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A tangy combination of sweet and spicy, these Hot Honey Chicken Sliders are the perfect handheld appetizer. Crispy fried chicken is glazed in hot honey sauce, then piled on garlic butter-toasted brioche slider buns with pickles and ranch.
If you love sliders, be sure to try my Alabama White Blackened Chicken Sliders, Raising Cane’s Chicken Sliders, Hawaiian Roll Cheeseburger Sliders, and my Honey Mustard BLT Chicken Sliders.
Why You’ll Love Hot Honey Chicken Sliders
- A combination of sweet and spicy from the homemade hot honey sauce to the sweet heat pickles, these chicken sliders have a kick of heat that’s nicely balanced with a hint of tanginess and plenty of sweetness.
- Perfectly snackable size that makes it easy to pair with your favorite sides, such as Crack Corn Salad, The Best Macaroni Salad, and Bacon Creamy Dill Pickle Salad.
- It’s a crowd-pleasing recipe, whether you’re enjoying it for game night or a Super Bowl party. Who doesn’t love a chicken slider?
- Easy to prep ahead by making the fried chicken days or weeks in advance and freezing until you’re ready to use. I love to throw them in the air fryer, then assemble the recipe.
Key Ingredients
Chicken – you can use chicken tenderloins or breasts, pounded thin and cut into 4″ pieces.
Dry Flour Mixture – flour, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder.
Wet Batter – buttermilk, egg, pickle juice, flour, garlic powder, and paprika.
Oil – we’ll use a neutral oil like canola or vegetable oil for frying.
Hot Honey Sauce – a sweet and spicy combination of honey, ketchup, hot sauce, apple cider vinegar, and red pepper flakes. We’ll also use a corn starch slurry for thickening.
Garlic Butter – melted butter combined with minced garlic and parsley.
Brioche Slider Buns – or use King’s Hawaiian sliders. I found brioche buns at Whole Foods in the bakery section.
Pickles – sweet heat pickles pair so well with the sweet and spicy flavor, but you can also use dill if you prefer.
Ranch – our favorite sauce for dipping these hot honey sliders into.
How to Make Hot Honey Chicken Sliders
Prep and Marinate Chicken
Whisk together all the dry breading ingredients in a shallow dish and set aside. I like to do this a day ahead and cover it with plastic wrap.
In a large bowl, make wet batter by combining all ingredients except flour. Whisk well to combine, then whisk in flour, be sure not to over-mix. Small clumps are ok. Submerge chicken in the wet batter and marinade for 4 hours or overnight.
Toast Buns
Add the oil to a pot, attach a thermometer, and heat it to 350 degrees.
While oil is heating, spread the inside of the slider buns melted butter and broil until golden brown. Flip the top buns, spread with garlic parsley butter, and broil for another minute. Set aside while chicken cooks.
Batter & Fry Chicken
Remove chicken from wet batter, allowing excess batter to drip off. Place directly into the dry flour mixture and coat on both sides well.
Drop into the oil frying in batches, about 4-5 pieces at a time, until they are golden brown and place on a cooling rack to drip off excess oil after they cook.
In a small saucepan, combine all the hot honey sauce ingredients and simmer until slightly thickened.
Add chicken tenders to a large bowl. Pour over the warm sauce and toss to coat.
Assemble Sliders
Add pickles to the toasted bottom slider buns. Add one chicken tender per slider. Place the toasted top buns on. Serve with ranch for dipping (Litehouse brand is my favorite).
Storing and Reheating
If you plan to have a bunch of sliders left over, it’s best to leave the leftover sliders unassembled and wait to toss the chicken in the hot honey sauce until ready to serve. Keep them packaged separately in the fridge in air tight containers. You can reheat the chicken in the air fryer to get it back to crispy.
For reheating assembled sliders, just place them in the microwave until warmed through.
Tips and Modifications for Hot Honey Sliders
- Airfry instead – if you’re wanting to avoid deep frying, you can make this chicken in the air fryer. Batter the chicken following the instructions, then place in the air fryer basket, spritzing the chicken with avocado oil spray multiple times all over the surface (about 10 times). Cook for 6 minutes per side, flip and repeat with spritzing and cook another 5-6 minutes or until cooked through.
- Change up the toppings – you can add your favorite toppings like red onions or pickled red onions, coleslaw, dill pickles, lettuce, tomato, etc.
- Reduce the heat – to make these sliders less spicy, omit the red pepper flakes and cut the amount of hot sauce in half.
Looking for More Slider Recipes?
Alabama White Blackened Chicken Sliders
Raising Cane’s Chicken Sliders
Hawaiian Roll Cheeseburger Sliders
Honey Mustard BLT Chicken Sliders
Cowboy Butter Steak Sliders
Crunchy BBQ Chicken Sliders
Honey Mustard Blackened BLT Salmon Sliders
I hope you enjoy this Hot Honey Chicken Sliders recipe. Be sure to comment below with any questions or feedback!
If you make these or any other recipes, don’t forget to tag me on IG @BadBatchBaking to be featured on my story. Seeing your recreations makes my day!
Hot Honey Chicken Sliders
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs. chicken breasts, cut into 4" pieces chicken tenderloins also work
- 12 brioche or Hawaiian slider buns
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- sweet heat pickles about 2 per slider
- Ranch for serving
- Oil for frying enough to come up 4” on the pan
Wet Batter
- 1 egg
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce
- 1/3 cup dill pickle juice
- 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 3/4 cup flour
Dry Flour Mixture
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Hot Honey
- 2/3 cup honey
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup water + 2 teaspoons cornstarch mix together in a slurry before adding
- 2 tablespoons hot sauce like Louisiana or Texas Pete’s
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Garlic Parsley Butter Topping (optional)
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley minced
Instructions
- In a shallow dish or pie pan, whisk together all the dry ingredients for the flour mixture and set aside. I like to do this a day ahead and cover in plastic wrap.
- In a large bowl, make wet batter by combining all ingredients except flour. Whisk well to combine then whisk in flour, be sure not to over-mix. Small clumps are ok.
- Submerge chicken in the wet batter and marinate for 4 hours or overnight.
Toast Buns
- Get the oil added to a deep pot or dutch oven, attach a thermometer and heat to 350 degrees.
- While oil is heating, spread the inside of the slider buns with 3 tablespoons melted butter. Broil until golden brown. Flip the top buns, spread with garlic parsley butter and broil for another minute. Set aside while chicken cooks.
Batter & Fry Chicken
- Remove chicken one by one from wet batter, allowing excess batter to drip off. Place directly into the dry flour mixture and coat on both sides well.
- Drop into the oil frying in batches, about 4-5 pieces at a time until they are golden brown and the internal temp reaches 165 degrees, about 4 minutes. Place on a cooling rack to drip off excess oil after they cook.
- In a small saucepan combine all the hot honey sauce ingredients and simmer until warmed through and slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust if needed to add more tang or heat to your liking.
- Add chicken tenders to a large bowl. Pour over the warm sauce and toss to coat.
Assemble Sliders
- Add pickles to the toasted bottom slider buns. Add one chicken tender per slider. Place the toasted top buns on. Serve with ranch for dipping (Litehouse brand is my favorite).
Notes
Here are some additional photos for your Pinterest boards:
A perfect combination of sweet, spicy and tangy. These handheld chicken sliders make a great appetizer or fun dinner for game night .