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The old-fashioned hanky panky recipe gets an update in the form of these hanky panky sliders! The little sandwiches are stuffed with a cheesy sausage and ground beef filling, topped with a garlic butter sauce, and baked in the oven. Serve them as appetizers at your next party, as a convenient make-ahead Game Day snack, or for your next weeknight dinner.
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Hanky Panky Recipe
Have you heard of the classic hanky panky recipe? I have a blog reader named Larry to thank for this one! He sent me the old-fashioned party appetizer, which is traditionally made with ground beef, pork sausage, and Velveeta cheese, spread open-faced on rye cocktail bread or pumpernickel bread, and baked until warm.
While that combination is obviously delicious, I decided to use Larry’s recipe as inspiration for my own twist: hanky panky sliders. The sweet and savory combination of the cheesy ground beef and sausage filling, sweet Hawaiian rolls, and brown sugar, garlic, and butter sauce is unbelievably good. My family loves them, they’re easy to assemble, and you can prepare them in advance to take the stress out of entertaining or last-minute dinners.
Ingredients
This is just a quick overview of the ingredients that you’ll need for our favorite updated version of the old-fashioned easy hanky panky recipe. As always, specific measurements and step-by-step cooking instructions are included in the printable recipe box at the bottom of the post.
- Ground beef and pork breakfast sausage: the base of the filling. Use hot sausage or mild sausage — whichever you prefer.
- Velveeta cheese: brings the filling together and gives it a creamy, cheesy flavor and texture.
- King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls: these sweet little slider buns pair nicely with the savory filling.
- Salted butter: the melted butter sauce soaks into the rolls, giving the sliders tons of flavor and helping them brown and crisp in the oven.
- Onion: for savory flavor.
- Light brown sugar: you’ll love the touch of sweetness paired with the savory sandwiches.
- Worcestershire sauce: gives the butter sauce a salty, umami flavor.
- Garlic powder: for savory flavor in the sauce.
- Poppy seeds: an optional garnish for a little touch of flavor and texture.
How to Make Hanky Panky Sliders
This easy hanky panky recipe can be assembled in advance, making it perfect for weeknight dinners, gameday parties, potlucks, or holiday celebrations.
- Cook the ground beef and sausage in a large skillet until the meat is no longer pink. Drain off the excess fat.
- Add the cheese to the meat and stir over medium-low heat, just until the cheese melts. Set aside.
- Assemble the sliders in a greased or parchment-lined 11 x 7-inch baking dish by spreading the meat mixture on top of the rolls.
- Prepare the garlic butter sauce on the stovetop.
- Pour the butter mixture over the sliders. Sprinkle poppy seeds on top.
- Cover the dish and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but not more than 4 hours.
- Bake, covered, in a 350°F oven for 25 minutes. Remove the cover, and bake for about 5 more minutes.
- Let the sliders rest for at least 5-10 minutes before pulling them apart and serving!
Hanky Panky Appetizer Serving Suggestions
For a regular weeknight dinner, pair the sliders with a simple green salad, potato salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad, baked potato wedges, or potato chips.
If you’re serving the sandwiches as a part of a larger appetizer spread for a party, here are some other ideas:
- Hummus and pita chips
- 4-Ingredient Cream Cheese Apple Dip with apple and pear slices
- Homemade Nachos
- Pimento Cheese and crackers
- Deviled Eggs
- Italian Pinwheels
- Cream Cheese and Pepper Jelly Dip
- 5-Minute Corn Dip
- New Orleans-Style BBQ Shrimp or Shrimp Cocktail
- Onion Dip with potato chips
- Refrigerator Dill Pickles
- Easy Stromboli Crescent Braid
- Homemade Soft Pretzels
- Candied Bacon
- Shrimp Dip
- Crispy Virginia Fried Oysters
How To Keep The Sliders Warm
If you want to keep the sliders warm at a party or football tailgate, keep them covered with foil to trap the heat and moisture. You can also wrap them individually in foil, place them in a crockpot, and keep on the “warm” setting for a few hours.
How to Freeze
Once the sandwiches are assembled, you can wrap the dish tightly and keep it in the freezer for up to 3 months. You can then bake them directly from the freezer! You’ll just need to add about 10-15 minutes to the total baking time. Make sure that you use a freezer-to-oven-safe dish.
Storage
Leftover sliders will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat individual sandwiches in the microwave just until warmed through. Alternatively, reheat a larger pan of sliders (covered) in a 350°F oven until warmed through.
Recipe Variations
- Instead of the ground beef and pork sausage, use 2 lbs. of any ground meat that you like. For instance, try ground turkey or ground chicken, or even ground Italian sausage. Use a spicy sausage if you like some kick, or add a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes to the meat mixture.
- We like the sweet King’s Hawaiian slider rolls, but you can use any small slider buns that you prefer. They’re so much better than the standard cocktail rye bread slices!
- The poppy seeds are optional, so leave them off if you like. You can also substitute with sesame seeds.
- For even more flavor, add some herbs to the butter mixture. For instance, dried parsley, basil, or oregano would be delicious.
Tips for the Best Hanky Panky Recipe
- Instead of filling each individual roll with the meat, it’s easiest to leave the buns attached and just slice through them horizontally. Then you can spread the meat filling on top.
- If you want to be able to lift all of the sliders out of the pan so that you can transfer them to a serving board, line your baking dish with parchment paper. Let some of the parchment hang over the edges of the pan (like handles), and then just lift out the entire tray of sandwiches when they’re done baking. Your guests can pull them apart, or you can cut through them with a knife.
- For the best results, let the sandwiches sit in the butter sauce for at least 1 hour before baking. This allows the rolls time to soak up all of that flavor. I don’t recommend keeping them in the sauce for more than about 4 hours before baking.
- If you have any extra meat filling that doesn’t fit in the rolls, it’s delicious scooped up with tortilla chips!
More Slider Recipes to Try
Ham and Cheese Sliders
30 minutes mins
Tuna Melt Sliders
45 minutes mins
Kentucky Hot Brown Sliders
3 hours hrs 50 minutes mins
Hanky Panky Sliders
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 lb. hot or mild pork sausage
- 1 lb. Velveeta cheese, cubed
- 1 (12 ounce) pkg. King’s Hawaiian sweet rolls, halved lengthwise
- ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, cubed
- 2 tablespoons finely minced onion
- 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- Optional garnish: poppy seeds; chopped fresh herbs
Instructions
- In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook ground beef and sausage until the meat is no longer pink, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Drain off excess grease.
- Add the Velveeta cheese to the skillet with the meat. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat until the cheese melts. Set aside.
- Line a deep 11 x 7-inch baking dish with parchment paper, allowing some of the parchment to overhang the sides like handles. This is optional, but the parchment paper “sling” makes it easier to remove the sliders after baking. Place the bottom half of the rolls in the prepared dish.
- Assemble the sandwiches by spooning the meat mixture onto the bottom of the rolls. Place the top half of the rolls on top of the meat.
- In a small skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook and stir 1-2 minutes or until tender.
- Whisk in the brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder. Continue whisking until brown sugar is dissolved.
- Pour butter sauce over sandwiches. Sprinkle with poppy seeds.
- Cover with aluminum foil and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, but not more than 4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Bake, covered, 25 minutes.
- Remove foil and bake uncovered for an additional 5 minutes or until golden brown. Let the sliders rest in the pan for about 10 minutes. Lift the sliders out of the pan onto a serving board, or serve them directly from the dish. Cut the sliders and pull them apart.
Notes
- Instead of filling each individual roll with the meat, it’s easiest to leave the buns attached and just slice through them horizontally. Then you can spread the meat filling on top.
- If you want to be able to lift all of the sliders out of the pan so that you can transfer them to a serving board, line your baking dish with parchment paper. Let some of the parchment hang over the edges of the pan (like handles), and then just lift out the entire tray of sandwiches when they’re done baking. Your guests can pull them apart, or you can cut through them with a knife.
- For the best results, let the sandwiches sit in the butter sauce for at least 1 hour before baking. This allows the rolls time to soak up all of that flavor. I don’t recommend keeping them in the sauce for more than about 4 hours before baking.
- If you have any extra meat filling that doesn’t fit in the rolls, it’s delicious scooped up with tortilla chips!
HUGE Hit! Everyone asked for seconds! Only change I did was used real cheddar cheese (dont like all the processed junk in velveeta and used 1/2 the butter. They were incredible. Thank you!
Thanks, Monica! So glad that y’all enjoyed them!