Saucy, beefy, and so satisfying. We’re convinced this is the BEST recipe for a homemade Sloppy Joe. Ground beef in a hearty tomato sauce served on toasted hamburger buns is a great idea for lunch or dinner. Everyone needs a great and nostalgic recipe for Sloppy Joes and THIS. IS. IT.
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Helpful Reader Review
“Soooo yummy! Took me years to find a sloppy joe recipe like the one I remember from childhood. This is it. Thank you!” – Kathy ★★★★★
This delicious Sloppy Joe recipe is a simple and inexpensive way to make a budget-friendly family dinner. The tender and juicy ground beef is sautéed with green peppers and onions, then cooked in a hearty and flavorful tomato sauce – it’s hard to stop at just one sandwich, which is why I often double the recipe.
Having some go-to ground beef recipes, such as Cheeseburger Sliders, Taco Salad, or Sloppy Joes, will make dinner time a breeze. If you have some ground beef in the freezer and need an easy meal idea, this is a must-try.
Sloppy Joes Video
This is one of my children’s favorite recipes – it’s so satisfying, and they both agree it’s better than any other sloppy joe they have tried. I just love that my son helped me cook it in the video, and my daughter got in on the taste test because these sandwiches are irresistible.
Ingredients for the Best Sloppy Joes
- Ground Beef – use lean ground beef (85-90% lean). If using a higher fat content, you will need to skim off the extra fat once the beef is cooked so you don’t end up with greasy sloppy joes. You can sub the beef with ground chicken or turkey if you prefer.
- Bell pepper – we used green, but you can substitute a different color in a pinch. If you like things spicy, add some jalapenos along with the green peppers. If you aren’t a fan of bell pepper, you can substitute 1 grated carrot (about 1/2 cup).
- Onion & Garlic – these aromatics add great flavor and disappear into the sauce, so picky eaters won’t complain.
- Homemade Sauce – just a few simple pantry ingredients will make a sauce that’s better than any store-bought sauce. The combination of tomato sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, yellow mustard, and Worcestershire hits all the right flavor notes: sweet, savory, and tangy.
How to Make Sloppy Joes
- Make sauce – In a bowl, combine tomato sauce, ketchup, worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard, and brown sugar.
Natasha’s tip if you love it spicy
If you prefer a spicy Sloppy Joes, add some hot sauce or sriracha to the sauce.
- Saute beef – In a deep skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and break up as it is being cooked. Season with salt and pepper. If you see extra fat on the bottom, tilt the pan and spoon it out.
- Sautee veggies – Add in the finely chopped onion and green pepper. Cook until vegetables are tender. Add in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add sauce – Pour in the sauce and once it comes to a light boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add more salt and pepper if needed (see the Sloppy Joe Tasting Guide below to adjust to your taste preferences easily).
- Serve – I highly recommend buttering the buns and toasting them in a skillet for another layer of flavor. Spoon the saucy beef mixture on toasted buns and serve as sandwiches.
To Serve
There are so many different ways to enjoy a sloppy joe. You’ll want to try them all:
- Classic – Serve this with toasted hamburger buns for the classic sloppy joe recipe.
- Grilled Cheese – Add the meat mixture when making a Grilled Cheese for a hearty sandwich.
- Pizza – Add on homemade overnight pizza dough and top with cheese for a sloppy joe pizza.
- Loaded fries– There is nothing better than loaded fries, top your air fryer French fries with cheese and sloppy joe filling.
- Chili dogs – Add the meat sauce to your hot dogs.
- Baked potato – Take a loaded air fryer baked potato to the next level by topping it with this meat sauce.
Can I make Sloppy Joes in a slow cooker?
These EASY sloppy joes are GREAT to make in the crockpot. Once the meat is browned on a skillet, just add it along with all the other ingredients into the crockpot and cook on LOW for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours.
What is the difference between a Sloppy Joe and a Manwich?
This sloppy joe recipe is homemade and made from scratch. Manwich is a pre-made, store-bought sauce used to make sloppy joes.
Make-Ahead and Storage
- Refrigerating – Let the meat sauce cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
- Freezing – Once the mixture is cooled, add to freezer-friendly containers or freezer bags and freeze for up to 2-3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Reheating – A general rule of thumb is that it’s best to reheat a recipe the same way it was cooked. Warm the meat sauce on the stovetop in a skillet or saucepan until hot. You can microwave, but use a microwave shield to catch messy splatter.
There’s no match for a warm homemade sandwich, from Hamburgers to my famous Philly Cheesesteak. This Sloppy Joe Recipe is definitely at the top of my list. What is your favorite sandwich? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 15 oz can tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup ketchup*
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp yellow mustard, or to taste
- 2-3 tsp brown sugar, or to taste*
For the Sloppy Joes
- 1 Tbsp extra light olive oil, or any high-heat cooking oil
- 1 lb lean ground beef, 85%-90% lean
- ½ tsp fine sea salt, or to taste
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 small green bell pepper, seeded and finely diced, or use 1/2 cup grated carrot
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 5 hamburger buns, toasted if desired
Instructions
- Make the Sauce – In a medium bowl, combine the tomato sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and brown sugar, and set it aside.
- Cook the Beef – Place a large skillet or dutch oven over medium/high heat. Add olive oil and ground beef. Saute the beef for about 5 minutes until cooked through and no longer pink, breaking it up with a spatula. If you see extra fat on the bottom, tilt the pan and spoon it out or blot it up with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add vegetables – Stir in the diced peppers and onion. Cook another 5 minutes until the veggies are tender and beef is browned. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds until fragrant, stirring constantly.
- Add the sauce and bring to a light boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for about 10-15 minutes or until thickened to your liking. Adjust the seasoning taste* and add water if you prefer a looser consistency. Serve on toasted buns for Sloppy Joe Sandwiches.
Notes
- Too sweet? Add a pinch of salt or 1/ 2 tsp apple-cider vinegar
- Too Tangy? Add 1/2 tsp brown sugar or a drizzle of ketchup
- Too Tomato-y? Simmer an extra 5 min to concentrate flavors and caramelize sugars.
- Missing depth? Add extra Worcestershire.
- Too loose? Simmer uncovered 3-5 minutes to thicken
- Too thick? Add a splash of water
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Love Ground Beef Recipes? Try these:
- Slow Cooker Beef Chili
- Meatloaf
- Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Bolognese Sauce
- Lasagna
- Ground Beef Stroganoff
- Mexican Beef and Rice Skillet
Bland. Should include something acidic like vinegar and more salt or bbq sauce.
Hi Andrew, that’s a great idea to add BBQ sauce and add smoky notes. I bet it would be great with our homemade bbq sauce.
Our whole family loved this one! This one was spot on and absolutely delicious; 10/10 will be making this again!
Hello Leslie, that’s great to hear! Thanks a lot for the perfect rating, we appreciate it.
I have cooked this many times following the recipe. I can’t think of anything to add to it that would make this taste any better. We make it good and thick by slowly simmering the liquids out. We love it, what a great comfort food.
I’m so glad you love it! Thank you for the wonderful feedback!
Delicious- my kids went back for seconds. I just added 1 Tbsp of tomato paste to the recipe. Definitely making this again.
That’s wonderful! I’m so glad it was enjoyed.
This recipe is really good! Each person who follows may have their own spin on it like more of a tomatoe taste, or spicier, or thicker or thinner. It is an excellent base sloppy joe to put your own spin on it, but it is perfect sloppy joe to leave alone as is for a quick recipe and not have to use processed canned food. Thank you for this starter recipe!
Thank you for sharing your experience trying out Sloppy Joe recipe, Lisa. Great to hear that you liked it!
I can’t understand how this recipe has so many good reviews. I had to add so much extra mustard, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and a splash of apple cider vinegar to give it some umph. Even then I was still missing the canned Manwich we typically use. This is the first recipe I’ve made of yours that was disappointing.
Hi Aly, I haven’t tried the canned Manwich before but thank you for the suggestion. Did it seem watery? If so, it probably didn’t need the extra water – it can depend on the pan size, heat, etc. If its too liquidy, it can seem diluted.
My mom has just tired of hamburgers so I looked for a SJ recipe with green peppers. The only changes: I substituted the tomato sauce with a bottle of sugar-free ketchup, used keto brown sugar and the whole green pepper! Definitely a keeper!!!
Thank you!
That’s wonderful, Monica!
This recipe has a lot of potential, but i just found that it lacked flavor. Using the listed ratios, i just didn’t get much sweetness or tanginess coming through and the sauce tasted mostly like unadulterated tomato sauce so i had to add almost twice as much brown sugar and mustard and almost 3 times as much Worcestershire sauce. I also added smoked paprika and a dash of chili powder and a half teaspoon of instant espresso powder for depth of flavor.
Thank you for sharing your creative modifications.
Agreed. Too watery. Added cornstarch to thicken and even then it still tasted too much like tomato. Will not try again. Any recipe that proclaims itself the “best” recipe should sit down and be humble. Especially this one, because it ain’t it.
Hi Chuck, I’m sorry to hear it didn’t meet the mark for you. Did you make any changes in the recipe? I’d love to help troubleshoot.
I also noticed this, although I did appreciate the use of tomato sauce instead of the typical ketchup. I also doubled the sauce flavorings with a little extra Worcestershire and about a tablespoon of red wine vinegar to counter the sugar. If I make this again I won’t use as much sugar (sucanat in my case) as it turned out a little too sweet, but smoked paprika is a good idea. That stuff is good in everything.
Im looking forward to msking this recipe, sounds yummy! Can I use tomato paste instead of tomato sauce?
Hello there, one of our readers shared this “YUM! I did add a tablespoon of tomato paste and an extra tablespoon of brown sugar, which made it perfect. It was even better the next day!” Hope that helps!
This was so good! I followed this almost to the t! I did add red pepper instead of green since it’s sweeter. I also added maybe a tablespoon of tomato paste. Thank you for this recipe my 4 year old and husband loved it!
That’s wonderful, MJ! Thanks for sharing.
Very tasty recipe! We substituted half the yellow mustard for some spicy brown mustard, added some diced tomatoes and a dash of chili powder. So good!
Sounds great! Glad to know that it worked well in this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing!
A few changes I made and added. Tomato paste to thicken it up, added Ancho Chili powder, paprika and a dash of cumin, and a tbl spoon of molasses. Also picked some jalapenos and added them along with the other green pepper.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
This was very good. Full disclosure- I have never eaten sloppy joes from a can only from scratch. So I added a half a teaspoon of Montreal steak seasoning as I like that flavor in my sloppy joes. I also added finely diced mushrooms, and this time I threw in a jalepeno since my pepper plant is producing a lot!
Thank you for sharing, Amanda! I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.
I’ll be making this soon, it’s a classic recipe, very similar to what I’ve made in the past. However I place the bun top on a piece of waxed or parchment paper large enough to wrap the filled sandwich in. I place a slice of cheese, some jalapeno or green chile slices and sometimes a slice of raw onion. Add the filling, bottom bun & finish wrapping in the paper. Place wrapped sandwiches on a pan in a 350° oven and bake until the cheese is melted. Voila, a delicious sandwich with gooey, melded flavors just like my mother made!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, JC
I don’t eat beef but made this with ground turkey last night and it was delicious! Also used red bell peppers because I don’t like the green ones. This will definitely be a recipe I’ll use often in the future. Thanks!
Hi Tina, great to hear that it’s yummy using grlund turkey. Thanks for sharing!
I thought this was delicious! I fried the onion and green pepper first along with the garlic then I added the meat to brown. The other difference was I used San marzano tomatoes because I didn’t have anything else. So I did not use any water. It was fantastic.
Thank you for sharing! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I made this last night. It was delicious. So much better than the canned Manwich sauce that I grew up on as a kid. I added a bit more brown sugar to the sauce and some tomato paste. Having leftovers of this tonight. I will add this to my dinner rotation.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Lisa!
The flavor profile was delicious but it was way too saucy, I didn’t even add the water. I ended up adding another half pound of burger and about 6oz of cauliflower rice.
My mom gave me this recipe, I passed it on to my best friend and we all rave over how delicious it is! So simple & so delicious!
So lovely to hear that, Erin. Great to hear that it was a huge hit!
Great recipe to replace horrible can versions. Easy and pulls together quick.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Lisa!
We love this recipe! It’s almost identical to the way we made it in the 1970’s! I think some of the more negative comments are from people who grew up on sweeter foods with HFC. Back in the “old days” we didn’t use as much sugar. Thanks for posting this. It brought back so many good memories for me.
Thank you for your lovely comment, Lana!