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
I just made this recipe today and it is the best…this will be my go to…thanks for sharing
So glad to hear you loved it, Cynthia!
I’ve been looking for a good sloppy joe recipe. This one is top notch. Not to sweet either. I put the sauce on brioche buns and they taste awesome.
I’m so happy you loved it, Angie!
Hubs wanted Sloppy Joes, and said there was one he saw in this page. I followed it and used shredded carrots b/c I didn’t have peppers. Good substitution in pinch. I especially liked the added “flavor profile” at the end of the recipe to help adjust if it’s “too sweet”, or “too tomatoey”, etc. great suggestions to help get it to what taste you’re looking for.
We will be making this again!
I’m so glad you found and loved this recipe, Angel! Thank you for your awesome review. I hope you try and love more recipes soon!
I love this recipe! Easy, fast and flavorful!
Where did you buy your wooden tasting spoon used in this recipe? Thanks Sherry
Hi Sherry, my favorite kitchen tools can be found on my Natasha’s Kitchen Amazon Shop (Affiliate Link).
This is my go to Sloppy Joe recipe. My husband loves it!
Awesome! Great to hear that this is your go-to recipe!
My family loved it. I would definitely make it again. Made following recipe exactly, used shredded carrots rather than peppers.
I’m glad you enjoyed that substitution and that your family loved my sloppy joe recipe!
I recently had a gathering at my new home and I made these for that. I have had at least 10 people ask me for the recipe I used. It was not as thick as I would’ve liked, so I went ahead and cooked it for like three hours. It was absolutely perfect.
Hi Natasha 👋 Absolutely loved this recipe when I made it because it had no ketchup and I see you’ve updated the recipe and it now includes ketchup. If I leave out the ketchup is it the exact recipe as before or were there any other changes? Would love to make it again but I have an aversion to ketchup lol (I know, I know)! Thanks!!
Hi there! You can omit the ketchup and use the same recipe. Enjoy!
Love this delicious recipe!! And I have just a couple of questions….1) Can I make this a day ahead and reheat in a crockpot the next day – or will the consistency change? 2) I’ll be making this recipe for 5 lbs of meat, if I cook it all in the crock pot the morning of the event, will the cook time stay the same as what you suggest in the recipe under the crockpot info? Thank you so much!
Hi Lydia! I think 5lbs of meat would be too much for a standard slow cooker. It may work if you have one that is 8-10 quarts. The cooking time wouldn’t change as long as you brown the meat first. Yes, you can reheat it in the slow cooker, but I wouldn’t keep it on warm (it’s not hot enough). I would reheat it on low. The internal temp should reach 165. Keep it covered the whole time, and add a splash of water/broth if the mixture seems thick.
Simple and tastes great! I used red and orange mini peppers, added some celery and a couple small chopped tomatoes so I could make 6 servings. The celery added a very slight crunch which I liked haha.
Love your recipe. It tastes delicious. Never buy can stuff again.
So happy to know you loved it!
I added a dash of steak sauce and substituted brown sugar with coconut sugar. Also, used orange sweet pepper instead of green…using what I had in the frige. But I loved your simple recipe…looked at bunches! The video with your son was heartwarming!
Thank you so much, Thaylene. I’m glad you found this recipe!
What changes would i need to make to sub ground turkey?
Hi Marci, it will work great with ground turkey, just sub out the meat. Here’s what one of my readers wrote ” I switched the ground beef with ground turkey and my kids didn’t know the difference and LOVED IT!!! We are definitely having this again soon. I love your recipes!!!” I hope this helps
This was absolutely delicious! I used both Green peppers and grated carrots with the small onion. 9 year old approved 👌
I have tried a few other recipes that are similar, but your recipe is delicious. I didn’t have the pepper or carrot but it was still delicious.
I like doing this recipe with a pound of ground lamb. I also use all of a small green pepper, because, come on, how many of us remember to use that half pepper before it rots? Sometimes I even go Full English, and fry the bread dipped in the grease I removed after the lamb was browned. Needless to say, this is NOT a low calorie version, but exactly what you want when you come inside in sub-zero weather.
Family loved this recipe. Will be making it again.
My family loves this recipe and we did not change a thing perfect the way it is! We buttered a Martin’s potato roll. Yum.
That is the best when the family loves what we parents make. That’s so great!
This exactly what we use no substitutions it is great as written no changes. This is the on,y Sloppy Joe recipe we use
Instead of making the sauce separate in a pan, can I just add the ingredients to the cooked hamburger mixture and cook it longer?
I imagine that will work too. The reason I separate the sauce is that it ensures all sauce components are well blended before adding them. You can also control how thick or thin your sauce is and adjust the seasoning.