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These are my favorite Cowboy Butter Steak Sliders I make every year for our game day parties. From the juicy grilled tenderloin to the zesty, herby cowboy butter-smothered buns and melty havarti cheese, these mini steak sandwiches are soft, tender, and melt right in your mouth.
Behind This Steak Sliders Recipe
Looking for an impressive slider recipe to make for your friends and family on the grill? These cheesy steak sliders are the perfect choice, with the ultimate flavor punch: Juicy cowboy butter steak. The homemade cowboy butter is full of deliciously fresh flavors like lemon juice and zest, fresh parsley, thyme, chives, and garlic with a kick of heat. Once you try it, I assure you will want to smother it over everything you make, from slider buns to chicken tenders. 🙂
I’ll admit, it was hard for me to top my most popular honey mustard chicken sliders and these Philly cheesesteak sliders. But when it comes to a tender cut of quality steak, nothing else competes. So I have to declare this my favorite sandwich I’ve ever made. My husband agrees!
Don’t have a grill? You can easily prepare your steaks in a cast iron skillet indoors, basting them with cowboy butter throughout the cooking process. I’ve added instructions in the recipe card notes.
Key Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make these delicious steak and cheese sliders with cowboy butter. See the recipe card for the exact measurements.
Steak: Select a Choice-Grade steak and a premium cut like ribeye, filet, or NY Strip. I am using tenderloin (filet mignon).
Havarti Cheese: You can use any type of mild, melty cheese. Fontina works as well. I got Boar’s Head brand from the specialty cheese counter.
Slider Rolls: Slider-sized rolls are perfect, like King’s Hawaiian.
Butter: Arguably the star of this dish apart from the steak!
Aromatics: Onion, freshly minced garlic, chives, parsley, and fresh lemon create the aromatic flavor base for the cowboy butter.
Seasonings: Cayenne and red pepper flakes bring the heat, along with thyme, paprika, salt, and pepper for depth of flavor.
Dijon: Just a dollop of Dijon in the cowboy butter rounds out the flavors. Even if you aren’t a “mustard person,” you will love it! You don’t taste mustard.
How to Make Cowboy Butter Steak Sliders
These steak sliders are surprisingly easy to prepare, and you can even assemble them in advance.
Prepare the Steak
Prepare the steaks by trimming any excess fat and silver skin if needed. Afterward, rub the steaks all over with oil and season them well on all sides with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. If your steaks are thicker, season more heavily.
Once seasoned, wrap the steaks in plastic wrap, and then place them in the fridge for a few hours.
Make the Cowboy Butter
Meanwhile, in a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat, whisking continually. Add lemon juice and zest, garlic, dijon, and dry seasonings. Then, remove the pan from the heat and add chives and fresh parsley. Salt and pepper to taste. Spoon out a few tablespoons into a small bowl for use on the steaks as they grill. Set aside the remaining butter for slider buns.
Cook the Steaks
Remove the seasoned steaks from the fridge and let them rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat the grill to medium-high. Cook steaks over direct heat for about 2-3 minutes per side, being sure not to char them.
If high flames appear, move the steaks to indirect heat until the flame subsides. Brush both sides of the steaks with cowboy butter as they cook.
After 5-6 minutes of total cook time, move the steaks to indirect heat until desired temperature is reached. Remove and allow steaks to rest on a plate with tented foil for 10 minutes before slicing.
Caramelize the Onions
Now, place a cast iron skillet on the grill over direct heat. You can also do this on the stovetop, if needed. Add a few tablespoons of butter to the skillet; once it melts, add the sliced onions. Allow onions to cook until caramelized, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
Assemble the Steak Sliders
Preheat the oven to broil and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Next, separate the slider rolls and brush the inside of the buns with all remaining cowboy butter.
Add the sliced Havarti cheese to the top and bottom buns. Then, add the grilled onions to the bottom buns.
Place a few strips of sliced steak per bottom bun. Broil for 1-2 minutes, or until the cheese begins to melt. Place the top sliders over the steak, slice and enjoy!
Tools I Love For These Steak Sliders
More Slider Recipes to Try
Game day and sliders go hand in hand, don’t they? In addition to these buttery steak sliders, I’d recommend my BBQ brisket sliders, rib-eye sliders, and Hawaiian roll meatball sliders. If chicken is your protein of choice, make these crispy hot honey chicken sliders or Southern fried chicken sliders next!
If you’ve tried these Steak Sliders, I’d love to hear what you thought! Leave a comment below with your questions or feedback. Your reviews help other readers in the Bad Batch Baking community decide what to make next.
Be sure to tag me @BadBatchBaking on social media using #badbatchbaking so I can see what you’re cooking!
Cowboy Butter Steak Sliders
Ingredients
FOR THE SLIDERS
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless steak such as ribeye filet, sirloin
- neutral oil as needed
- kosher salt to taste
- freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 3 sweet onions thinly sliced
- 9 slider buns
- 3/4 pound sliced havarti cheese
FOR THE COWBOY BUTTER
- 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 lemon zested and juiced
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon chives minced
- 2 tablepoons fresh parsley minced
- kosher salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Prepare steaks by trimming excess fat and silver skin if needed.Rub with oil and season your steaks well on all sides with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. If steaks are thicker, be sure to season more heavily.
- Wrap steaks in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for a few hours for optimum seasoning penetration.
MAKE COWBOY BUTTER
- In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and whisk continually. Add lemon juice and zest, garlic, dijon, and dry seasonings.
- Remove from heat and add chives and fresh parsley. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Spoon out a few tablespoons into a small bowl for use on the steaks as they grill. Set aside the remaining butter for slider buns.
COOK STEAK
- Preheat grill to medium-high with an indirect heat zone. Remove steaks from the fridge and allow them to rest at room temp for 30 minutes.
- Cook steaks over direct heat for about 2-3 minutes per side, being sure not to char them. If high flames appear, move them to indirect heat until flame subsides.
- Brush both sides with cowboy butter as they cook. After 5-6 minutes of total cook time, move the steaks to indirect heat until desired temperature is reached.
- Remove and allow steaks to rest on a plate with tented foil for 10 minutes before slicing.
CARAMELIZE ONIONS
- Place a cast iron skillet on the grill over direct heat. Add a few tablespoons of butter into the skillet, once it melts add the sliced onions. Allow onions to cook until caramelized, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
PREPARE & ASSEMBLE SLIDERS
- Pre-heat oven to broil. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Separate the sliders and brush the inside of the slider buns with all remaining cowboy butter. Add the havarti cheese to the top and bottom buns then add the grilled onions to the bottom buns.
- Place a few strips of sliced steak per bottom slider. Broil for 1-2 minutes or until cheese begins to melt. Place the top sliders over the steak, slice and enjoy!
Notes
- Allow the steaks to come to room temperature for 30 minutes. Then pat them dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper.
- Heat 1-2 tbsp avocado oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until it’s shimmering.
- Place the steaks in the skillet (being careful not to overcrowd the pan) and cook for 4 minutes on one side without touching. Use tongs to flip the steaks and cook for 4 more minutes on the other side.
- Reduce heat to medium-low, add a few spoonfuls of cowboy butter. As the butter melts, tilt the skillet and spoon the butter over the steaks repeatedly until the steaks reach desired doneness, keeping in mind that the temperature will continue to rise about 5 degrees after you remove from heat and the steaks rest.
- Transfer the steaks to a plate or cutting board, and allow them to rest for 5 minutes before slicing or serving. Serve with the melted butter, garlic, and rosemary from the skillet.
SO GOOD!! And so easy. I prepped the meat and marinade the night before (combine the chopped parsley/green onions with wet ingredients day of) so it came together in no time for dinner.
Hi Ali – I love that you tried these. They are still a family favorite for us and happy to hear they were a hit in your house.
This recipe is so good… we actually just serve it with the rules on the side and people just put as much meat on as they want and usually serve it with a side dish and it is so good and we always make extra of the cowboy butter for them to drizzle on their slider or to dip it…
Amazing!
I made this recipe except I smoked a 3 pound brisket for six hours and used the meat from that! I added little bit of ranch on the bottom of the sliders, but followed the recipe otherwise. Very, very good. I will definitely make again.
Insane!!! I absolutely adore smoked brisket and it’s so good with cowboy butter! Glad you enjoyed this.
I *never* comment on recipes on blogs, but oh my goodness! My picky 14 year old and husband both just raved about these, which is rare. These are so so good!!
Oh my goodness – this makes me sooo happy to hear. I am very appreciative you made it back on here to comment 🙂 Thank you so much
Delicious! Our first recipe of yours for us to try and we are excited to try more!!
Thank you so much Morgan! My cookbook just released! I hope you do get a chance to try more 🙂