Restaurant-Style Sliders

I love sliders.  Cute little hamburgers!  Many restaurants carry these on their menu for about $7-8 including fries.  Now you can make them at home and not only make as many as you want, but also control the ingredients and calories.  Almost all restaurants use hamburger that is 80/20.  I used ground turkey and they tasted great!  You can also make your own slider buns by following this easy bread machine friendly recipe (Honey Wheat Rolls) or use Dollar Rolls from the store.

Restaurant-Style Sliders
yield 6 sliders

2 Tbs. butter or trans-fat free margarine
1/2 lb. ground hamburger (80/20 if want the true taste of restaurant; I use ground turkey)
1 large yellow onion, sliced thinly (not cut in half but just thin rings so that your onion cooks down into yummy strings)
salt and pepper
small pinch of sugar
2 slices of American Cheese (I used Kraft’s Deli Deluxe American cheese.  I like how thick it is.)
6 sliders buns (I found these at Schnucks our local store.  They were perfect!  I was too tired to make my own buns)

1.  Into a medium skillet, add butter and melt on medium-high.  Once melted, add onions.  Toss to coat in the melted butter.  Reduce heat to medium/medium-low.  Cook for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.  Add pinch of salt and small pinch of sugar.   Cook and stir until brown and translucent (this took 10-15 minutes for me)
2.  While onion is cooking, form the hamburger into small patties the size of the slider buns.  Sprinkle each side with salt and pepper.  Cook in a large skillet on medium/med-high heat until meat is done/cooked-through.
3.  Tear the American cheese into slices the size of the hamburger.  Place on top of the hamburger that is still in the skillet.  Using tongs or a fork, place your cooked onions on top of the cheese.  Allow cheese to melt.
4.  Toast your slider buns (sliced in the middle of course)  in another skillet, a toaster oven, or for added flavor this is what I did:  I scooted the cooked onions over in the medium skillet over to the side.  While on low/medium, I toasted the buns in the leftover onion juices in the skillet.  Doesn’t dirty up another dish and it tastes great!  Toast the flat side of each bun approximately 2 minutes.
5.  Take your hamburger topped with cheese and onions and place in the toasted bun.  Some restaurants also put a dill pickle on top, but I thought the strong flavor of our Claussen Dill pickles would overpower the onion/cheese and hamburger goodness.  I’m glad I didn’t add a pickle.. but you can add one if you want!