Food and Recipes Recipes Pepperoni Pizza Sliders 3.0 (1) 1 Review Possibly the easiest party food in existence. By Karen Schroeder-Rankin Karen Schroeder-Rankin Karen Rankin is a chef, recipe developer, and food stylist with over 25 years experience cooking, developing recipes, styling food, and entertaining guests at her table and in restaurants. During the past 11 years, Karen has been styling food for various publications such as Cooking Light, Southern Living, Eating Well, Real Simple, as well as creating instructional videos for Southern Living Magazine's Tips from the Test Kitchen, featured on select television programming, and on websites. With an interest in the use of color, texture, and presentation, she develops recipes that are intended to surprise and delight the recipients of these dishes, both from a visual standpoint and a flavor experience. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Published on July 27, 2021 Print Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Greg DuPree; Food Styling: Rishon Hanners; Prop Styling: Christine Keely Active Time: 15 mins Bake Time: 15 mins Total Time: 30 mins Servings: 6 Meet the pepperoni pizza as a sandwich. Lots (and we mean lots) of provolone and mozzarella slices keep things ooey and gooey like the pizza we love, and the addition of basil adds a burst of freshness under the piles of cheese and pepperoni. While the Test Kitchen used Pepperidge Farm slider rolls, they'd also recommend pretzel slider rolls if you want something different. And, when it comes to the Margherita sauce, there is no joking around. Rao's pizza sauce is reputed to be the good stuff. These sliders are so easy because you can build them as a slab. Slice the package of sliders horizontally for easy assembly. After baking, you can cut between the sliders so people can scoop them up individually. Before you pop them in the oven, you'll brush the tops with butter and garlic salt, which gives the sandwiches an extra savory kick and push everything over the top from good to amazing. If you find yourself needing to feed a large crowd, this is the recipe you want up your sleeve. It's easily doubled and since prep work is minimal, you can pop trays into the oven over the course of the party and they'll always be fresh and hot. The guests will be wondering how you pulled it all off. Ingredients 1 package slider buns (12 buns), split horizontally ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted ½ teaspoon garlic salt 1 cup pizza sauce (from 1 [13-oz] jar, such as Rao's Margherita Pizza Sauce) 9 Provolone cheese slices (from 1 [8-oz] package) 30 pepperoni slices (from 1 [6-oz] package) ½ cup chopped fresh basil 9 Mozzarella cheese slices (from 1 [8-oz] package) Directions Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange bun bottom halves in 3 rows, with sides of buns touching, on prepared baking sheet. Stir together butter and garlic salt in a small bowl; brush half of the butter mixture over cut sides of bun bottom halves. Spoon about ⅓ cup pizza sauce over cut sides of bottom buns, and smooth using back of a spoon. Arrange provolone slices, overlapping slightly, over marinara. Arrange pepperoni over provolone. Spread with an additional ⅓ cup pizza sauce. Sprinkle with half of the chopped basil. Top with mozzarella slices, overlapping slightly. Spread with remaining ⅓ cup pizza sauce. Sprinkle with remaining basil. Replace bun top halves. Brush tops of buns evenly with remaining melted butter mixture. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake in preheated oven until cheese melts, about 10 minutes. Remove foil, and continue baking until top is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven. Using a pizza cutter, slice sandwiches in between the individual buns to separate sliders. Serve hot. Print