Cheeseburger Slider Casserole
Late Night Take Out, At Home
Cheeseburger Slider Casserole is the indulgent casserole of your dreams. Made with frozen White Castle Cheeseburgers, minced pickles, a tangy mustard, and rich onion and cheese sauce, this bakes up bubbly and delicious.
If you occasionally like to “live it up,” I suggest making this for the day after the libations have been flowing. This is the proverbial “hair of the dog,” without any canines or hair… Unlike my controversial Pepper Jelly Cheese Dip video of 2023.
Top with diced pickles and serve. This is even better baked and then reheated the next day.
New Year, Old Me
I think this is the ultimate casserole to pop in your oven at 10:30 pm on New Year’s Eve. This will bake up and be ready for guests just past midnight.
IF it were me having a party, I would bake this up for myself to serve the next day reheated. It is the ultimate hangover food in my mind.
Classic Cheeseburger Sliders
I grew up, and still live in Chicago. I have been born and raised on White Castle Sliders.
In fact, I love them so much I have a White Castle Stuffing recipe that is delicious, but THIS casserole is a work of culinary art.
I probably will continue to buy fresh White Castles for this casserole. This is because I have access 24/7/365.
But luckily for you, they sell these in the frozen food section of most any grocery store. I have even spotted these at the Dollar Tree and Aldi.
It’s Cold As Ice
My recipe calls for thawed sliders, but I will admit that I was able to chop these up partially thawed for this recipe.
If push comes to shove, you can pop them in the microwave for a few seconds to make them soft enough to cut.
Cheese Sauce
The oniony cheese sauce you layer over the burger base of this casserole is heavenly. It is SO good, I may try it on some pasta.
That is for another time though!
Do NOT let this cheese sauce intimidate you. You cannot mess this up.
You simply sauté the onions, add some flour, and then whisk in milk. You want to make it like a gravy consistency so that you may add the shredded cheddar to melt into your sauce.
All of this gets layered over the burger mix and then bakes up cheesy and bubbly for you to enjoy.
Dried Minced Onion
You will see on the recipe card below that there is a step where you rehydrate dried onions and add them to a bowl with a few other ingredients. This is because the frozen White Castle sliders do not have any, or have a slightly inadequate amount, of onions that FRESH White Castle sliders have.
This concoction adds a lot of real White Castle flavor to this baked up casserole sent from heaven.
Eat or Save
We ate this casserole two ways: straight from the oven and then reheated in the microwave.
I cannot really choose which was most delicious. You will have to make this for yourself and see!
Cheeseburger Slider Casserole Recipe
Delicious White Castle Burgers are turned into an amazing pickle packed casserole through easy kitchen alchemy. The perfect meal for the day after celebrating.
Ingredients
- 12 frozen white castle cheeseburgers (6 two packs)
- 2 small to medium sized yellow onions, diced
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- 8 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese
- 3 cups of whole milk
- 2 heaping tablespoons of flour
- 1/4 cup dried minced onions
- 1 tablespoon of grainy, Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup of warm water
- 2 tablespoons of pickle juice
- 1 1/2 cups of finely diced dill pickles (divided)
- 2 teaspoons of garlic salt (or to taste)
- 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper (or to taste)
- 1 teaspoon of dried red pepper flakes *optional
- *products pictured in post
Instructions
- In a skillet add the butter and the 2 diced onions. Let these sauté low and slow.
- Thaw or partially thaw your white castle cheeseburgers then cut into bite size cubes, add to a bowl.
- In a small bowl add your dried minced onion, warm water, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and pickle juice. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Grate your cheddar cheese.
- When your onions are golden brown and soft, sprinkle the two tablespoons of flour and sauté with the onions.
- Add 2 of the cups of milk and whisk until the mixture thickens. You may have to lower the heat on the skillet to make sure this isn't boiling. Just slowly simmering and thickening. Add the third cup of milk and whisk again while this simmers and thickens.
- Slowly begin to add your shredded cheese to the milk and onions, whisking each time until the cheese is melted and incorporated. If it is too thick you can add a couple of tablespoons more of milk and whisk. Add all the cheese and whisk until smooth. Season with the garlic salt, black pepper, and chili flakes if using.
- To the bowl of diced burgers add the dried onion mix and almost all of the minced pickles, reserving about 1/4 cup to put on top of the baked casserole. Toss the burgers to mix in the dried onion mixture.
- Spread the burger mix in a 9 x 12 casserole dish. Pour the cheese and onion sauce over the burgers. You may want to mix a little to incorporate.
- Cover with one piece of foil and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Every oven is different so keep a close eye on this. For the last 15, minutes bake uncovered. The top will be bubbly brown with some crisp edges. Shut the oven off and let the casserole sit in oven for 10 minutes after the heat is off.
- Top with diced pickles, a sprinkle of dried parsley if you wish, and some black pepper. Serve!
