Serve plain on a toasted bun or load it up with your favorite toppings! Our favorite dinner recipes are ones that are made with simple ingredients, a hit with the whole family, and quick to make! This sloppy joes recipe checks all of my “perfect meal” boxes! It’s made with ground beef, a few veggies, a simple sauce made up of pantry staples, and a few basic seasonings. It’s also always a favorite at our house AND it’s ready in a total of 20 minutes! I mean, a messy, hearty, flavorful ground beef and tomato sauce piled onto a golden-brown, toasty bun? Easy dinner doesn’t get better than that! If I made these every day (and threw in the odd pan of Spaghetti and Meatballs, Easy Homemade Hamburger Helper, The BEST Oven-Fried Chicken or Teriyaki Chicken), my kids would be ecstatic.
What is a sloppy joe?
A sloppy joe is an American sandwich made up of ground beef simmered in a sweet tomato sauce and served on a toasted bun. Sloppy joe sandwiches supposedly originated in Sioux City, Iowa in the 1930s when a chef named Joe added tomato sauce to his loose meat sandwiches, thus creating what is now a classic comfort food dinner!
Ingredients for sloppy joes:
Ground Beef: I like to use lean ground beef so the mixture isn’t overly greasy. If you use a fattier meat, you’ll want to drain the oil before adding the sauce. Red Bell Pepper and Onion: sloppy joe filling is a great way to sneak veggies into your kids’ meals. Bell pepper and onion are the classic additions, but feel free to add other veggies if desired. Garlic: use freshly minced or pre-minced garlic. Garlic powder will work, but fresh is always my first choice! Salt, Chili Powder, and Black Pepper: a simple trio of seasonings to take the flavor of an already flavorful sauce up a notch. Ketchup, Brown Sugar, Worcestershire Sauce, Apple Cider Vinegar, Tomato Paste, Mustard, and Red Pepper Flakes: makes up the sweet, tangy, slightly spicy sloppy joe sauce. Water: used to thin out the filling, if necessary.
How to make sloppy joes
Tips and tricks
Play with flavor. Sloppy joe filling is very forgiving. Prefer a sweeter sauce? Add more brown sugar. Love the spice? Add a drizzle of hot sauce or sriracha! Add more veggies. Sloppy joe filling is a great way to sneak some veggies into a meal…especially if you have picky kiddos. 😉 Try adding mushrooms, peas, carrots, celery, zucchini, spinach, you name it. Make sure you chop any extra veggies pretty small so they incorporate well into the sauce. Double the recipe. Sloppy joes store beautifully either in the fridge or in the freezer. Get ahead on meal planning and double the recipe! If the sauce is too thin, simmer it longer to allow it time to thicken. Keep in mind that the sauce will also thicken as it sits. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of water to thin it out. Don’t add too much water though because you don’t want to dilute the flavor!
Other ways to use sloppy joe filling
There are so many ways to use sloppy joe sauce, which means you should have no issue using up leftovers! Here are some ideas:
On grilled cheese. Check out my sloppy joe grilled cheese recipe. It’s even better if it’s made with homemade Whole Wheat Bread! Mixed into pasta. It’s delicious in homemade mac and cheese! Over nachos or fries. Serve it over nachos with melted cheese or use it in place of the ground beef in BBQ bacon cheeseburger nachos. On baked potatoes. Turn Air Fryer Baked Potato into a heartier meal by topping them off with a scoop of sloppy joe sauce.
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