These Tuna Melt Sliders are warm, cheesy, and packed with creamy tuna salad on soft, buttery slider rolls making each bite irresistible. They're the perfect quick meal or party appetizer when you want something comforting and satisfying.
Recipe Essentials
- 🍽️ Course: Lunch / Dinner / Appetizer
- ⏱️ Cooking Time: 15-20 minutes
- 🍴 Servings: 12 sliders
- 🧄 Flavor Profile: Creamy, savory, cheesy with a hint of tang
- 🍚 Best Served With: Chips, coleslaw, pickles, or salad
- 🧊 Make Ahead?: Yes, assemble ahead and bake when ready
Summarize and Save This Content On
Tuna melts are one of those nostalgic comfort foods that always hit the spot. Turning them into sliders makes them even more fun to serve for family dinners, potlucks, game day snacks and a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
This was inspired by the best Subway tuna salad and my healthy tuna salad on this site. It pairs well with this chicken bacon ranch pasta salad.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Quick and easy dinner: These sliders come together fast and bake in under 20 minutes.
- Budget friendly meal: Tuna is affordable and pantry-friendly.
- Great party food: Perfect for feeding a crowd for game day, potlucks, and gatherings.
Ingredients
This recipe uses simple everyday ingredients that combine to create a warm, cheesy tuna slider everyone will love. A quick trip to the grocery store is all you need.
- Hawaiian slider rolls: Soft sweet rolls that hold the tuna mixture and toast beautifully.
- Tuna: The main protein that creates the hearty base for the sliders.
- Celery, Red Onion, Roma Tomato and Sweet Relish : Adds crunch and flavor to the tuna mixture.
- Mayo: Brings everything together or our garlic mayo for more garlic flavor.
- Colby Jack cheese: Melts beautifully and adds creamy cheesiness.
- Butter and Garlic Powder : Brushed and sprinled on top for an incredible finish.
See the recipe card below for the exact quantities of each ingredient.
Variations
- Spicy tuna sliders: Add pickled habanero peppers, diced jalapeños, spicy jalapeno hot sauce or avocado hot sauce to the tuna mixture to taste.
- Garlic butter sliders: Mix garlic and parsley into the melted butter topping.
- Skip the bun: Try our tomato tuna melts for a wonderful change.
- Open faced tuna melts: Skip the top bun and broil the cheese for a crisp finish.
You'll want to make these Sloppy Joe sliders and my hot dog sliders if you enjoy recipes like this.
How To Make Tuna Melt Sliders
This easy recipe comes together in just a few simple steps. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 casserole dish lightly with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, combine the tuna, celery, red onion, relish, mayo, lemon juice, tomato, salt, and pepper. Set it aside.
Place the bottom half of your sliders into the bottom of your casserole dish.
Layer your ingredients over the bottom buns, starting with 6 slices of Colby Jack cheese, then the tuna mixture and then the remaining 6 slices of Colby Jack cheese.
Place the bun tops on.
In a small bowl, use your melted butter and brush it over the bun tops. Sprinkle garlic powder over the tops.
Bake in your preheated oven uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are toasted and the sliders are heated throughout, and the cheese is melted. Sprinkle with chopped chives after cooked.
Slice the sliders and serve!
Recipe Tips
- Drain the tuna thoroughly: Removing as much liquid as possible keeps the tuna mixture thick and prevents the slider buns from becoming soggy.
- If possible use sweet Hawaiian rolls: Their soft texture and slight sweetness balance the savory tuna and melted cheese perfectly.
- Layer cheese on both sides of the tuna: Placing cheese under and over the tuna mixture helps hold the sliders together and creates extra melty goodness.
- Fill the sliders evenly: Keeping the tuna mixture evenly spread prevents the filling from spilling out while baking and eating.
- Let the sliders rest before cutting: Allowing them to sit for a few minutes after baking helps the cheese set and makes slicing easier.
If you love recipes like this, you may also enjoy my corned beef sliders or these turkey and cheese sliders.
Storage Directions
Refrigerator: You can store these sliders in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 4 days, including the day you made them.
Freezer: The texture changes too much and it's not recommended.
Make Ahead: You can prepare the tuna mixture and assemble the sliders a few hours ahead of time. Cover and refrigerate, then bake when ready to serve.
Reheat: Reheat them in a 325°F oven for about 10 minutes until warmed through, or microwave individual sliders for 30-60 seconds each..
Serving Suggestions
- If feeding a crowd serve on an appetizer table with reuben sliders, crockpot chicken nachos, crispy fried jalapenos and tater tot nachos,
- Serve with dill pickles or sweet pickles, easy spicy pickles or horseradish pickles.
- Serve with tomato soup, potato soup, chicken soup or hamburger soup.
- Pair with sweet potato fries, french fries. potato wedges, or potato chips.
- Serve with creamy cucumber salad, macaroni salad, pasta salad, bell pepper salad, coleslaw or a garden salad.
10 Recipe FAQs
Drain the tuna thoroughly and avoid adding too much mayo. Add a cheese slice to "protect" the bun on bottom and top of tuna mixture reduces bun sogginess. Baking the sliders uncovered also helps keep the buns slightly crisp.
Absolutely. Any soft slider buns, dinner rolls, or brioche rolls will work well in place of Hawaiian rolls.
Yes. Diced bell peppers, shredded carrots, chopped pickles, diced broccoli, diced cauliflower or chopped cabbage are all delicious additions.
Check out my pizza sliders if you're a slider lover like me and can't get enough of them.
More Slider Recipes
Do you like s;iders? Here some recipes you may also like to try.
If you try this recipe and love it please leave a star rating in the recipe card below or even better, drop a review in the comment section. I always appreciate your feedback. Be sure to follow along with me on Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube for more easy recipes!
Tuna Melt Sliders
Ingredients
- 12 Hawaiian slider rolls still connected
- 2 cans (12 oz) tuna drained
- ¼ cup chopped celery
- ¼ cup chopped red onion
- 2 tablespoons sweet relish
- ¼ cup mayo
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 Roma tomato chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 12 slices Colby Jack cheese divided
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon chopped chives
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8x13 casserole dish lightly with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, combine the tuna, celery, red onion, relish, mayo, lemon juice, tomato, salt, and pepper. Set it aside.
- Place the bottom half of your sliders into the bottom of your casserole dish.
- Layer your ingredients over the bottom buns, starting with 6 slices of Colby Jack cheese, then the tuna mixture, then the remaining 6 slices of Colby Jack cheese, and finally place the bun tops on last.
- In a small bowl, use your melted butter and brush it over the bun tops. Sprinkle garlic powder over the tops.
- Bake in your preheated oven uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are toasted and the sliders are heated throughout, and the cheese is melted. Sprinkle with chopped chives after cooked.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes. Slice the sliders and serve!
Video
Notes
- Drain the tuna thoroughly: Removing as much liquid as possible keeps the tuna mixture thick and prevents the slider buns from becoming soggy.
- If possible use sweet Hawaiian rolls: Their soft texture and slight sweetness balance the savory tuna and melted cheese perfectly.
- Layer cheese on both sides of the tuna: Placing cheese under and over the tuna mixture helps hold the sliders together and creates extra melty goodness.
- Fill the sliders evenly: Keeping the tuna mixture evenly spread prevents the filling from spilling out while baking and eating.
- Let the sliders rest before cutting: Allowing them to sit for a few minutes after baking helps the cheese set and makes slicing easier.
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