The best quick and easy homemade Sloppy Joe recipe made with real ingredients! This family-friendly recipe only takes a couple of minutes to make!
Nothing screams comfort more than homemade Sloppy Joes. Bring on the mess because it’s worth every single bite!
Toast up those buns and get ready to make the best Sloppy Joe recipe, ever!
Easy Sloppy Joes Recipe
Forget running to the store to buy a can of Manwich and make up this simple sauce recipe instead. One bite of the combination of ketchup, garlic, and spices and you’re going to be hooked.
When I say that this is a good sloppy joe recipe, I’m not kidding around. My kids literally scrape their plates clean and use their fingers to pick up every loose piece of meat that they can.
You can also cut down on the fat content a bit with this easy recipe and swap out the beef for ground turkey meat instead. I’ve done this a few times and it still really tastes great, too! The kids didn’t even notice a difference!
If you like this simple dinner recipe, add it to your meal planning rotation. Sloppy Joes are ALWAYS a hit!
Grab My Favorite Tools
Click on the products below to see my favorite tools for making this recipe!
Ingredients for Sloppy Joes
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Ground beef – I like to use 90% lean beef. I think this has the perfect blend of fats and tender meat to make the perfect sloppy joes.
- Onion
- Green pepper – Remove the seeds for less spice.
- Garlic – Mince fresh garlic or use 1 tablespoon of jarred minced garlic.
- Ketchup
- BBQ Sauce – Since there are so many BBQ sauce options, whatever flavor you choose is going to change up the taste of this recipe. You can have sweet or spicy, your choice!
- Worcestershire sauce
- Tomato paste
- Brown Sugar – While this is optional, I find that it really does give this simple sandwich recipe a nice, sweet kick! You can make it both ways and see what you prefer.
- Mustard
- Chili Powder – Just a tad bit of this chili powder is perfection and not too hot at all.
- Salt
How to Make Sloppy Joes
- Brown beef: Place a skillet over medium-heat and cook the minced beef until fully browned and cooked through, about 8 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Cook other ingredients: Remove the beef to a clean plate and then cook the diced onion, green pepper, and garlic in the beef fat. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Combine: In a medium-sized bowl, combine the remaining ingredients to make the sloppy joe sauce.
- Coat: Return the beef to the skillet and add the sauce. Stir well to coat the beef and veggies in the sauce.
- Add water: Add water, as needed, to thin out the sauce to your personal preference. (I added about 1/4 cup of water.)
- Broil: While the beef is rewarming and sauce is thickening, set your oven to broil and butter the sliced sides of your hamburger buns.
- Toast: Place the buns on a cookie sheet, butter side-up, and taste for 2 minutes under the broiler.
- Scoop: Scoop the sloppy joe mixture onto the toasted buns and serve hot.
Quick Tip
Make sure to watch the ingredients and stir while cooking in the sauce as you don’t want the sauce to burn. You can alter the flavor of your sauce and add in ingredients just by testing it as you go.
How to Store Sloppy Joes
If you have extra sloppy joe meat, store it in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep for 4-5 days. Reheat sloppy joes meat in the microwave, heating it in thirty-second increments until it is hot. Then, scoop the warm sloppy joes onto the bread.
FAQs
Just because I think that random facts are fun, ย you know I had to share! The name Sloppy Joe actually came from a sandwich that was originallyย referred to as a “loose meat” sandwich by a guy named Joe in Iowa. Those fun facts combined was the birth of the Sloppy Joe sandwich.
My sloppy joes sauce is made with ketchup, barbecue sauce, garlic, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and the perfect blend of spices. It is a flavorful, slightly spicy, tomato-based sauce.
A New Jersey sloppy joe is actually a completely different sandwich. It is a cold, deli-style sandwich made with rye bread, Swiss cheese, coleslaw, Russian dressing, and your choice of two types of thinly sliced meat.
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Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 2 lbs minced beef
- 1 onion diced
- 1 green pepper diced
- 4 cloves garlic sliced
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1/3 cup BBQ sauce
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 Tablespoon brown sugar optional
- 2 teaspoons mustard
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon salt to taste
- Water as needed
Instructions
- Place a skillet over medium-heat and cook the minced beef until fully browned and cooked through, about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the beef to a clean plate, and then cook the diced onion, green pepper and garlic in the beef fat and cook until onions are translucent, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the remaining ingredients to make the sloppy joe sauce. Taste and adjust, as desired.
- Return the beef to the skillet and add the sauce. Stir well to coat the beef and veggies in the sauce.
- Add water, as needed, to thin out the sauce to your personal preferences. (I added about 1/4 cup of water.)
- While the beef is rewarming and sauce is thickening, set your oven to broil and butter the sliced sides of your hamburger buns.
- Place the buns on a cookie sheet, butter side-up, and toast for 2 minutes under the broiler.
- Scoop the sloppy joe mixture onto the toasted buns and serve hot.