Buffalo Chicken Sliders

Why This Buffalo Chicken Sliders Works

In the oven, the chicken cooks gently in a little oil, salt, and pepper, so it stays moist instead of drying out. By the time it is done, the meat is firm enough to shred but still tender. Once it is pulled apart with forks, all those little pieces have rough edges and lots of surface area. The Buffalo sauce can cling to every bit, so the chicken soaks it up instead of the sauce just sliding off.

While the chicken rests in the sauce, the blue cheese, Greek yogurt, mayo, and vinegar come together into a thick, tangy dressing. Part of that dressing coats the cabbage and carrots, so the slaw softens just a little but still stays crunchy. The rest of the dressing goes on top, so each slider has both creamy and crisp bites. Toasted slider buns stay sturdy and a bit crisp on the outside, so they can hold the juicy Buffalo chicken and slaw without falling apart.

Mistakes To Avoid

Letting the chicken overbake in the oven dries it out, so when it gets shredded and mixed with Buffalo sauce, the meat stays stringy and tough instead of soaking up the sauce. The sliders then taste saucy on the outside but the chicken itself feels chewy and dry in the middle.

Pulling the chicken too early means it can be undercooked in the thickest part, so when it is shredded, some pieces stay slightly raw and rubbery. Once mixed with the sauce, it becomes hard to see which bits are underdone, and the texture jumps between soft and unpleasantly bouncy.

Mixing all the dressing into the slaw instead of saving some for drizzling makes the cabbage and carrots overly wet. The slaw then leaks liquid into the buns, and the sliders turn soggy and fall apart quickly.

Skipping the toasting step for the slider buns leaves them soft and fragile, so the warm Buffalo chicken and moist slaw soak straight in. The bread compresses and tears, and the sliders lose their structure after just a few minutes.