Tender, juicy, garlicky chicken, smothered with french onions and melted gruyere cheeeeeeese, on a soft, sweet, Hawaiian roll, dunked into buttery, beefy, au jus…yaaassss. OH, yes I did. And these little French Onion & Gruyere Chicken Sliders with Au Jus were nothing short of DIVINE.

Can you believe my hubby swears he hates french onion soup? Seriously? Who hates ooey-gooey-cheesy french onion soup?

I know. It’s ok. You can feel sorry for me.

So I set out to slowly break him in to the whole flavor and experience thing that wonderful soup has going on, and what he doesn’t know, is that, he’s falling right into my evil plan…… (*cue the lightning and thunder crashes…)

Muahahahahahaaaaa!!!

I actually launched this evil plot several years ago, when I first shocked his tastebuds with my version of the retro classic, “Beefy Stick-o-Butter Rice“! LOTS of “french onion soup” flavors going on in there!

And he LOVED it. A little TOO much!

He somehow talked me into us ordering a CASE of beef consommé, (yep), and a CASE of French onion soup, (seriously!), using our free Amazon points!

Our store doesn’t always carry beef consommé, so it’s cool to be able to just get a free case of it and have it to use any time I need it…but the french onion soup thing kinda threw me.

Note: I prefer beef consommé over just beef broth. It’s much richer and more flavorful than watered down purchased beef broth and stock, but if you’re salt-sensitive, you can add just a little water, wine, apple or white grape juice, butter, or beer, etc., to thin it out just a tiny bit according to what would go well with what you’re making at the time.

And just be careful of any additional salt you normally add. Always taste first when your dish is done, or near done, and only add additional salt if needed.

Anyways, as I was saying, the whole “french onion soup” thing was a little baffling, as he swears he hates french onion soup…??

But I suppose this whole new “thing” is my own fault…as I mentioned, I made the fatal mistake of making him my version of the retro classic, “stick-o-butter rice“…

…and he fell in LOVE with it at first bite.

But, that did open the door for me to sneak in anything and everything “french onion” just under the radar that wouldn’t set off any alarms that shouted, “I’m French Onion Soup”!

He doesn’t realize it…but, uhh…yea….these sandwiches are basically just that indeed. Only with added chicken!

Shhhhhhh! We won’t tell him just yet….because….

….I have more evil plans coming…..

….we don’t want to tip him off before we spring the whole, REAL DEAL, whole enchilada, Full blown Monty, homemade french onion soup on him just yet.

That. Will take some extra plotting and devious planning…!!

I think he just didn’t know what he was missing.

But, not only the old classic rice dish, but my new chicken sliders, I think have finally convinced him that cheesy, beefy, onions, toasted bread, and au jus are not an evil thing.

And throw in a tender, juicy meat, like white chicken breast into the whole mix,….was pure evil genius on my part, I thought!

We’re both admitted little carnivores, so toss a chunk of meat in there, and anything can be disguised!

So. I set out to readjust my hubby’s attitude, er….I mean…, tastebuds,….and perception of anything “french onion” and I rocked it right out of the arena.

These were AWESOME.

Absolutely DELICIOUS!!!!

I used the third variety of cheese by Finlandia that I purchased with the coupons that they awarded me from winning one of their facebook contests, and used their Gouda cheese to mimic the whole “french onion soup” experience.

And that cheese worked BEAUTIFULLY!

Glorious. Cheesy. Beefy. Onion-y. Chicken sliders on sweet, buttery, toasted rolls!

OH. MY. GAWD.

I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a recipe that I just made for my hubby and I to simply enjoy on a weeknight and not blog it, in fear that it might be TOO simple….

….until we ate them.

ONE. BITE. And I knew I had a winner!!!!

We dunked, re-dunked, and dunked again in the au jus, too! The combination of ingredients was so addictive, that I had to keep reminding myself to slow down, and savor every bite!

This super easy recipe is PACKED with wonderful flavors, and I’m sure it’s going to be just as big of a hit with you, your family, and friends just as much as it was for us!

Perfect for a weeknight, party, or tailgating, these will surely be DEVOURED faster than you can make them!

And we’re all going to be enjoying way too much holiday food soon, so this is an easy one to whip up in-between the chaos that only takes just a few simple ingredients, and is super quick to the dinner table! Who doesn’t appreciate that right now, right?

Hope you all enjoy! And have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Side Dishes That You Might Enjoy with These:

Sour Cream & Onion French Fries (Just Like the Chips!)
French Onion Roast Potato Wedges
County Fair Onion Rings
French Onion Dip Potato Salad
Copycat 5 Guys Fries

Yield: 8 - 12 sliders

French Onion & Gruyere Chicken Sliders with Au Jus

Ingredients

2 large chicken breasts, butterflied, separated, and cut into 8 - 12 pieces (thicker pieces pounded)
lots of coarse ground black pepper and garlic powder, and a little onion powder (as you like to season) *do not add salt as some following ingredients are salty enough
4 Tbl. butter
1 can beef consommé
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tsp. red wine
1 finely minced garlic clove
1 can french onion soup
10 - 12 slices gouda cheese, torn into fourths
10 - 12 slider rolls such as King's Hawaiian Rolls, or whatever slider roll you like

Instructions

Trim chicken of fat, butterfly each into two pieces, then slice crossways into 10 - 12 pieces total. (Pound thicker pieces thinner.) *You want them all the same thickness to cook evenly. Season each side with seasonings. (*Do not add salt for these.)

In large deep frying pan, melt butter over medium heat, add chicken pieces, and brown on both sides. Add consommé, thyme, balsamic, wine and garlic. Stir a little and turn chicken pieces several times to baste, then evenly pour french onion soup over tops of each chicken piece, do not stir in. Keep onions on top of chicken pieces.

Cover with lid, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes or until super tender. Re-baste with juices, remove chicken pieces onto baking sheet with slotted spoon. Using same spoon, scoop most of onions from pan, draining, and place on top of chicken pieces. Place pieces of cheese on top, and pop into LOW oven to melt. (*Or you can melt in the microwave.)

Remove chicken, cover with foil, heat oven to broil.

Slice rolls in half splitting open. Place onto baking sheet and spray with butter-flavored no-stick spray (or baste with melted butter if you'd prefer). Run under broiler to toast until lightly golden browned inside. Watch so you don't burn them!

Place pieces of cheesy onion chicken onto bottoms and place on roll tops. Whisk juices (au jus) and any onions still left in pan well, then pour into finger bowls. Serve chicken sliders with the au jus for dipping & dunking! Enjoy!

Notes

My chicken breasts were different sizes and both were sort of medium-sized yielding 10 evenly sized pieces total. You may get 8, you may get 12. It just depends on the size of the chicken breasts, and how small or large you want your sliders to be. I just make them a little bit larger than whatever size the rolls that I'm using are. (*Meat will shrink a little while cooking.)