Brisket Mac and Cheese Sliders
If you have been following me for 5 minutes or 13 years, you know that I love mac and cheese! My first cookbook was practically 50% mac and cheese. As you can imagine, I was beyond excited when GOODLES reached out to me about trying their brand new awesome mac and cheese varieties!!
I immediately gravitated towards Mover & Shaker – the cacio e pepe inspired mac, and it didn’t disappoint! lot’s of great pepper flavor, with that sharp parmy goodness!
The next one I made was Cheddy Mac, which is the most classic in my opinion. Mac and cheese from a box is me and Georgina’s favorite guilty pleasure, but thanks to Goodles, we don’t have to feel guilty anymore. Not only are these flavors insanely delicious, but they have 3 times the fiber, and 25% fewer calories than the leading mac and cheese brands, plus probiotics and 21 different nutrients!
I immediately knew this was the one I was using for my recipe!
GOODLES also has two other flavors – Twist my Parm, and Shella Good. You can learn more about all the flavors on the Goodles website.
Now on to the sliders!
I decided to make some brisket sliders topped with this beautifully orange creamy flavorful mac and cheese. The GOODLES noodles have a really great texture that can hold its own in a sandwich.
I used a corned beef brisket for this recipe for a few reasons. First, it is the easiest to cook tender but still keep the classic sliced brisket shape intact. Second, it’s always going to be juicy and flavorful throughout. As an amateur in the brisket world, sometimes if you buy the wrong cut at the store it can end up dry, bland, or immediately fall apart no matter what you do to it. When you cook corned beef in a BBQ sauce mixture, it ends up with more of a pastrami vibe which is perfect for these little sliders.
I needed something to cut through the super savory brisket and mac and cheese, so I made a quick pickled red onion to serve on top of the sandwiches. This is just onions, garlic, mustard, oregano, salt, pepper, red vinegar, and water. I kept it out on the counter for a few hours, then in the fridge until it was time to use.
These sliders came out incredible! Almost too good based on how many I ate! The flavors of BBQ sauce and Mac and Cheese are so nostalgic to me because as a kid I liked to “amp up” my mac and cheese with all sorts of different flavors, but BBQ sauce was what I used the most. I thought I was a big time chef back then, putting all sorts of different things into my mac and cheese, and as weird as it sounds, it was really the beginning of a journey that brought me to where I am today.
The tender brisket went so well with the creamy and chewy GOODLES Cheddy Mac. The sweet rolls were a perfect vehicle for the sandwiches, and the bright crunchy onions were a great contrast of texture and flavor.
Head to Goodles.com to learn more and grab some for yourself! They were sold out for a bit, but just restocked, and you can use my code Dan20 for a discount!
Brisket Mac and Cheese Sliders
Ingredients
Brisket
- 1 corned beef brisket
- 1 cup BBQ sauce
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons your favorite hot sauce
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon allspice
Onions
- 1 large red onion sliced thin
- 1 cup red vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic peeled and sliced in half
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- salt and pepper
Sandwich
- 1 package Goodles Cheddy Mac
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 12 sweet Hawaiian rolls
Instructions
- Place the corned beef into a baking dish with a lid. In a bowl, whisk together the remaining brisket ingredients. Pour the liquid over the brisket and roll the meat to coat with the sauce. Cover and bake for 1 hour.
- Flip the meat over, cover, and bake another hour.
- Uncover the meat and make sure the fat side is on top. Bake uncovered for the last hour, until it is tender enough to put a fork into it easily. Baste with the sauce every 15 minutes as it cooks to form a glaze or “bark” on the meat.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool fully before slicing, ideally overnight in the fridge. Make sure you keep the excess sauce!
- Put the onion in a jar and add the remaining ingredients. Add a little water to top it off. Stir well and cover. Allow to rest on the counter for a few hours, then in the fridge until ready to use.
- Make the mac and cheese according to the package instructions – boil the noodles, strain, then mix with the butter, milk, and seasoning packet.
- Slice the brisket thin. Heat a frying pan to medium heat. Add some oil and add in the brisket to sear on both sides. Meanwhile warm up the extra sauce in the microwave.
- Build the sandwiches, starting with the bottom bun, then some sauce, then the brisket, then the mac and cheese, a few onion slices, then finally the top bun. Serve.
