These pull-apart style turkey pesto sliders are layered with deli meat, fresh tomatoes, melty mozzarella cheese and your favorite pesto. Baked to golden perfection, these sliders are perfect for a busy weeknight or game day.
Delicious Pesto Turkey Sliders
When my life gets hectic, a quick meal like these turkey and pesto sliders are perfect for getting dinner ready in under thirty minutes. Not only are these sliders ideal for a family meal, but it’s also simple to scale up the recipe to cater to a larger group. Think game day!
The turkey and melty, gooey mozzarella are delicious, but the best part is the pesto and buttery seasoned rolls, which turns these simple turkey pesto sliders into a flavorful meal. I’ve found that even the pickiest eaters (I’ve tested this) love these elevated turkey sandwiches.
I’ve always felt sliders are a great way to enjoy some of the best flavors in bite-sized portions. Just like my ham and cheese sliders, this pesto version disappears every time I make them.
Why I Love This Sliders Recipe
- Give me any hot sandwich and I’ll be happy, but I particularly love this combination of flavors.
- The addition of pesto gives them an Italian twist, with a more distinctive flavor profile.
- Ingredients are easily adaptable to suit all kinds of tastes.
- Specifically and most importantly, they’re ready in thirty minutes! You can’t beat that.
- Can be served as an appetizer or a main course and increased to serve a crowd.
- These deli meat sliders are completely different from my big mac sliders recipe made with ground beef.
What You Need to Make the Best Sliders
- White Dinner Rolls: You can use any rolls you prefer as the base of these sliders – connected or unconnected. However, if you want to bake them from scratch, try my onion rolls recipe.
- Sliced Turkey: Regular or smoked turkey is great on these. You can also add a slice of salami or any other deli meat you prefer.
- Mozzarella Cheese: Mozzarella is how you get those ooey gooey cheese pulls. I prefer to shred my own for the best melt factor and use whole milk mozzarella for the best flavor. Even smoked mozzarella would be amazing here.
- Tomatoes: Fresh tomatoes give these hot sandwiches a fresh flavor (you can seed them after slicing if you’re concerned about them being too juicy. I prefer using Roma tomatoes because they are more sturdy. If fresh tomatoes are not your thing, use julienned sun-dried tomatoes that have been packed in oil instead.
- Pesto: For convenience purposes use a store-bought variety, but you can easily make your own.
- Butter: Add richness to the top of rolls and helps crisp them up.
- Seasonings: Garlic powder, grill seasoning and Italian seasoning flavor the butter that gets brushed on top of the slider rolls. You could also sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top for even more flavor.
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Making Pull-Apart Turkey Pesto Sliders
- Prep: Heat the oven to 375 degrees F and coat a 9×9 baking pan with cooking spray.
- Slice Rolls: Using a serrated bread knife, horizontally slice through the entire pack of rolls, making sure they stay intact. Arrange the bottom halves, cut side up, in the pan.
- Add Flavor: Spread pesto over the bottom half of the rolls (use as desired, avoiding excess to prevent sogginess). Layer tomato slices on top of the pesto.
- Meat and Cheese: Fold turkey meat into quarters and position one piece on each tomato slice. Evenly sprinkle shredded cheese over the turkey, covering all sliced rolls. Place the top half of the slider rolls over the cheese.
- Butter and Bake: In a small saucepan over low heat, combine butter, garlic powder, Montreal steak, and Italian seasoning until melted. Brush the tops of the rolls with the melted butter mixture. Bake in the center rack for 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the rolls turn golden brown on top.
Tips for Turkey Sliders
- Rolls: You can sub out regular dinner rolls for King’s Hawaiian Rolls for extra flavor.
- Deli Meat: I love these sliders made with turkey, but you can use any deli meat your prefer like ham, salami or roast beef.
- Dipping Sauce: I love dipping these sliders into Italian dressing for even more robust flavor.
- Club Sandwich: Also, feel free to add cooked bacon slices for a turkey club sandwich option.
- Serving Size: Plan for each person to eat 2-4 of these slider sandwiches.
How To Scale Up This Recipe
- First, if you’re serving these sliders to a larger crowd, you can easily double, triple or quadruple the ingredients.
- Use one large rimmed baking sheet to double this recipe and two large baking sheets to triple or quadruple this recipe.
- I use two racks in the oven to bake them all when I’m scaling up.
What To Serve With Sliders
There are so many choices when it comes to making a complete meal alongside these sliders. In the past I’ve paired them with my Italian pasta salad or rainbow macaroni salad, a warm bowl of dill pickle soup, a crisp green salad, and my refreshing honey lime fruit salad. The best sides will really depend on the occasion and how much time and effort you want to put into it.
Storing and Reheating Turkey Pesto Sliders
- Keep: Overall, these sandwiches will keep in an airtight container, bag, or wrapped well in plastic wrap for up to 2 days.
- Reheat: Additionally, if you want to reheat them, just pop them in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 325 degrees F.
Turkey Pesto Sliders
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 1 (16 oz.) package dinner rolls (12 rolls)
- 1 jar (8 oz.) pesto
- 2 Roma tomatoes, (sliced into 12, 6 for each tomato) or sundried tomatoes
- 12 pieces deli turkey meat regular or smoked
- 2-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 4 tbsps. butter
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. Montreal Steak seasoning or any grill seasoning
- 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and mist a 9x9 baking pan with cooking spray.cooking spray
- With a serrated bread knife, horizontally slice through the entire pack of rolls, making sure they remain connected. Place the bottom half, cut side facing up in the pan. (If you are using individual slider rolls, slice each roll in half and place each of the bottoms face side up in the pan.)1 (16 oz.) package dinner rolls (12 rolls)
- Cover the bottom half of the rolls with pesto ( use as much as you prefer, but don't over do it to prevent sogginess.) Arrange tomato slices on top of pesto.1 jar (8 oz.) pesto, 2 Roma tomatoes, (sliced into 12, 6 for each tomato)
- Fold one piece of turkey meat into quarters and place on top of each tomato slice. Sprinkle shredded cheese evenly over meat, covering all of the sliced rolls.12 pieces deli turkey meat, 2-1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- Place the top half of the slider rolls on top of the cheese.
- In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter with garlic powder, Montreal steak and Italian seasoning. Brush the tops of the rolls with melted butter mixture.4 tbsps. butter, 1/2 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 tsp. Montreal Steak seasoning, 1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning
- Bake on the center rack for 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and rolls are golden brown on top.
Notes
Nutrition
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