Saucy, beefy, and so satisfying. We’re convinced this is the best recipe for homemade Sloppy Joes. Ground beef in a hearty tomato sauce, served on toasted hamburger buns, is a great option for lunch or dinner. Everyone needs a great and nostalgic Sloppy Joe recipe 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 ★★★★★
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.
The Best Sloppy Joe Recipe
This delicious Sloppy Joe recipe is a simple and inexpensive way to make a budget-friendly family dinner. It’s essentially a loose meat sandwich with 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 Ground Beef Stir Fry, Goulash, 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 Joe Ingredients
- 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 any color. If you like things spicy, add jalapenos. You can also substitute with 1 grated carrot (about 1/2 cup).
- Onion & Garlic – these aromatics add great flavor to the sauce.
- Homemade Sauce – just a few simple pantry ingredients create a sauce better than any store-bought version. Combining 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 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 and to keep the buns from getting soggy. Spoon the saucy beef mixture on toasted buns and serve as sandwiches.
What to Serve with Sloppy Joes
Complete the meal by pairing it with crunchy potato chips and dill pickle spears. My kids especially love this combination. It’s also delicious served with a side of creamy potato salad, coleslaw, or macaroni salad. Baked Mac and Cheese is another great option, especially for birthday parties.
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.
How to Use Leftover Sloppy Joe Filling
There are so many different ways to enjoy leftover sloppy joe filling. Here are some great ideas for sloppy joes without the bun:
- Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese – Add the meat mixture when making a Grilled Cheese
- Sloppy Joe Sliders – substitute meat sauce in my cheeseburger sliders.
- Sloppy Joe Pizza – Add on sourdough pizza or overnight pizza dough and top with cheese..
- Loaded fries – top your air fryer French fries with cheese and sloppy joe filling.
- Sloppy Joe Hot Dogs – Add the meat sauce to your hot dogs.
- Baked potato – fill baked potatos, or air fryer baked potatos with meat sauce.
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
- Refrigerating – Cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate up to 3 days.
- Freezing – transfer the cooled meat sauce to freezer-friendly containers or freezer bags and freeze for up to 2-3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Reheating – It’s best to reheat a recipe the same way it was cooked. Warm the meat sauce in a pan over the stovetop until hot. You can microwave, but cover to catch messy splatter.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
Easy Ground Beef Recipes
- Slow Cooker Beef Chili
- Meatloaf
- Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Bolognese Sauce
- Lasagna
- Ground Beef Stroganoff
- Mexican Beef and Rice Skillet
- Beef Burritos
This was really good. The only thing I’d do differently would be to drain the fat off the hamburger meat after cooking and before adding the vegetables.
Great job Natasha! My kids and I enjoyed it so we’ll be adding this one to our arsenal. It was very flavourful, I did add some gochujang that I had around and it was perfect. Never made sloppy joes before, now I’m a big fan.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us, Dan!
I haven’t had sloppy Joe’s in years. Well I tried it with your recipe and I really enjoyed it.
Thank you for sharing.
That’s great to hear, Yanira! So happy you loved it.
I have made this countless times for our church and everyone has loved it. There are some people who are allergic to bell pepper so I’ll make a small recipe without bell pepper for them. I hold off using all the sugar because I don’t like it being too sweet. I’m thinking of adding a diced jalapeno next time.
This is a fantastic recipe. The subtle flavors imparted by the Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and the sautéed onion and pepper combine to give it rich flavor. My only change to the recipe was to sauté the onion, peppers, and garlic before adding and browning the meat, and I used Grey Poupon in place of yellow mustard. Sloppy Joes freeze wonderfully and can be quickly reheated for a quick dinner anytime. Natasha’s Sloppy Joes are now a definite staple at my house.
just made this. added catsup as it wasn’t as sweet as I wanted. also jalapenos.. i’d rate it a 3.5. Natasha.. work on this one a little bit. essentials are there, just needs tweeking.
Can this be made with ground turkey?
Have tried with beef and wanted another option also.
Hi Donna, we prefer it with beef but one of my readers has mentioned they enjoyed it with ground turkey.
Made this for dinner tonight. It was ok, but not really flavorful.
This was sooo good! We wanted sloppy joes but didn’t have the jarred stuff so to google I went. I saw the star ratings and we had all of the ingredients. I didn’t add the brown sugar and I used roasted garlic salt and Goya’s adobo seasoning and doubled the meat for lunches tomorrow. Sooo sooo great!
I don’t understand why the reviews are so high on this recipe. It’s the worst sloppy joes I’ve ever had. Surprised because all of Natasha’s recipes are good. This one was a major miss and I think it’s because there was no ketchup… flavor was lacking big time.
Hi Tijah, I’m sorry to hear this didn’t hit the mark for you. Did you change anything in the recipe? Make any substitutions or changes in measurements? I’ve tested this with ketchup and it works as long as you adjust the sugar, otherwise it ends up being too sweet.
I don’t know if it was because I doubled the recipe for two families but the sweetness profile wasn’t quite there. I added 1 tbsp of brown sugar and it was much better.
Great recipe!
Best dam recipe I ever mad.But I also put celery in it.thanks .A plus
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
Soooo yummy! Took me years to find a sloppy joe recipe like the one I remember from childhood. This is it. Thank you!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it, Kathy!
Amazing recipe very easy and fast. However can you put in bowl and carry out of living space, must it be eaten immediately
Best sloppy joe recipe. This homemade recipe uses real ingredients. No preservatives, like in mass produced canned sloppy joe sauce.
Can I use tomato soup instead of tomato sauce?
Hi Sharon, I haven’t tested that – it might be a little light in terms of flavor. If you have some tomato paste to add in addition, that might work well.
If I was out of tomato sauce, I would substitute using ketchup instead. I’ve done this many times, and the outcome is delicious!
Can I use crushed tomatoes instead of tomato sauce
Hi Joyce, that will work, here’s what one of my readers wrote: “Dee-licious and easy. I had to adjust and use what was in the pantry, like scallions instead of onion, crushed tomatoes instead of tomato sauce. And I used Way” I hope that helps.
This recipe was tangy and sweet and very delicious. It was easy to cook and I will be making this often.
Great recipe! So simple, comes together for a quick meal. My family loved it. I can’t believe I ever bought canned Manwich sauce.
Every recipe I try from Natasha is always perfect!
Making this and double batch to make stuffed peppers next week. Thanks!
It’s a good base for a recipe but definitely recommend jazzing if up a bit. I added paprika, garlic powder, and chili powder, deglazed with a little red wine, and used maple syrup instead of sugar.