Most pepperoni sliders stack a few slices on top and call it done. You taste beef, then you taste pepperoni, and never the two in the same bite.
Put a tray of these out at kickoff and you will not make it back to your seat with one. Sauce on somebody’s chin before the first quarter is over, empty tray by halftime, and at least one person asking what you did differently.
Pepperoni ground into the patty and shingled on top of it. Mozzarella melted over both. Six is not a serving size. Six is a start.
🔪 Ingredients for Pepperoni Sliders
Quantities are in the recipe card below.
- Lean ground beef: 85/15 or leaner. The pepperoni brings its own fat and a fattier grind renders into a greasy slider.
- A stick of pepperoni, not pre-sliced: you need to grind part of it, and deli slices turn to confetti in a food processor instead of mincing.
- Garlic
- Fresh basil, plus more for topping
- Marinara: jarred is fine here. It gets warmed and spooned, not simmered, so a thick sauce holds better than a thin one.
- Sliced mozzarella
- Slider buns
- Salt and pepper
📝 How to Make Pepperoni Sliders
- Mince 5 oz of the pepperoni with the garlic in a food processor, pulsing until it looks like coarse sand. Set the rest of the stick aside for the top.
- Mix and shape, barely. Fold the beef, minced pepperoni, salt, pepper, and basil together with your hands until just combined, then form patties a little wider than the buns. Overwork it and they turn springy.
- Press a thumbprint into the center of each and rest them in the fridge 30 minutes to an hour. The dimple keeps them from doming on the grill, and the rest firms them up so they hold together on the grate.
- Preheat a clean grill to medium high, around 400°F to 450°F. Pepperoni fat sticks to a dirty grate faster than plain beef does.
- Grill 5 to 7 minutes, flipping once, to 160°F internal. The patties will look done a minute before they are, so use the thermometer rather than the color.
- Toast the buns cut side down on the cool side while the patties finish, 1 to 2 minutes, until they take on color but still give when you press them.
- Layer pepperoni slices then mozzarella on each patty and close the lid until the cheese slumps over the edges, about 1 minute.
- Build and serve hot: patty on the bun, a basil leaf, a spoonful of warmed marinara over the cheese, top bun on. They do not wait.
🔄 Substitutions
- Ground pork or a beef and pork blend: softer texture, sweeter finish. Drop to 80/20 lean since pork brings less fat than you would think against the pepperoni.
- Hot soppressata or capicola for the pepperoni: both grind well and bring more heat. Salami is too soft and smears instead of mincing.
- Provolone for mozzarella: sharper and it melts just as cleanly. Fresh mozzarella does not work, it weeps water all over the bun.
- Oven instead of grill: broil 4 inches from the element, 4 to 5 minutes a side to 160°F. You lose the char but the pepperoni fat still renders.
- What does not work: pre-sliced deli pepperoni for the ground portion. It shreds rather than minces and you get chewy ribbons through the patty.
💡 Meat Nerd Tips
- Chill the pepperoni before you grind it. Fifteen minutes in the freezer and it minces clean instead of smearing into paste against the blade.
- Do not skip the fridge rest. Thirty minutes is the difference between patties that hold their shape and patties that split on the first flip.
- Warm the marinara separately. Cold sauce on a hot slider drops the temperature of the whole thing and loosens the melted cheese.
- Shape them wider than the bun. Beef pulls in as it cooks, and a patty that starts bun sized ends up a disc floating in the middle of one.
🍽️ What to Serve with Pepperoni Sliders
- Extra warmed marinara on the side for dunking
- Kettle chips or thick cut fries, salted while hot
- A sharp giardiniera or pickled pepper relish to cut the fat
- More trays from our potluck sliders roundup when one is not enough
🧊 Leftovers and Storage
- Store the parts separately: patties in an airtight container, buns out on the counter. Assembled sliders go soggy within the hour.
- Fridge: cooked patties keep 3 to 4 days.
- Reheat: covered skillet over medium low with a splash of water for 3 to 4 minutes. The microwave turns the rendered pepperoni fat greasy.
- Freezer: freeze raw shaped patties on a sheet pan, then bag them, up to 3 months. Grill from frozen and add about 3 minutes.
Pepperoni Sliders
Ingredients
- 1 lbs lean ground beef
- 1 7 oz stick pepperoni sliced
- 2 cloves garlic
- salt and pepper
- 1/3 cup fresh basil minced
- 1/2 cup marinara sauce warmed
- mozarella cheese
- slider buns split
- additional fresh basil for topping if desired
Instructions
- Pulse 5 oz of the pepperoni and the garlic cloves in the bowl of a food processor until finely minced. Set the remaining pepperoni aside.
- In a bowl, combine the ground beef, minced pepperoni, garlic, salt, pepper, and basil. Toss to mix and gently form into patties large enough for the slider rolls. Press your thumb into the center of each to make a small indentation. Cover and let rest in fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
- Meanwhile, clean your grill grate and preheat it to medium high.
- Place patties on grill and cook 5 to 7 minutes, flipping once. Arrange buns, cut side facing up on cool side of grill to toast. Place a few slices of pepperoni on each and top with mozzarella slices. As it melts it will hide the pepperoni and melt up towards the tops of the buns.
- Serve the patties with a fresh basil leaf and a spoonful of warmed marinara sauce topped with the cheese bun.
Save this Recipe
Would You Like to Send This Recipe to Yourself?
Nutrition
Bookmark this recipe now!
Feeding a crowd? Work through our potluck sliders and potluck appetizers roundups, then try the hot Italian sub sliders for the same build in sandwich form, or the hot ham and cheese sliders when you want something milder on the same tray.
Quick Summary
Half the pepperoni gets ground into the beef so it bastes the patty from the inside, the rest goes on top under melted mozzarella. Grill to 160°F, toast the buns on the cool side, and finish with warm marinara. The one thing to get right is the fridge rest before grilling.
❓ FAQs
Yes. Broil them 4 inches from the element for 4 to 5 minutes a side, to 160°F internal. You lose the char, but the pepperoni fat still renders into the patty, which is where most of the flavor comes from.
A whole stick rather than pre-sliced deli pepperoni. You need to mince part of it in a food processor, and slices shred into chewy ribbons instead of grinding down. Chill the stick for 15 minutes first so it minces cleanly.
Shape them up to a day ahead and keep them covered in the fridge, which doubles as the rest the recipe calls for. For longer, freeze them raw on a sheet pan, then bag them for up to 3 months and grill from frozen with about 3 extra minutes.
Almost always the rest. Cold, rested patties hold together where freshly mixed ones split on the first flip. Overmixing does it too, so fold the pepperoni into the beef only until it is combined.
Save this Recipe
Enter your email address to send this right to your inbox.
Gimme. Gimme. Gimme. Five….or more. Heading to the store for pepperoni today. I just can’t not.
Damn!
These look tasty.
ha it’s so true! Whenever I bring treats into the lab, everyone cuts them into small pieces to make themselves feel better, but in the end they end up eating more than if they had just taken the one bigger piece!