Ree Drummond's Tasty Bun Swap For Bite-Sized Burgers

Burgers are practically part of American DNA: The average American consumes around 60 of these mouthwatering creations each and every year, according to a survey by SWNS Digital. This national obsession has seen burgers reimagined in countless ways since their early days as a simple beef patty on a bun, including the invention of a smaller, bite-sized version known as a slider. (Because the only thing better than a burger is a burger you can eat in one mouthful, correct?)

The Pioneer Woman, aka Ree Drummond, is particularly partial to these miniature burger creations. She's added her own tasty twist into the slider mix by switching out the bun component for pickle slices in her recipe for Pickle Cheeseburger Bites. (The food world has already seen pickles used as bloody mary shot glasses and pickle brine as a chaser for whiskey — so using pickle slices as burger buns seems more than reasonable.)

"These are seriously cute (and delicious!)," Drummond wrote on the Pioneer Woman Facebook page, and she's not wrong. Not only do her pickle sliders stay true to the flavor of a traditional cheeseburger (with the exception of the bun/pickle swap, of course), bringing together a beef patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a ketchup-mayonnaise dipping sauce — they also have the added detail of being served on bamboo skewers, making them perfect for a range of snacking situations, including get-togethers with family and friends.

Pickle sliders are your new entertaining go-to, and not just for cookouts and barbecues. "They're fun to serve for a small dinner ... they're great for any sort of big game on TV, but they're also really fun if you kind of want to step up the hors d'oeuvres angle at a cocktail party," Ree Drummond told Food Network in a demonstration for a similar recipe, Bacon Cheeseburger Bites. Again, the Pioneer Woman isn't wrong — a trayful of these treats will certainly have your guests doing a double take (followed by, one can only assume, a double helping).

Aside from their universal appeal (ever met anyone who said they didn't like a burger?), these sliders are incredibly versatile. You could add bits of cooked bacon, play around with the salad ingredients and different types of cheese, use a protein other than beef for the patty, change up the dipping sauce, or even experiment with the flavor of the pickle "bun" itself.

Furthermore, they can be enjoyed by people with allergies or intolerances to gluten, along with those watching their carb intake. On that note, we've seen lettuce used in place of burger buns before, but somehow the salty, crunchy nature of a pickle seems like a far better fit. All of this to say that while you can't make an omelet without eggs, you can definitely make a (miniature) burger without a bun.