Perfect for your next big game day or hootenanny, these sliders are made with smoked BBQ chicken thighs and gouda between Hawaiian rolls brushed with garlic herb butter. Everything is easily made right on a pellet smoker and can be scaled up to feed a crowd.
I’ll walk you through the steps below and cover ingredient substitutions along the way. If you’re in a rush, there’s a printable recipe card at the bottom of the post you can jump straight to.

Part One: Smoked BBQ Chicken Thighs
My recipe calls for a quick homemade BBQ rub with granulated garlic, smoked paprika, ground cumin, kosher salt, and black pepper. It also calls for yellow mustard as an optional binder. If you have a go-to smoked BBQ chicken rub, feel free to use that here.

Like I mentioned in my hot honey smoked pulled chicken recipe, the best method I’ve found for making shredded chicken on a pellet smoker is to start the chicken at a low temperature like 225ºF for 60-90 minutes to pick up smoke and a bit of color.
But if you go too long at a low temperature, the chicken inevitably dries out. Adding it to a pan with a small amount of braising liquid (BBQ sauce in this case) and covering to finish creates super juicy chicken with plenty of smoke flavor and just the right amount of texture from the exterior.

If by any chance you have bone-in chicken thighs on hand, you can swap them for the boneless here. I would, however, change up the cooking method.
After my best way to make smoked bone-in chicken thighs experiment, I’m a big proponent of the 0-400 method. That’s where you season the chicken thighs and throw them on a cold pellet smoker, set it to 400ºF, and come back in about an hour.
This method makes perfectly juicy chicken thighs with crispy skin. (See my smoked chicken tacos for an example.) Instead of brushing the thighs with BBQ sauce, I would smoke via the 0-400 method then pull the chicken and toss in BBQ sauce before making the smoked sliders here.
Part Two: Braising and Shredding the Chicken
To keep things simple for the braising liquid, my recipe calls for store-bought BBQ sauce (I used Franklin Barbecue Texas Original sauce). Any sauce works here but if you’re using a thicker sauce, you might want to thin it out with a bit of apple cider vinegar, chicken broth, or water. I’ve seen a lot of people use the Sweet Baby Ray’s, ACV, and brown sugar upgrade.
You can also make your own Texas BBQ sauce.

Once you’re in this stage of the cook, you can’t really mess things up since chicken thighs are so forgiving. The recipe calls for covering the chicken and BBQ sauce and cranking the temperature on your pellet smoker up to 350ºF to speed things up. You will also bake the assembled sliders at the same temperature.

In my tests, 75 minutes at 350ºF after 75 minutes at 225ºF does the trick for smoked shredded chicken thighs. Every grill is different, so you may need to make slight adjustments. If the chicken doesn’t easily shred after 75 minutes at 350ºF, go longer. It’s unlikely you’ve over cooked the chicken.
Once the chicken is fall-apart-tender, it’s time to pull it off the grill to shred for smoked chicken sliders.
Part Three: Assembling and Baking the BBQ Chicken Sliders
We like a meaty slider around here, so all the smoked BBQ chicken goes on just 12 rolls. It may seem like a lot of chicken when you’re putting it together, but once the rolls puff up on the smoker and the cheese melts, it’s just right.
Side note: If you decide to use less chicken on your sliders or just want to make extra chicken while you already have the smoker fired up, this smoked BBQ chicken would work great in recipes like leftover chicken quesadillas or BBQ chicken melts.

I contemplated using smoked gouda but ended up using freshly grated Boar’s Head chipotle gouda. For extra smokiness, the former is a good option. You can also use other options like havarti, colby or pepper jack, or another soft melting cheese.
Diced shallots or red onion and fresh parsley go inside the sliders with the chicken and cheese. You can have fun here with other herbs, fresh or pickled peppers, chili oil or chili sauces, or other condiments and flavor enhancers.

And speaking of flavor, the recipe calls for garlic herb butter brushed on top of the rolls. You can find compound butters in most grocery stores these days. If not, you can easily make something like the chile garlic butter I served with my smoked sweet potatoes or add smoked garlic and chile flakes to salted butter for DIY versions.

All that’s left is to grate a bit of optional parmigiano reggiano or parmesan over the top, top with chili crunch or sesame seeds (also optional), and get the sliders back on the smoker.
As you can see in the photo below, I used a half sheet pan and covered the sliders with an aluminum grill pan. You can put them in a grill pan and cover or tent with foil for the first 15-20 minutes on the smoker. The cover comes off for the final 5-10 minutes to get some browning on the rolls.

You’re looking for melted cheese inside the sliders, a bit of rise in the rolls, and some nice browning on top and around the edges. With the smoker running at 350ºF, you want to keep an eye on them, especially once the cover comes off.

That’s everything I can think of that you should know about making sliders with smoked chicken.
In case you’re on the hunt for more game day recipes, check out my Texas style shotgun shells, grilled chicken roll ups, or smoked mac before you get to hootin’ and hollerin’.
Since we’re talking about sliders, you can slide any questions you have about the recipe right into the comments section at the bottom of this post. I hope you enjoy the smoked BBQ chicken and sliders! If you do, recipe reviews are always welcome and appreciated.

Smoked BBQ Chicken Sliders
BBQ smoked and shredded chicken with gouda between Hawaiian rolls brushed with garlic herb butter and finished on the grill.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs
- 1 Tablespoon Yellow Mustard (as a binder)
- 1 Tablespoon Paprika
- 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 1 1/2 cups BBQ Sauce*
For the Sliders
- 12 Hawaiian Rolls
- 8 oz Gouda, grated or thinly sliced
- 1 Shallot or 1/4 of a Red Onion, finely diced
- 1-2 handfuls Fresh Parsley, chopped
- 2-3 Tablespoons Garlic Herb Butter, melted**
Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 225ºF with the lid closed.
- Rub the mustard over the chicken thighs before seasoning with the paprika, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cumin.
- Place the seasoned chicken on the smoker and cook for 75 minutes.
- Transfer the smoked chicken to a baking dish or grill pan with the BBQ sauce, tossing the chicken to evenly coat each piece. Cover the pan and increase the smoker temperature to 350ºF. Cook for 60-90 minutes until the chicken shreds easily.
- Fully shred the chicken and let it hang out in the sauce while you prepare the slider ingredients.
- To assemble the sliders, slice the Hawaiian rolls in half and place the bottom half on a sheet pan or smoker safe dish. Top the bottom half of the rolls with half the cheese, followed by the chicken, shallots, parsley, and remaining cheese. Add the top buns and brush with the melted butter and a bit of freshly grated parmesan.
- Tent the sliders with foil or an upside down grill pan and place back on the smoker for 20 minutes. Uncover for an additional 5-10 minutes until the rolls are golden brown.
Notes
*I used Franklin Barbecue Texas BBQ Sauce. Any sauce works but if it's a thicker sauce, you may want to thin slightly with water or apple cider vinegar.
**You can buy compound butter in most stores or simply mix minced or crushed garlic and dried herbs into melted butter.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 BBQ Chicken SliderAmount Per Serving: Calories: 285Total Fat: 13gCarbohydrates: 25gProtein: 22g