Sweet and Spicy Mini Meatball Sliders

Hello! I hope none of you have been holding your breath waiting on that Meatball Slider recipe. I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get around to posting it. Football recruiting has taken over our lives (as it does every January), and has left us little time for anything else. This is our final recruiting weekend and National Signing Day is next Wednesday...Can I get an AMEN?! I'm really looking forward to getting back to normal, at least to our normal level of crazy.

Without further adieu...

Sweet and Spicy Mini Meatball Sliders

The first thing you need to do is make some meatballs. As crazy as it sounds, the most important thing to know about making meatballs is to not use too much meat in your mixture. Using too much meat makes hard, dense meatballs. I use 1 pound of ground beef, combined with a cup of crushed Saltine crackers (you can use bread crumbs if you prefer), 1 egg, 1 cup finely diced onions, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, salt, pepper and Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning to taste. Gentle mix all your ingredients and form into golf ball sized balls.

Brown meatballs in a small amount of oil, over medium high heat.

While meatballs are cooking make the sauce.

Combine 1 cup of ketchup, 1/3 cup creole or spicy brown mustard, 1 cup brown sugar, Tony's creole seasoning to taste, and a few dashes of hot sauce (I prefer Crystal). You can easily adjust ingredients to your own tastes. Once ingredients are combined, set aside until meatballs are browned.

Once meatballs are browned, add 1 can of Ro-tel tomatoes (including juice) to the meatballs. Cook a couple of minutes until the tomatoes start to break down a bit, then add the sauce to the skillet.

Cook an additional 5 minutes until sauce becomes thick and starts to carmelize.

Spoon 2 meatballs into each roll. I use Hawaiian sweet rolls from my bakery, but any roll will do. Top with remaining sauce and shredded pepperjack cheese.

Broil for a few minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.

This recipe is super easy, economical and a real crowd pleaser. It can also easily be changed to suit your taste. You can use any kind of ground meat (beef, pork, turkey) and your favorite cheese. My version has quite a kick to it, but you can make it less spicy by using mild Ro-tel and omitting the hot sauce. 

Whip some up for the Super Bowl...They're YUMMY!