Grilling Beef Sliders and Brisket Subs for Game Day

Oh man y’all….two things we love here in Texas; grilling and football!  Now that football season is here, we are grilling up game day food every weekend and we couldn’t be more tickled!  With that, I’m sharing our delicious beef sliders and brisket subs for you to cook up at your next game day cookout!

For us, game day food is all about making smaller, hand sized goodness so that we don’t get full on just one thing, but instead, can enjoy multiple goodness!  It all starts with a trip to the store, and in this case, HEB!   I didn’t think grocery shopping could be so fun but me and my middle son, Toby, had a blast.  Maybe it’s because he’s a “starving” college student and wanted everything in the store, or maybe it’s because we were totally being immature as we took photos throughout the store. Either way, I always enjoy my time with him!

Getting bread for the brisket and sliders was my goal going into the store.  If you don’t already know, beef is part of our wages, working on this cattle ranch, so we don’t buy it.  With that said, my mom gets all her beef at HEB so I know it’s great because she’s SUPER picky. (we’ll see how long it takes for her to call once she reads this. teehee)

If you’re going to the bread aisle for game day food, you’re doing it wrong folks.   I had to explain to Toby that he was going down the wrong aisle and that he needed to head over towards the deli/bakery area.  As most 20 year olds in a grocery store, he was confused.   As we came to the King’s Hawaiian bread, he was like, “ohhhh, this is the good stuff.”.  Yep.  It’s the good stuff y’all.  And I don’t know how long it’s been since you bought King’s Hawaiian bread but they have so many options, one of my favorites being their Jalapeño sweet rolls.  OMG.  I could eat the whole package.  Not that I would.  *cough*.  :)  They have also have deluxe hamburger buns, mini sub rolls, hot dog buns, and the original round bread.  The round bread is GREAT for dips!  Check out this spinach dip I made a couple years back, using the King’s Hawaiian round bread.  It would also be perfect for a game time!

Just when you think they can’t make more awesomeness, they do!  I had not seen these King’s Hawaiian BBQ sauces and I gotta admit, I was hesitant, after all, we live in Texas where there’s BBQ sauce a-plenty.  But hellloooooo…..SMOKED BACON?!  OMYCOW!  or OMYPIG in this case!  They have another one called Kona Coffee.  So many to choose from!

We bought all three we saw on the shelf and tried two so far.  AMAZING!  We used the smoke bacon bbq sauce on the beef sliders and the original sweet pineapple on the brisket subs.  It’s funny because when we made the subs, I hadn’t seen the ‘sweet pineapple’ part and when I tasted it, I knew there was a pineapple flavor!   This was Truett’s favorite.

We started by grilling the brisket, wrapping it, then smoking it. While it was smoking, we made the beef sliders so that it was all done about the same time.

Since we were making other game day food,  we smoked half a brisket!

Our brisket sub recipe is simple but flavorful.

• Grill your brisket on each side for about 45 minutes.
• Place your brisket in an aluminum pan (or wrap in foil).
• Pour a bottle of italian dressing on the brisket and cover in onions.
• Wrap or cover and put back on smoker for another hour at minimum.  The longer you smoke, the more tender.

Assembly

• Toast your King’s Hawaiian mini subs on the grill.
• Lay your brisket pieces on the bottom half of sub.
• Melt pepperjack cheese with a little milk in the microwave or on stove and pour on brisket.
• Pour some King’s Hawaiian BBQ Original Sweet Pineapple over the brisket/cheese combo.
• Top with onions and grilled jalapeno.

If you’re wondering about the sliders, all we did is grill some small hamburger patties, top with pepperjack cheese slices, and fry up some bacon slices.  We toasted the King’s Hawaiian sweet bread Jalapeno rolls and layered them with the beef patty & cheese, King’s Hawaiian BBQ Sauce Smoked Bacon, a slice of bacon or two, and chowed down.

We keep our food simpler than most, but I guess we have a great appreciation for the flavors of 2 or 3 key ingredients. In this case, it was the bread, BBQ sauce, and beef.  When you have 3 great ingredients, who needs too add more than that?

Hope you guys enjoy your game time as much as we do. If not, make these and you will!

Disclosure: I have been compensated for my time & efforts to create this post. All opinions are my own, as always.  I mean, come on, it’s grilling and football y’all.