Jalapeno Ranch Chicken Sliders
Served straight from the oven, they’re perfectly spicy, extra comforting, and ideal for game days, tailgates, or any gathering where you need an easy crowd-pleasing snack everyone will love. Try serving them with some ranch dressing for dipping!
Table of Contents
What Are Chicken Sliders?
Chicken sliders are mini sandwiches served on small buns (typically around 2-3 inches), making them perfect for snacking, parties, or easy weeknight dinners. Unlike beef sliders, chicken sliders offer a lighter option that’s just as satisfying and can be customized with endless flavor combinations.
The beauty of chicken sliders is their versatility. You can serve them as appetizers for a crowd, pack them for lunch, or make them the star of dinner alongside your favorite sides.
Why You’ll Love My Jalapeno Ranch Chicken Sliders
These aren’t your average chicken sliders:
- Flavor-Packed Filling: The combination of cream cheese, Monterrey Jack, ranch seasoning, and fresh jalapenos creates a creamy, tangy filling with just the right kick of heat.
- Perfect for Entertaining: Baked all together in one pan, these sliders are easy to prep ahead and serve to a crowd. No standing over the stove flipping individual sandwiches!
- Customizable Heat Level: Control the spice by removing all the jalapeno seeds for mild heat, or leave some in if you like it spicier. You can even throw in spicier peppers.
- Buttery Pretzel Buns: Soft pretzel slider buns brushed with garlic butter get toasted to golden perfection, adding another layer of flavor and texture.
Key Ingredient Notes
The magic happens when these simple ingredients come together:
- Chicken tenders – these are perfect because they cook fast and nicely tender. Seasoned with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
- Fresh jalapenos – keep seeds in for more spice or take them out for a more mild slider flavor. Choose younger (smooth skin) jalapenos for more mild spice and older jalapenos (light veins on the skin) for a spicier kick.
- Cream cheese & Monterrey Jack – use full fat cream cheese for best rich and creamy flavor. Monterrey Jack cheese melts beautifully and goes well with jalapenos but you can also use Mozzarella cheese.
- Ranch seasoning – get original or classic ranch seasoning mix, not flavored ones.
- Pretzel slider buns – Who doesn’t love pretzel buns?! The slightly sweet, soft texture is perfect for sliders. If unable to find, use classic slider buns that are available at the store.
- Garlic butter topping – use unsalted butter since more salt will be added! It’s best to use dried minced garlic and not garlic powder. If available, get dried minced jalapenos to kick up the jalapeno flavor. It’s best to use coarse kosher or sea salt, not table salt!
Minimizing food waste TIP: Save the soft inside pieces you remove from the slider buns. Let them dry out on a baking sheet and use them as homemade breadcrumbs for meatballs or as croutons in salads!
How To Make Jalapeno Ranch Chicken Sliders
Season your chicken tenders with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Preheat the pan and add the chicken, you want a gentle sizzle when the chicken hits the pan, not an aggressive sear. Cook for 3-4 minutes per side until the chicken is just cooked through and reaches 165°F internally. Set aside to cool.
TIP: use gloves when working with jalapenos! Slice the jalapenos in half lengthwise and take out the seeds and white membrane. The membrane is where most of the heat lives. Dice the jalapenos and sauté them in the same pan you used for the chicken (with a little oil) until they’ve softened and lost their raw bite – about 3-4 minutes.
Dice the cooled chicken into small pieces. Mix with sautéed jalapenos, cream cheese (room temperature blends easier), grated Monterrey Jack, green onion, parsley, and ranch seasoning until evenly combined.
Make sure that the filling is smoothly mixed and there are no cream cheese chunks left.
Cut slider buns in half and pinch out some of the soft inside from both halves – this prevents sogginess. Place bottom buns in a greased 9×13 dish. Add filling to each bun. Try to divide the filling evenly among all the buns.
Top with sliced Monterrey Jack and the top buns. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with salt, dried garlic, and dried jalapenos. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes until golden and the cheese is melted.
Make-Ahead Tips
One of the best things about these chicken sliders is how easy they are to prep in advance:
- Make the Filling Ahead: Prepare the jalapeno ranch chicken filling up to 24 hours before serving. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble.
- Prep the Sliders: You can fully assemble the sliders the day before. Arrange them in the baking dish, cover tightly, and refrigerate. When ready to serve, remove from the fridge, brush with garlic butter, and add an extra 5 minutes to the baking time.
Serving Suggestions
These chicken sliders work for any occasion:
- Game Day Spread: Serve alongside boneless chicken wings, loaded pork nachos, and a veggie platter.
- Party Platter: Arrange on a large serving board with pickles, chips, and dipping sauces.
- Easy Dinner: Pair with a simple side salad, sweet potato fries, or coleslaw.
- Tailgate Food: Wrap in foil to keep warm and transport easily.
Storage & Reheating
- Store leftover chicken sliders in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- Reheat in the oven at 350°F for a few minutes to crisp up the buns, or microwave for 30-60 seconds for a quick option. You can even enjoy them cold straight from the fridge! I don’t recommend reheating them in the air-fryer, the results didn’t work out well in my testing.
Recipe FAQs
These sliders have a mild kick, but the spice level is easy to adjust. For a milder filling, remove all the seeds and membranes from the jalapeños. If you like more heat, leave some seeds in when dicing, add spicier chili peppers, or a pinch of cayenne pepper.
Absolutely! Rotisserie chicken is a great shortcut! Simply chop it into small pieces and mix it into the jalapeño ranch filling. This can save time when making sliders for parties or game day.
Absolutely. Chicken sliders are very customizable, you can use less or omit jalapenos and/or try different cheeses.
Classic choices include ranch, barbecue sauce, buffalo sauce, blue cheese dressing, or a creamy spicy sauce. The best sauce depends on your flavor profile, tangy BBQ for smoky sliders, buffalo ranch for a kick, or herb aioli for something milder.
More Recipes to Try
If you love these Jalapeno Ranch Chicken Sliders, you’ll want to check out these other crowd-pleasing sliders and appetizers I have: hot pastrami sliders loaded with pastrami and banana peppers, corned beef sliders with cheese mushrooms and onions, jalapeno cheddar burger sliders packed with sharp cheddar, baked Reuben sliders with classic deli flavors, and apple bacon cheddar baked sliders with brown sugar bacon. For more party appetizers, try my buffalo chicken dip, stuffed mushrooms, or sausage stuffed mushrooms.
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Jalapeno Ranch Chicken Sliders Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 pretzel slider buns
- 1 lb chicken tenders
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2-1 tsp black pepper more of less to taste
- 1 tsp coarse kosher salt more of less to taste
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 8 oz Monterrey jack cheese block split in 2, half grated and half sliced
- 1/4 cup diced green onion
- 2 Tbsp minced parsley
- 3 jalapeno peppers seeded and diced
- 1 oz ranch seasoning mix
Topping:
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1-2 tsp coarse kosher salt to taste
- 1 Tbsp dried minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp dried minced jalapeno peppers optional
Instructions
Prepare chicken:
- Season the chicken tenders with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Preheat a cooking pan over medium to medium-low heat and add the seasoned tenders. Cook for 3-4 minutes per side, until just done. (Chicken internal temperature should be 165℉ when done.) Take the chicken out and set it aside to cool a little.
Jalapenos:
- Slice jalapeno peppers in half, lengthwise, and take the seeds and membrane out. (You can keep some seeds if you'd like spicier filling.)
- Dice the jalapeno pepper halves and cook them in the same pan as the chicken with a little oil. Cook until the jalapeno peppers are softened, and then take them out of the pan, into a mixing bowl.
Prepare Filling for Sliders:
- Dice chicken into small pieces and add it to the mixing bowl with jalapeno peppers.
- Slice half of the Monterrey Jack cheese into thin slices and grate the other half on the cheese grater.
- Add in cream cheese, grated half of the Monterrey Jack cheese, green onion, parsley, and ranch seasoning into the mixing bowl with diced chicken and jalapenos.
- Mix everything well together, until evenly combined.
To Make the Sliders:
- Preheat the oven to 350℉.
- Cut slider buns in half and pinch some of the soft inside of the bread out of the top and bottom halves. Be careful not to make any holes. Pro tip: save the inside pieces of the slider buns, spread them on a baking sheet, and let them dry out. Use it either as bread crumbs for meatballs or as crouton pieces in salads.
- Grease a 9×13 baking pan lightly and place all the bottom slider buns.
- Add even amounts of the jalapeno ranch chicken filling into each bottom of the bun.
- Top each off with a thin slice or two of Monterrey Jack cheese and top it off with the other half of the slider bun.
- Brush each top bun with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt, dried minced garlic, and dried minced jalapenos, if using.
- Bake at 350℉ for about 20 minutes.
Notes
- Make the Filling Ahead: you can easily make the filling ahead of time and store it in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator.
- Make Sliders Ahead: You can also prep the sliders the day ahead but note the bottom bun may get a little soft. Arrange the filled sliders in the baking dish and cover the pan air-tight. Refrigerate for a day. When ready to bake, take the cover off and bake as instructed but add 5 more minutes to bake time.
- Storing: Store leftover sliders in the refrigerator, covered air-tight, for 3-4 days.
- Reheat: You can reheat in the microwave for a few seconds or in the oven for a few minutes at 350F. Or, enjoy them cold!
Nutrition
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Categories:
Appetizer Recipes, Chicken Appetizers, Sandwich Recipes, Snack Ideas, Super Bowl Recipes,All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
