A riff off of the popular open-face sandwiches served at the Brown hotel near the Kentucky Derby racetrack, these Mini Kentucky Hot Brown Sandwiches are an easy and fun way to have the sandwiches at home!
Love a good sandwich? You should also give this Italian Sub a try!
I have been blogging for so long now that I sometimes forget what dinner was like before I started blogging. And I often wonder what kinds of things I would cook today if I never started blogging.
Fifteen years ago, if you would have asked me what a hot brown was, I would have looked at you like you were speaking gibberish. But since I’ve been blogging, my eyes have been opened up to so many different recipes and dishes.
And I’m grateful, because these Mini Kentucky Hot Brown Sandwiches are oh, so good. And perfect for lunch or dinner. They would even be perfect for that game day spread. They are a bit messy, but so worth it.
Kentucky Hot Brown Sandwich
If you have never heard of a Kentucky Hot Brown, I’m sure you’re not alone. It’s on my bucket list to try the original one day, but for now, I’ll settle for this easy version at home.
The hot brown originated at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, back in the 1920s. It was created as a dish to serve to hungry patrons who had been dancing all night.
The original version is an open face sandwich made with Texas toast, sliced turkey breast, tomato slices bacon, and a Mornay sauce. The Mornay sauce is a white sauce made with cream and two kinds of cheese.
If you’ve seen photos of the original sandwich (or if you’ve been lucky enough to try it), you’ll see that the sandwich is pretty much covered in the Mornay sauce, and sometimes it will have an additional layer of cheese melted over the top. This version that I’m sharing here is definitely less messy and is easy enough to eat with your hands, which makes it pretty family friendly.
What You’ll Need For This Mini Version
This is all you’ll need for these hot brown sandwiches:
- Dinner Rolls – I’ve used both regular white dinner rolls and potato rolls for this recipe. I also think they’d be really good with Hawaiian rolls, as well!
- Mayonnaise – This is a hot sandwich, and you’ll use the mayonnaise to toast up the buns. You could use butter here, as well, but I really love how crisp the edges get with mayonnaise.
- Deli Sliced Turkey – We’re going easy here and using deli turkey instead of regular turkey breast. But if you have turkey on hand, feel free to use it!
- Tomatoes – Roma tomatoes are easiest, as a slice will fit perfectly on the sandwich.
- Bacon – I usually just have regular cut bacon on hand, but these are even better with thick cut bacon.
- Butter – This is the fat you’ll use as the base of the Mornay sauce. I wouldn’t substitute this out for anything else. You can use salted or unsalted.
- Flour – Regular all-purpose flour is best.
- Milk – I use 2% because that is what I always have on hand, but whole milk or 1% should work just fine. Skim milk might work, but the sauce would be thinner.
- Parmesan Cheese – If you want it to melt nicely, make sure you are using freshly grated Parmesan.
- Paprika – You only need a tiny bit, so you could leave it out if you don’t have it, but I highly recommend using it for that little boost of flavor.
- Sharp Cheddar Cheese – since you are only using a small amount of Cheddar, I would make sure and stick with sharp so you get some flavor out of it.
- Salt and Pepper – this is important – you want to taste your sauce and add salt and pepper to taste. This can make or break your sauce!
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Mini Kentucky Hot Brown Sandwiches
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 12 dinner or potato rolls split
- 9 oz deli sliced turkey
- 3 Roma tomatoes sliced
- 12 slices cooked bacon cut in half
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups milk
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1/8 teaspoon paprika
- 1/8 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the broiler.
- Spread the mayonnaise on the cut sides of the rolls. Place the rolls, cut side up, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Broil just until golden, 1-2 minutes. Reduce the oven to 200ºF.
- Divide the turkey among the roll bottoms. Top each with a slice of tomato and 2 half-slices of bacon. Place the baking sheet back into the oven to keep warm while preparing the sauce.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for a minute or two, then whisk in the milk slowly. Add the parmesan and paprika. Stir until the sauce thickens, 4-5 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and add the cheddar. Stir until the cheese has melted completely. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.
- Drizzle the cheese sauce over the sandwich bottoms (about 1 tablespoon each) and then add the roll top. Serve warm.
Jessica says
These have become a family favorite. Thanks for the recipe!
George in Quito says
This caught my eye immediately. I’ll be trying it out on friends this weekend.
Felesha says
Looks so good Deborah! I’m in for anything that includes bacon! I could go for one of these right now!
Becki says
I agree – blogging does make you branch out and try new recipes – you have to (especially for how long you have been doing it!) I love little sandwich for dinner kind of recipes like this. My kids would love this and it makes a quick meal that you could make ahead easy enough. The mornay sauce sounds delicious, too!