Hey, y'all! I love easy-to-make, family-friendly recipes -- or, as I sometimes say, weeknight recipes. I'm excited to share one of my very favorites with you today: Homemade Sloppy Joes. This recipe stems from my Auntie JJ and is a part of a larger series, #CookingLikeJJ, which you can read more about here.
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Homemade Sloppy Joes
Frequently Asked Questions
A sloppy joe is a ground beef sandwich (complete with seasonings, vegetables, tomato sauce, and more) served on a hamburger bun. It's an All-American food -- and one of my very favorites!
You can use the ratio of your choice, though I like 85/15. If you have an excess amount of grease in your pan from less lean beef, simply drain a portion of the excess.
Yes, absolutely. Brown the ground beef prior to placing in the crockpot; from there, combine all ingredients and cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-6 hours.
Manwich is a pre-made sloppy joe sauce. I grew up eating it occasionally. That said, this homemade sloppy joe sauce is much better + is so easy to make!
Ingredients, Shopping List: Homemade Sloppy Joes
Meat: ground beef
Produce: bell peppers or sweet mini peppers, Vidalia onion
Canned/Bottled Goods: diced jalapeños, tomato paste, tomato sauce, yellow mustard
Dry Ingredients: brown sugar
Wet Ingredients: hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, extra virgin olive oil, water
Seasoning/Spices: kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder
How to Make Homemade Sloppy Joes
- In a dutch oven pot, over medium-high heat, cook ground beef until almost browned in extra virgin olive oil. Add diced vidalia onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño peppers; cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, mustard, brown sugar, hot sauce, Worcestershire, water, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Cook over low-medium heat for 15 minutes; season additionally to taste. Serve on a hamburger bun + enjoy!
Homemade Sloppy Joes: Tips and Tricks
- If you want the sauce to be thinner, simply add a little more water.
- Choose the hamburger bun of your choice for serving.
- Other great ways to serve sloppy joe meat include on top of baked potatoes, as a topping for chili dogs, and over fries.
Other Delicious Ground Beef Recipes
The Recipe
Homemade Sloppy Joes
Equipment
- dutch oven
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. ground beef
- 30 oz. tomato sauce
- 2 small vidalia onions diced
- 2 bell peppers diced, can substitute mini sweet peppers
- 1 can diced jalapeños 4 oz.
- ½ c. water
- 2 tbsp. tomato paste
- 2 tbsp. yellow mustard
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar
- 2 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp. kosher salt
- 1 tbsp. black pepper
- 1 tbsp. garlic powder
- 1 tbsp. onion powder
- hot sauce to taste
Instructions
- In a dutch oven pot, over medium-high heat, cook ground beef until almost browned in extra virgin olive oil. Add diced vidalia onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño peppers; cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add tomato paste, tomato sauce, mustard, brown sugar, hot sauce, Worcestershire, water, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder.
- Cook over low-medium heat for 15 minutes; season additionally to taste. Serve on a hamburger bun + enjoy!
Notes
- If you want the sauce to be thinner, simply add a little more water.
- Choose the hamburger bun of your choice for serving.
- Other great ways to serve sloppy joe meat include on top of baked potatoes, as a topping for chili dogs, and over fries.
Nutrition
About the Series: Cooking Like JJ
My Auntie JJ was the quintessential southern woman. She was classy, tasteful, always refined; an amazing cook and hostess; and did everything that she balanced – teaching, running businesses, raising a family, and keeping an immaculate home – with ease. She is one of the main inspirations behind JCP Eats, as she was the one who taught me about timeless, southern food and entertaining. When JJ passed away, I planned this series as a way to pay homage to her 91 years here on Earth; in a way, it’s a form of mourning – in another, it seems like my final gift to her. I hope y’all will enjoy this deep dive into the culinary archives of my family + Phelps Acres Farm. While I’ll never be able to cook as good as JJ, I can only strive to cook like JJ (hence the title of the series). Learn more here.
Y’all come back now, ya hear?
My best,
JC
Keep Up With JCP Eats
Thank you so much for visiting the blog today! I’d love to keep in touch via social media. You can follow my content on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Tik Tok, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I also author a second website, Notable Kentucky, on which I write about all things of note in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Read Notable Kentucky here.
Vickie Fletcher
I love sloppy Joes! My adult daughter use to call them sloppy Jones😁We still call them that. I can’t wait to make these instead of the canned sauce.