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chicken slider being held in hand
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5 from 2 votes

Hot Honey Chicken Sliders

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.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Marinating4 hours
Total Time4 hours 50 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Game day food, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Servings: 9 sliders
Author: Mallory Austin

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lbs. chicken breasts, cut into 4" pieces chicken tenderloins also work
  • 9-count 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 1/2 cups buttermilk
  • 2 tablespoons hot sauce
  • 1/3 cup dill pickle juice
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon paprika

Dry Flour Mixture

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • 1.5 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • 1 tablespoon onion powder
  • 2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper

Hot Honey

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup hot sauce like Louisiana or Frank's
  • 1/3 cup honey more to taste
  • 2 tablespoons ketchup
  • 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 so it's done and out of the way.
  • In a large bowl, make wet batter by combining all ingredients and whisk well to combine.
  • Submerge chicken in the wet batter and marinate for 4 hours or overnight.
  • Get the oil added to a deep pot or dutch oven, attach a thermometer and heat to 350 degrees.

Toast Buns

  • 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

  • Drizzle 1/4 cup of wet batter into the flour mixture and stir with a fork.**
  • 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 and fry 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.

Assemble Sliders

  • In a small saucepan combine all the hot honey sauce ingredients and bring to a low boil until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Taste and adjust if needed to add more tang, sweetness, or heat to your liking.
  • Brush the sauce over chicken or toss the chicken in a bowl with the sauce to coat chicken on all sides.
  • Add the hot honey chicken onto the toasted buns along with pickles. Serve with ranch for dipping (Litehouse brand is my favorite).

Notes

Drizzling wet batter into the flour mixture creates clumps that stick to the chicken and creates a "craggy" crust on the chicken for an extra crunchy texture.
Reheating & Storage:
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.