These Sausage and Caramelized Onion Sliders are fantastic party food or fun lunch idea. Use vegan sausage or Italian sausage meat for these sausage sliders.
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time40 minutesmins
Total time if using pre-made caramelized onions15 minutesmins
1tablespoonbrown sugar(optional, or use white sugar)
1pinchsalt
Spicy mayo sauce
½cupmayonnaise
2tablespoonsketchupor more to taste
1tablespoonsrirachaor more to taste
Instructions
Prepare the caramelized onions
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and add the sliced yellow onions. Cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat for 20 minutes, taking care not to burn the onions. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, and salt. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, for another 10-20 minutes, or until the onions are cooked to your liking. If you like a stronger balsamic flavor, add a small splash of balsamic vinegar right before turning off the stove.
Cook the sausage
Scoop out 3-4 tablespoons of ground sausage mixture with your hands and form a thin patty that is the same size as your slider buns. **OR** Use pre-made patties.
Heat ½ tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet. Add the sausage patties and cook for 2-3 minutes per side, or until sausage is brown and fully cooked.
Prepare the spicy mayo sauce
Combine the mayo, ketchup, and sriracha in a small bowl and mix.
Assemble the sliders
Toast the buns. Spread some mayo sauce on the bottom bun. Top with a cooked sausage patty and 1-2 tablespoons of caramelized onions. Enjoy!
Notes
Tips for how to make these sliders no matter what kind of sausage you start with:
Breakfast sausage patties (vegan *or* pork) - these are the perfect size for sausage sliders and are ready to cook as-is!
Italian sausages - use your hands to squeeze out the sausage meat out of the casings into a bowl, then form small patties with your hands. 1 lb of sausage is typically 4-5 sausage links.
Ground sausage meat - this is sold packaged like ground beef, and is ready to use and form into patties.
You can use an onion jam / onion spread (such as this or this) instead of making caramelized onions. The packaged stuff is usually much sweeter (more like a jam) so it all depends on whether you would like that with sausage, but it will cut this recipe down to a total of about 10 minutes!