Beefy French Onion Sliders

BEEFY FRENCH ONION SLIDERS

MAJOR KEY: When you're caramelizing the onions you can speed up the process by adding a couple of tablespoons of sugar.  It's not mandatory, but an option.

INGREDIENTS

8 tbsps (1 stick) butter, divided

2 large sweet onions, sliced

2 lbs ground beef

2 tbsps beef base (such as Better than Boullion), divided

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, divided

Tastic spice to taste*

24 slider buns

12-16 ozs gruyere cheese, chopped

2 tablespoons sesame seeds, optional

1 tbsp fresh thyme

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp harissa, optional

1 tsp garlic powder

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add in the onions and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly caramelized, about 25-30 minutes. If the onions start to look dry or burnt, add a tablespoon of water to the pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix the ground beef with half of the beef base and half of the Worcestershire sauce. Season with Tastic spice.
3. Add the beef to the skillet full of onions. Increase heat to medium-high and brown the beef, breaking it up and mixing with the onions as you go. Once browned, drain off excess grease.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet. Separate the tops from the bottoms of the slider buns. Fit the slider bottom buns tightly on the baking sheet.
5. Evenly distribute the beef and onion mixture over the bottom buns. Top with the gruyere cheese. Cover with the top buns.
6. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter with the remaining beef base. Stir in the remaining Worcestershire sauce and continue to mix until well-combined. Using a pastry brush, brush the beefy butter mixture over the top buns. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds, thyme,harissa, onion powder, and garlic powder.
7. Bake the sliders until the cheese is fully melted and the tops of the rolls are lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

* Tastic Spice is available HERE

Do me a favor?  If you decide to be great and make this recipe, take a pic and share it on Instagram and tag me (@mrfoodtastic) and use the hashtag #mrfoodtastic so I can see just how amazing you are.  I repost my favorite ones