just about 25 to 30 minutes,
just until everything is cooked through.
Meanwhile, we can make our homemade barbecue sauce.
Now, this is the thing that really sends
this recipe over the edge.
Once you've tasted homemade barbecue sauce,
you're never gonna wanna buy it in a store, ever again.
In a large saucepan, you're going to add a cup of ketchup,
a quarter cup of white wine vinegar,
a third of a cup of packed brown sugar,
just to give it a little bit of sweetness,
and a third of a cup of molasses.
The molasses is going to allow this sauce
to get really thick and syrupy, and that, I think,
is the true hallmark of a great barbecue sauce.
We're gonna add a little bit of heat to give it a kick,
in the form of one-and-a-half teaspoons
of your favorite hot sauce.
We're also gonna add two teaspoons of Dijon mustard,
half a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce,
and two minced garlic cloves.
We're just gonna heat our sauce up on a medium-high flame
for just about 10 to 15 minutes, just until it has a chance
to kind of bubble and thicken.
Once it's ready, you can take it off the heat,
then we can prepare our coleslaw.
Coleslaw is just a classic dish
that really complements barbecued things so well,
and we are going to actually pair both of these
in our little sliders.
In a small bowl, you're going to add two cups
of thinly-sliced green cabbage,
a quarter cup of just thinly-sliced red onion,
you just wanna kind of cut them into half moons,
about a half a carrot that we are going to peel
with a potato peeler, just to create some
nice beautiful ribbons.
We can set our vegetables aside
while we mix in the dressing.
The dressing is simply a third of a cup of mayonnaise,
a tablespoon of white wine vinegar,
a tablespoon of brown sugar,
a tablespoon of Dijon mustard,
then, this is what, really, I think,
is the mark of a great coleslaw, celery seed,
so we're going to add a teaspoon of celery seed.
If you're not familiar with it, you can find it
just in the spice aisle.
What it does is it creates this really beautiful freshness
and a little bit of texture, when you have it in a coleslaw.
If you couldn't find it, you also could use some sesame seed
or even just the black sesame seeds would look pretty too.
Finally, we're gonna add a quarter teaspoon of salt
and some freshly cracked pepper.
You can just stir that all up until it's combined.
(ragtime-style music)
Then you can set that aside.
Once your chicken is cooled,
you can go ahead and remove the skin
and just shred it up with two forks.
This will give you about three cups of chicken.
The nice thing is, all of this could be done the day before,
if you were serving this for a party.
We're gonna take our chicken and place it in a bowl.
We are going to add our barbecue sauce.
At this point, it really just depends on how you like it.
I typically like chicken that has a nice sauciness to it,
especially when paired with the coleslaw,
but, really, it's up to you.
The best thing to do is just spoon it into the chicken
and continue to mix it until you get your desired coverage.
If you have sauce that's left over,
you can also either pour that into a little bowl
and serve it on the side, that people can use for dipping,
or you can pop it in your fridge, it'll last for a few days.
You could even put it in the freezer and it'll last
for at least a month.
Okay, we're in the final stretch.
The next thing we're gonna do is slice
our brioche buns in half.
I really love to use the brioche,
especially with this recipe,
because the sweetness of that bread
pairs so well with the sweetness of the barbecue sauce
and the crunch of that coleslaw.
We're just gonna split them down the center.
We're gonna brush with a little bit of melted butter,
pop them under the broiler for just a few minutes.
You really have to watch it because this bread
does burn pretty quickly.
Once they're done, it's time to assemble.
Here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna take all of our bottoms
and put them on a cutting board.
We're gonna take a little bit of the coleslaw
and place it on the bottom.
On top of that, we're gonna place a little mound
of our delicious barbecue chicken.
You're gonna top with a bun, and there you have it.
A fantastic-looking slider.
I love this recipe because they are great as an appetizer
if you were having a summer party,
or they're also great as a main course.
You could serve everybody about three,
then pair with something like a corn salad,
or a potato salad would be really good.
If you are serving this as a main course,
a great dessert option for this meal would be either my
fruit crumbles, that would be really easy and delicious,
and also, feel very American,
or you could do a blueberry pie, another classic.
I will leave you links to these videos
in the description, or you can click
the annotations as well.
There you have it, my barbecue chicken sliders,
a really delicious barbecue dinner
without the need for a barbecue.
I hope you guys give this one a try
and let me know what you think.
For more great easy recipes, be sure to subscribe.
I will see you back here next week for another one.
Until then, bye.
(ragtime-style music)