The slider fad might have faded in the gourmet restaurants, but they’re still delicious and perfect for home.  A mini burger press is the perfect tool for making sliders at home, and almost a necessity to get them right.  You can certainly make them without a press, but they’ll never come out as good (I’ll explain in a little bit).

Sliders are perfect for your next party.  They’re the perfect finger food and you’ll still be able to hold a beer in the other hand!  Any get together where you need to make appetizers or snacks will be perfect for sliders.  Making them is easy, and it only take a few pounds of beef to hammer out dozens of sliders.

So why do you need mini burger presses to make sliders?  There are two reasons, the first is that it’s a pain to smash out dozens of mini burger patties while still keeping them at a safe temperature (below 40 degrees) and they need to be consistent in size and thickness so that they cook evenly.  It only takes a minute or two to cook a slider which makes it tough to make sure that you don’t overcook them.  No one wants to eat a hockey puck, no matter how cute and small it is!

What makes the perfect slider?  Just like every burger you can put whatever you want on it, but there’s a tried and true combination that has graced sliders for years.  First, the patty gets cooked on a flat griddle rather than on the BBQ (blasphemy, I know!), then both sides of the bun get healthy coating of mayo, and a very thin slice of sharp cheddar goes on the patty.  The cheddar should be thin enough that you don’t have to take any extra steps to melt it, allow the heat of the patty to take care of that for you.  As for the beef, you want to start with a lean grind so that the patty doesn’t shrink too much.  70/30 is probably too fatty, most restaurants will use 80/20 or 85/15 to make sure that they hold their size.  Also, be sure to avoid kobe or anything tender like that since it will turn to mush on the bun.

Here are our choices for the best mini burger presses around.  These are all available from Amazon so you can shop with confidence and get great deals on shipping.