The Best Sloppy Joes
Quick and easy, these really are the best sloppy joes ever! The bold, exciting flavors make these a tried-and-true favorite!
When is the last time you found yourself craving a sloppy joe?
If your answer is “next to never,” I can’t blame you.
Thanks to a few Dreaded Dinners of my Youth, sloppy joes made the short list of meals I never planned to introduce to my children.
That is, until I took a chance on this new and improved version, and I was totally won over and amazed by how good a sloppy joe could be!
Over ten years later, and these have become a tried-and-true recipe. They are the only sloppy joes we make! And we make them often.
What makes these sloppy joes different?
When you add the right “stuff” to sloppy joes, they quickly go from average to totally spectacular.
Instead of relying on a strong tomato flavor profile that often results in bland, boring sloppy joes, this recipe goes straight for the flavor jugular.
BBQ sauce builds the foundation of flavor while tomato sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce round everything out.
Choose a BBQ sauce you really, really love. My favorite store bought brands are Sweet Baby Rays and Kinders. This is my go-to homemade BBQ sauce recipe.
The meat is saturated with bold, savory flavors instead of swimming in a thin, wimpy sauce.
Not only will this make your taste buds really happy, it also helps avoid the dreaded soggy bun issue.
Because, soggy bread should have never, ever been invented. It’s the worst.
Quick and Easy
These really are the best sloppy joes. And they are so quick and easy to make.
A few notes:
- the ground beef can easily be subbed out for ground turkey
- serve them on hamburger buns, brioche buns, homemade french bread rolls, or over cornbread with cheese
- the prepared sloppy joe meat can be refrigerated for several days and reheated AND it also freezes great
I’ve made these sloppy joes dozens and dozens of times for our little family, and I’ve also made enormous batches to serve crowds upwards of 150 people.
It’s safe to say that these sloppy joes are always a hit.
This sloppy joe recipe is a fan favorite even among past sloppy joe haters!
Allison: Just made this tonight-and adding it to our growing list of amazing recipes from you! Even though I was nervous about trying sloppy joes, my husband said, “has Mel ever let us down?” Haha they are delicious!
Laurel: Our whole family loved this! (And hubby is not a sloppy joe fan )
Ashley S.: This is on regular rotation in my house. It converted my Sloppy-Joe-hating fiancé into someone who regularly requests this dinner. I also love how quick this is to throw together. Thanks for another winner!
Elizabeth: I love these so much I want to cry and hug you. Odd reaction to a sloppy joe? Maybe. But I love them. They are exactly what I’ve always pictured a sloppy joe to be but it just never was. Thank you!!!
What To Serve With This:
French Bread Rolls
Coleslaw or Boston Baked Beans
Fresh vegetables and/or green salad
One Year Ago: Copycat Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Recipe {Pressure Cooker or Slow Cooker}
Two Years Ago: Homemade Canned Spaghetti Sauce {Step-by-Step Tutorial}
Three Years Ago: Cheesy Baked Ziti {Make-Ahead/Freezer Meal}
Four Years Ago: The Best Homemade Salsa {Fresh or For Canning}
Five Years Ago: Portillo’s Chopped Salad with Sweet Italian Dressing
Six Years Ago: Sweet Paprika Skillet Chicken
Seven Years Ago: Sweet Mustard Baked Chicken
Eight Years Ago: Succulent Grilled Pork Tenderloin
The Best Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- ½ cup diced onion
- 2 ½ pounds ground beef or ground turkey
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ⅔ cup BBQ sauce (see note)
- ½ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup soy sauce, I use low-sodium
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Rolls or buns, for serving
Instructions
- In a 12-inch nonstick skillet set over medium heat, add the onions and beef (or ground turkey). Cook, breaking the meat into small pieces, until the meat is cooked through and the onions are translucent, 7-8 minutes. Drain excess grease.
- Stir in the tomato paste, BBQ sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, and soy sauce and a pinch of black pepper. Bring the mixture to a simmer ,and cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add additional salt and pepper, to taste, if needed.
- Serve the sloppy joe meat warm on buns or rolls.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted from Dave Lieberman
208 Comments on “The Best Sloppy Joes”
I love this recipe! It’s perfectly savory and well balanced with tomato flavor and other flavors. I can’t stand sweet sloppy joes so this is where it’s at!
I’ve made this recipe so many times… I use 1 lb of ground beef and two cans of drained, rinsed black beans. Once the meat is cooked, I add the black beans and mash them in with a potato masher.
I’ve tried it the original way, But the black beans make it so delicious and cheaper! Highly recommend!
I freeze my meat in 1 lb increments. Do you think it would work to only use 2 lb of ground beef?
Should work just fine!
I am giving this a 5 star rating and making this tonight for another family because they sound yummy and your recipes have never let me down. I am cooking for my grandchildren now, and they require almost completely different recipes than the previous generation. Sigh! But! They nearly fight over your Cheesy Breadsticks and your Focaccia Bread recipes (well, also everything else I have tried from your website) so I am pretty sure this won’t let me down. Thank you
I’ve never cooked something like sloppy joes for my kids. They all LOVED them. I even had two neighbor kids say “can I come over next time you make those sloppy joes again?” This will be going into my rotation. Thanks!!
These were very good. I wouldn’t expect anything else though! One of my favorite blogs!
Omg yes !! I do not care for sloppy joes but you have changed my mind . This recipe is definitely on the menu rotation!! Thank you
Sorry, I was not a fan. Perhaps a different BBQ sauce could have made a difference.
Excellent recipe! We made these with ground turkey and it was so light. My Grandbabies love this so much we’re making again for tonight’s dinner.
Flavorful and the right a out of sweetness without being cloying. We used Rudy’s BBQ sauce (the standard one, not the sissy sauce). This is one of the best sloppy Joe recipes I’ve tried.
This and your ground beef stroganoff are my two of my seven year old’s very favorite dinners! He gets so excited if this is on the menu. I just use whatever bbq sauce we have in the fridge, which is usually Stubbs, and it’s always delicious!
This is the best Sloppy Joe recipe I’ve ever tasted! Look no further. I used Mel’s Kitchen Cafe BBQ sauce recipe in the Sloppy Joes and would do it every time. Forget store bought, it is phenomenal!
What do you do with your leftover tomato paste? Love these and have been making them for years!
I usually pop it in a small bag and freeze it to use later.
Oh man, these were so good – a million times better than the manwich sloppy joe’s I grew up on! My 6.5 year old said he’d be okay if I made them again a thousand times. 😀
I halved the recipe since there’s just three of us, but the only other change I made was adding about half a teaspoon of yellow mustard in with all of the sauce ingredients since I felt like it needed a little more of a vinegary tang. I used Sweet Baby Ray’s, which is pretty sweet. A different sauce might provide the tang without the addition of mustard.
How would you modify this for the instant pot? I’d like to try it and I’m fairly new to the instant pot. We are in the middle of a kitchen remodel so I’m cooking everything in my slow cooker or instant pot.
Hi Jacquie, I haven’t personally had the greatest luck making ground beef dishes like this in the instant pot. I suppose you could cook the ground beef on saute mode, drain the grease and then add the other ingredients and heat through.
My husband loves sloppy joes. He liked these the best of any I have made. My children 5 children always hate sloppy joes. Except these. All but one liked them and the one thought they were ok. My gluten intolerant child put it on rice and liked it too. wow. A miracle. I used a homemade katzu style sauce the other day for the barbecue sauce that I made too much of from another meal and added half of a red pepper. And I didn’t have tomato paste, so used a small can of tomato sauce and let it simmer down a bit. I was in a hurry so used hamburger I had previously browned and frozen to make this a super fast meal.. Definitely a repeat. I have yet to make a recipe from you that I don’t like. Thank you for being a reliable source for tasty recipes!!!!
I have a question can’t I leave soy sauce out because I don’t like soy sauce and put something else
I like to this recipe but my husband can’t have soy sauce I was wondering if can leave that out or substitute for something else
Yes, you can leave it out or sub in a little extra Worcestershire sauce.
Just wanted to let you know I made the sloppy Joe and it was awesome …..thank you. I also made the manicotti….another hit!!!!! Thank you for everything
Wow, thank you so much, Douglas!
I AM making these for a take in meal tonight and I am sure they will be amazing but mostly I am here to say that I love your new bio: weird animals, dark chocolate, and joggers not jogging. hahaha.
Ha. Thanks for noticing the bio, Lori, and mostly just understanding my weird sense of humor. 🙂
This is a wonderful recipe for sloppy joes! I served it with Mel’s recipe for coleslaw and her instantPot Mac and cheese. I also served it on store bought slider buns. It makes a ton which I appreciate. I will freeeze it flat in ziplock baggies in two serving portions. Then wrap two buns in plastic wrap. Both will fit in a gallon freezer bag and my husband and I will have at least three meals for another time. I love when I find recipes that freeze well.
That sounds like a killer meal, Gail!
Delicious!! Found a new favorite bbq sauce (always used Sweet baby Ray’s) that doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup!! The brand is Sticky Fingers (Memphis original flavor). SO GOOD!
I’ll have to look for that one!
Stubb’s is awesome too (w/o the HFCS)!!
Yes, I can confirm, these ARE the best sloppy joes ever. It is true. I don’t know how it’s possible, but it is. Will definitely make these again. So quick and delicious!
Thanks, Megan! So glad you liked them!
My kids love this so much!
Quick and easy. And liked by all including one who dislikes ground beef.
Left overs made a great lunch.
I love eating leftovers for lunch! Glad you liked these, Sheila – thank you for letting me know!
Delicious. I have never really been a fan of sloppy joes, too often they’re not much more than meat in a bland tomato sauce but this one is very different. The combo of bbq sauce, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce is perfect. I used ground turkey and potato bread rolls…yum
I’m so happy this recipe won you over to sloppy joe’s!
These were terrific, Mel. A fabulous marriage of flavors. And so easy!
Thanks, Sarah!
My sloppy joe hating children loved these. They proclaimed them amazing, and I was asked to make them again the next day. Needless to say it is going into the regular rotation. Wish I would have discovered it sooner. Mel – thanks for another winning recipe.
This makes me so happy, Tracy! I swear, for every sloppy joe hating child (or adult) that is converted by this recipe, it adds a year to my life. 🙂
This is a great recipe, so quick and easy but tasty! I snuck in some minced carrots grated zucchini and lentils to the meat —My kids loved it! This will make it into our meal rotation for sure!
Oooh, LOVE those extra additions!
I made this tonight and it was delicious! Most of my kids even liked it, which is a win in our house
Love hearing this – thanks, Diana!
My very picky hubby will actually eat these sloppy joes and not whine about them! Have been making them for many years. Thanks for the great recipe, Mel!
That’s awesome, Becky! gotta love meals that win over the picky eaters. 🙂
We LOVE this recipe!! We recently had to change to a meat free diet for most meals. We use this recipe, but replace the pounds of meat with equal pound of cooked lentils. Works GREAT! Flavor is there and we don’t have to feel like we are compeltely missing out on one of our favorite meals! (we still think the meat version is the BEST but our lentil version is pretty great). 🙂
I think lentils are pretty awesome and love that they work in this recipe. Thanks for letting me know, Laura!
Sounds wonderful! I’ve never liked Sloppy Joe’s either, for the same reasons. These look great, but I may try your Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes first. Mushrooms and cheese got my attention!
This recipe is a winner and I didn’t think I liked sloppy joes either! I add 1 Tbsp brown sugar and that little bit of sweetness makes it perfect for our family!
I make these once a month! We’ve also served them over baked potatoes or sweet potatoes with a little shredded cheese on top. These Sloppy Joes are delicious!
We just made these over the weekend. They are so delicious, and I love that they can be made ahead!
I haven’t had sloppy joes in years but I decided to make these on a whim tonight since our usual ground meat options seem to be on repeat a little too often lately. I used ground turkey and Sweet Baby Ray’s and I can’t believe what a big hit they were with everyone in my family! My 7 year old kept saying, “mmm, sloppy joes are sooo good” and all the kids asked for seconds, which is pretty much unheard of. Thanks for another winner, Mel! Your recipes never fail me!
Hi Mel
I am using just sweet baby rays tonight, thats what I had. The original. But do you have a store bought brand and flavor you reccomend for the smokiness?
Kinders is one of my favorite storebought brands (so is Sweet Baby Rays) but neither of them are quite as smoky as I’d like. I used to be able to find a variation of KC masterpiece that was specifically labeled “smoky” – in a pinch, I add a dash of liquid smoke to the sloppy joes.
We just had these tonight…every time I make them my family can’t stop saying how good they are, and that I need to make them more often! I love to serve my portion over quinoa instead of on a roll…so good!!
Another hit from Mel! I like to make this with a 20 oz ground turkey and then add a bunch of veggies (mushrooms, carrot, bell pepper) all finely diced or shredded. The kids don’t notice and love this meal. They are still a bit young, 3 and 2, so let’s see how long I can keep that up!
Made your French roll recipe as well, and it was a wonderful dinner. Thanks for always providing my family with tasty recipes!
I tripled this recipe to feed 16 youth and 3 leaders today. They gobbled it all up! I have parents texting me asking for the recipe 🙂 I’m sending them to your site with the recommendation to try more of your recipes. Thanks!
Glad it was such a hit, Tanya. Thank you!
Have you ever tried adding quinoa to this? I like to stretch my meat where I can (I guess that wouldn’t be an issue if I raised my own, but I don’t) so this time I used about 2/3 ground beef and 1/3 quinoa (cooked in beef broth). It was awesome! I think I love it more than the original (though I do love the original too) because it just feels lighter on my stomach. Oh–I never have Worcestershire sauce on hand so I just add extra bbq sauce to make up for the missing volume.
Love the idea of adding quinoa, Anna! I’m going to try that!
I’ve subbed half of the ground turkey for quinoa and it worked great!
Not sure how this one got by me for so long, but this is my new standard for sloppy joes! We loved this so much. I served it over sweet cornbread and sprinkled some cheese on it.
Just made this tonight-and adding it to our growing list of amazing recipes from you! Even though I was nervous about trying sloppy joes, my husband said, “has Mel ever let us down?” Haha they are delicious-thanks for all you do!
Yay! So happy to hear that!
Delicious I make it all the time! How many calories per cup do you know?
I don’t know, sorry!
I love your recipe. I first made it a year ago and it has become a staple weeknight dinner in our home.
Well that was hilarious. Note to self, don’t try to multi-task by talking to your brother on your cell while making dinner. You just might pull the frozen chipotle pepper in adobe sauce out of the freezer instead of the tomato paste. And then you won’t notice until you see the skin of the pepper and think “this tomato paste is weird…” . But all was well, we like chilies. I added the tomato paste anyway and the sloppy Joes had an awesome smoky flavor. Thanks for a great recipe. I promise to pay more attention next time! Or maybe not, this turned out so well.
We just served 8o people sloppy joes at our reunion. Someone asked me if we were serving sliced hamburger dill pickles on them. I tried it on the leftovers when we got home and we actual liked it. I had never heard of eating sloppy joes with dill pickles.
This is THE BEST sloppy joe recipe I have ever tried. I was going through chemo a few years back and didn’t feel up to cooking every day. I cooked a lot of plan ahead meals like spaghetti, meatloaf , and yes this sloppy joe recipe. Froze all of the meals for my “bad days “ but it seemed as though I went for the sloppy joe most often and gave out of that first. Thanks Mel for a great recipe!
Thank you so much, Linda! I hope you are feeling much better these days!
These are awesome!!
Our whole family loved this! (And hubby is not a sloppy joe fan )
My kids loved it. Delicious.
Any suggestions on how to do this in an instapot? I’m new to the instapot 🙂
I haven’t made these in the IP, but I suppose you could brown the ground beef, drain, add the other ingredients and cook on high pressure for a couple minutes. They are pretty fast on the stovetop so I haven’t done an IP conversion yet.
Very good!
Make this for my family often and we all love it! Now I am wanting to make it for our church group, which is about 40 people. How many recipes should I make? 5? Asking because you said you have made this for 100!
If your group is mostly average eaters (no one who will eat a ton of sandwiches!), I think you could get away with 5X-ing the recipe. Good luck!
This is on regular rotation in my house. It converted my Sloppy-Joe-hating fiancé into someone who regularly requests this dinner. I also love how quick this is to throw together. Thanks for another winner!
Really good. I add a splash of apple cider vinegar for a little extra flavor.
these are so good and easy, always a winner when the littles will eat it too!
I made this with half quinoa/brown rice and half ground beef. Some of my kids didn’t love it (I’m not sure they’ve ever had sloppy joes before, so I think that is the reason) but my husband and I and the other kids thought it was delicious. Thank you for the recipe!
This recipe saved dinner tonight! I had thawed beef for chili but didn’t make it to the store for the other ingredients. I had everything for these, and I thought it was really good! One kid liked it and one didn’t, which is actually more than like my chili, so there ya go! We served it over baked potatoes and I used half the amount of Worcestershire. Thanks, Mel!
Can you adapt this recipe to a slow cooker?
I haven’t tried it but you can definitely experiment!
Hi Mel,
I’ll be making this soon with ground turkey, homemade is so much better than the canned Manwich stuff. Have you ever made lentil sloppy joe’s? They’re really delicious and healthy and freeze really well. My kids will eat them which is always a bonus.
Tried this recipe tonight & halved it because we don’t have huge eaters in my family. Maybe I didn’t quite get it right, but the soy sauce was WAY too much – too salty for me. So, I ended up putting in about 1/3c water, additional ~1/4c ketchup, ~2T brown sugar, splash of red wine vinegar & a dab or two more of paste. I also added garlic & green pepper. It ended up pretty good. But probably will use my other sloppy joe recipe, or just won’t use quite as much soy sauce. Maybe start with 2-3T & add more to taste???
Could you please tell me what a “sloppy joe” is, I have heard of them in connection with food, but do not know what they are! This is what we call a loose casual sweater.
The origin is from key West fl. A guy who’s name was sloppy joe
Making these again for the umpteenth time! Delivering to a lady from church who had recent surgery.
Made these today for dinner later. Just the 2 of us do I portionedf it out for later. Made exactly as written with 50/50 ground beef & turkey. Rolls are in the oven. My house smells goooood. Thanks for the great recipes. We had your chicken taco salad last night & it was a winner.
I like sloppy joes but my family doesn’t. Never the canned stuff and all the homemade versions I’ve seen or tried are loaded with copious amount of sugar and/or ketchup. I means CUPS of the stuff! It’s like eating ketchup-y, super-sweet burgers or taco filling.
I will be trying this and the boston baked beans and see how that goes. I agree that the bread/roll can make or break a recipe. I’m going to try them with our favorite Light Brioche rolls I found a few yrs back from another blogger. They’re beyond addicting.
SO many great recipes on your site. My printer and pinterest can’t keep up!
Hope you like them, Julia! You’ll have to share your brioche roll recipe; I’d love to try it!
Mel has never let me down. Seriously, every recipe is a favorite of my family.
I am a long-time fan but tried two new recipes last weekend and this weekend. Sloppy joes were another hit!
P.S.: I really appreciated your wellness post on your recent surgery. You look great and are healing up well!
I love these so much I want to cry and hug you. Odd reaction to a sloppy joe? Maybe. But I love them. They are exactly what I’ve always pictured a sloppy joe to be but it just never was.
Thank you!!!
What size onion & what kind did you use in this recipe? One of my kids said it was too onion-ey. I loved them!
Excellent and easy.
These are so yummy! I asked my husband (who isn’t such a fan of sloppy joes) if he liked them and he said “Yes, those were good! What did you do different [from my normal recipe]?”
how is there NO garlic in this!??!!? it does not compute….. mel+kitchen-garlic=best recipe ever? hmmmm……. i added a bit of costco’s garlic and it made them PERFECT. I love you …. but you have neglected your best friend in this recipe….. (garlic!)
My husband agrees with the title of the recipe. Best sloppy joes ever!
Oh and something funny…growing up my mom always served sloppy joes with cottage cheese. So now I have to have those two together. SO weird, I know. But it is GOOD!
So Mel have you ever put this in the crockpot? This looks delicious. On the menu for Sunday dinner. 🙂
I haven’t but I think it would work well if you made it on the stove and kept it warm in the crockpot. So…did the cottage cheese go ON the sloppy joes or just as a side dish?
My Hubby’s birthday is tomorrow and I already made my 3 qt.crockpot full of sloppy joe’s I also have a small crock pot which I fill with Bush’s beans and a bowl of cole slaw and a bowl of fruit salad and chips. Later t he get cake and ice cream.
If I have any left-over sloppy joe mixture I just add cans of tomatoes and call it CHILI and it is really good.
I made these last night for dinner using ground turkey breast and they were amazing! My whole family loved them! Super easy and quick too 🙂
I’ve never made sloppy joes before because I don’t like them. But I needed something for dinner, and I had all the ingredients, so I made these. My husband was ecstatic, and said they tasted just like he remembered. Fortunately for me they didn’t taste just like I remembered, and I really liked them. The baby ate all of his, my boys devoured theirs, and my girls, after much coaxing and threatening with no dessert finally took a bite of theirs and loved them! There are very few meals all of the picky eaters in my family like, and I’m so grateful to have another to add to my list. Thank you!
this is very very yummy…loved it.
I must say: I can’t have sloppy joes without beans. Try adding 1 can of maple beans to a half batch of the above recipe. I omitted tomato paste and soy sauce and put in more bbq than ketchup as the maple beans are already sweet. Garlic in with the onions too;) I didn’t bake: just all sautéed as I don’t typically like baked meat and it’s quicker. Yummy and super easy!
Mel, I found your website about a year ago and have been substituting your recipes for mine ever since. I had to quadruple this recipe for a potluck event. I substituted 1 green pepper for the two onions as I had several people that are allergic to onions. It was fantastic and so simple. Thanks so much for the time you spend sharing your food experiences with the world.
My family also really liked this recipe–even the non-sloppy joe fans! I didn’t have 2 1/2 lbs. of hamburger, just one, so I added a can of rinsed black beans and they turned out great. I also added a teaspoon of mustard just for fun and a speck of spicy Korean chili powder. Delicious!
These truly are the best sloppy joes. We’ve had them 4 or 5 times. The first time I made them my youngest daughter who has always declared sloppy joes as gross sat next to me eyeing them as she ate something else for dinner. After a while she says those smell really good. I asked if she wanted a bite, which led to her eating the last half of my sloppy joe. She now requests them about once a week and takes left overs in her lunch to school. Nothing short of a miracle LOL Thank you Mel 🙂
Hi Mel
Made these for lunch today – a success and will never use another recipe for Sloppy Joe’s. These were never a favourite of mine but after today they are definitely on my regular menu. In RSA we are now able to buy Heinz Barbecue Sauce, which is what I used. Many thanks for the fabulous recipes.
Regards
Ros
My wife is not a fan of smokey sauces, so we we substituted Heinz chili sauce instead. Worked just fine as far as we were both concerned. Thanks for sharing this one.
I’ve made these several times already, and I’m making them again tonight. I figured the least I can do is thank you for the awesome recipe! Besides pizza this is the only other food my boyfriend will eat as a leftover!! Thank you!
This is a regular at our house because it’s just so quick and easy. I add diced green bell peppers because that’s just how I like my sloppy joes. I agree with Nicole above, this blog is a winner.
Ok. You’re kidding me right? I made these tonight and the cheesecake chocolate chip cookie squares. That would make the 5th recipe I have used from you. Every taste bite has been a “AHHHHH, this is so freaking good!”
Your blog Mel, is a winner. Might as well just work my way down the list. (We must share similar taste buds or something…)
Made this tonight….delish!!!
I love a good sloppy joe! Where I come from though we call this type of dish a ranch burger because it’s BBQ sauce based. A sloppy joe here is tomato sauce based. Either way you call it, this recipe is a keeper! It turned out so delicious and all the farm hands really enjoyed it with the spicy oven baked fries and creamy coleslaw!
So long sloppy jo spice packets!
I was in the middle of making this recipe for the first time when I realized that I didn’t have any BBQ sauce! So… I used some red enchilada sauce and added a little liquid smoke. It was really good, but next time I’ll try it as you suggest w/ BBQ sauce!
This really is The Best Sloppy Joe recipe! Love the tang the addition of soy sauce gives the sauce. Husband said to keep this recipe close at hand for future reference. Made for many tasty and easy dinners with Perfect Potato Salad. Love your new graphics Mel!
I have been experimenting with some of your recipes and all have been great including this one! I browned the beef , sautéed the onions and threw everything else in my crockpot and let it cook for several hours. Easy and delicious!
Definitely not your regular sloppy Joe!!! I so love this and so did my family even the picky 11 month old… I don’t usually measure son I just threw in the ingredients you listed… Also I used tamari instead of soy!! Thanks for this its a keeper … I planned out 22 meals for this month off your site this month so far so good!!
Hi Mel,
I’ve been using you recipes regularly for the past few months … They fit well with my cooking style and the lifestyle of my family (7 kid ages 9 months to 17 yrs. :-).. Last night my 16 year old son said he wanted sloppy joe bake for dinner (an old bisquick recipe I used to make when my older kids were little). Because of my current habit of making nearly all my meals from your website…. And my obsession with cooking experiments… I used this sloppy joe recipe put it in a 9×13 pan and topped it with the cheddar biscuits from your confetti chicken pot pie recipe … Let’s just say it was A HUGE HIT!!!! I havent bought or used bisquick for ages … Nor do I plan to in the future … This turned out to be a superb re-creation of an old family favorite…. Thanks for the inspiration!!
Ps…. I did add a little brown sugar to the sloppy joe portion… Just for a little more sweetness 🙂
At one of our family holiday events, we bring finger foods and sandwiches. I am always looking for something new…..this was it! A huge hit for all ages…..everyone said something about them! And I am thankful I made a large batch…and have leftovers. Thanks!
I just wanted to let you know, another good option to spice up your sloppy joes is to sub half of the meat with chorizo. It adds a zing and a spice. My husband LOVES these.
My husband and I LOVE these. We’ve made them for a year or so. We’ve never been disappointed with a recipe from this site (I’ve been reading for 2+ years) And we know that when you say it’s the best, it probably is.
I made this tonight and my kids loved it! It worked really well on the homemade rolls.
LOL @ Kevin’s response to Chuck!
Definitely NOT salty. In fact, my family thought it was not salty enough (they are total salt addicts *sigh*). There is a HUGE difference in saltiness with soy sauce brands though so that is probably the cause for the too-salty taste.
@ Chuck….wasn’t salty at all when I made it, and I’m quite sensitive to salt, so either your ingredients were somehow saltier than the norm, or you screwed it up.
Just made this recipe, thinking I was going to impress my wife when she gets home from work. I used 1-1/2 lbs. ground turkey instead of 2-1/2 lbs. ground beef, thank G for that! I cut the rest of the ingredients in half, so it’s not my fault this tasted like it was full of salt! That’s all I tasted was salt, probably from the soy sauce in the recipe. I used Sweet Baby Ray’s Barbecue Sauce, which wasn’t full of salt, because I’ve made Sloppy Joes before with just that barbecue sauce, which tasted a whole lot better than this recipe! I noted people’s delight with this recipe… why I don’t know, unless you are so use to having food smothered with salt, like fast food is! I’ve liked recipe’s from this web site before, but definitely not this one!
Made this for dinner tonight along with Rhodes rolls, fantastic!!!! My kids loved it!!
This was absolutely delicious!! Friends who claimed to hate Sloppy Joes were so sorry I made only one batch! Next time I will most certainly double the quantity to feed a crowd!
This is my favorite recipe for Sloppy Joes! I make them with ground turkey and they are so delicious. I found that the Famous Dave’s Rich and Sassy BBQ sauce makes them taste even better.
Thanks for the recipe!
I’m not a sloppy joe person but the hubby and my kiddos LOVED them! Thank you for another great recipe! 🙂
Made this recipe tonight (with the french bread rolls) and TWO members of my family complained that they didn’t like sloppy joes….. until they tried these!!! YUMMO!!! Everyone gobbled them right up! Thanks!
THESE are the sloppy joes my family asks for….none other…’nuf said.
Thanks Mel!
Great, thanks much for the quick and helpful response! That makes sense on tripling it, and on making it ahead and just keeping it warm in the slow cooker. That will actually work perfectly since our group is coming over at 1. I can make it around 10 am and then keep it warm while I do other things!
Tamara – I’d triple the sloppy joe mixture for a crowd that big. I’ve kept it warm in the slow cooker before (up to 4 hours on low) but I’d suggest making it as the recipe directs on the stovetop and transferring it to the slow cooker just for warming purposes. Good luck!
I’m making this for a crowd of 16-18 on Sunday. Since your recipe calls for 8-12 rolls, I’m guessing it serves 8-12, so I should probably double it… does that sound about right?
Also, do you think I could make it in a slow cooker?
Thanks so much, it looks awesome!
Shelley: I just halved the recipe last night and it turned out delicious! I didn’t have any troubles at all.
My husband loved it! We will definitely be doing that meal again!
Shelley – I’ve never halved this recipe so I’m not sure how it would fare but my guess is that it would be just fine.
Has anyone ever tried this recipe but cut it in half? Some recipes work well that way some not so much. Sloppy Joes always looks so good but I have never tasted one that tasted as good as it looks. I am anxious to try this one but would like to try a smaller version first.
This recipe is very similar to what my mom would make for us growing up, except she called them “BBQs”. I much prefer this to the traditional SJ recipe, which my husband loves but I find exceptionally bland. So we rotate…when I’m in charge of the meal, it’s BBQs, and when he cooks, he makes sloppy joes his way. The kids enjoy both!
The BBQ sauce I used is my everday one. I woudn’t consider it spicy so I’m guessing that it was the worcestershire sauce. I shall use less. Thanks for the tips!
Excellent but next time I would use low sodium soy sauce. I love salty but it was a bit much.
I tried your sloppy joe recipe and it was delicious! I loved the BBQ flavor, thanks for sharing all your wonderful recipes!
Sharon – was your BBQ sauce spicy? If that wasn’t the culprit, perhaps it was the Worcestershire. If you think that’s the case, cut it down to 2 tablespoons next time and see how it goes.
OK, I made these and they were a bit too spicy for my liking. The kids weren’t fussed. Would it be the worcestershire sauce or soy sauce? I liked them but found the more I ate the hotter my mouth got. How can I ammend?
So good! My family loved it! This is the only Sloppy Joe I’ll be making from now on. Thank you!
Hi Mel. I’m having trouble with printing. When I click onto the Printable version with photo, there doesn’t seem to be a link where I can actually print from. Any ideas?
This was absolutely delicious, and was made in about 30 minutes, so it would make a great weekday meal.
One tip, and please forgive me if someone has already said it in these comments as I didn’t read all of them: If your BBQ sauce isn’t smoky, and perhaps even if it is, add 1/4 tsp of liquid smoke. I looooooved the additional flavour this supplied.
Your blog is awesome! Thanks!
My husband hates sloppy joes and I love them. I made these for dinner last night and I finally won him over! These are AWESOME! He even said we could add them to the rotation. Thanks SO much!
That looks really good, I love sloppy joes!
I bought boneless skinless chicken breast and ground it up for the meat. I sprinkled with beef soup base for more of a beef flavor. These were delicious!
Made these last night, including the french bread rolls. They were a big hit! Thanks Mel! I must say though that they are best eaten when the rolls are fresh out of the oven. They are much softer. I had a few leftover rolls from the other day when I made some and just heated them up in the microwave. Not nearly as enjoyable as the uber-soft fresh rolls out of the oven!
These turned out great! I made a triple batch so I could take meals to three families with new babies (and saved a bit for us). That much meat required browning in two batches, but otherwise was a super-easy recipe with a great flavor. I paired it with the cheesy au gratin potatoes (again, tripled is a LOT of potato-washing/peeling/slicing, but so tasty) on your site. I’ve never been much on sloppy joes but these turned me into a fan.
i tried this recipe, this is amazing! i added jalapeno for some kicks with spicy habereno bbq sauce. will do this every once in a while! thumbs up! i skipped the soy sauce because there’s a allergy in the family but it still tasted good!
I’m a little obsessed with your recipes right now. I feel like I’ve stumbled onto a goldmine!!
These sloppy joes were so tasty! I do like Manwich from a can, but this was a whole other level (for a more refined palette – ha!!). Awesome flavor! Don’t know that I will ever buy Manwich again. This was too good – no turning back now!
I did not brave your french bread rolls, but will be trying them later this week when I make the pulled pork bbq sandwiches. A little obsessed.
Another winner! Even my non-sloppy joe eating husband liked it!
My husband and I LOVED these! I made my bbq sauce a little sweeter and spicier just a tad by adding a very little brown sugar and very little Pace Picante hot salsa, and followed everything else, and we absolutely loved em. When I tasted the meat mixture I used a lettuce leaf and fell in love with them on that so on the side of our sandwiches I made us little sloppy joe lettuce wraps. Sounds weird I know but we loved them! Haven’t tried your rolls you serve them with yet but that’s on my list!
My 19-year-old daughter is home from her first year of college and just made these delicious sloppy joes for dinner and we all completely loved them. She made one slight change, instead of the 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, she used an 8 ounce can of tomato sauce since I’m a huge fan of tomatoes. Then also made the french bread rolls and used your tutorial on forming the rolls, which turned out perfectly. We added a few pickle slices to each roll with the hearty sloppy joe mixture. So, so good! We can hardly wait until she makes them again in about a week! This will be an excellent, inexpensive recipe for her to use when she moves into her first apartment with a kitchen for her sophomore year this fall. Thank you, as always, for sharing your talents with us!
These were yummy-o!!!! Made them for the fam + our neighbor who just had surgery; they were a hit!! No leftovers for us, we ate it all!! Thanks for sharing your great recipes! I love following your blog!!!
We had this for dinner tonight – it was a huge hit with my 3 year old finicky boy, my 2 year old twin girls AND my husband – thank you so much for a great meal that everyone enjoyed – finally!
My family didn’t like this as well as the one I have always made. They thought it had too much Worcestershire sauce in it. I did think that it was better a few days after.
Another hit! I used ground turkey, since that’s what I had on hand, and I shredded a zucchini and sauteed it with the onion. I love “sneaking” veggies in. 😉 Delicious on whole wheat slider buns. My husband commented that he’d never had homemade sloppy joes, and I realized I probably hadn’t either. We’ll certainly never go back to the canned stuff now! Thanks!!!
Mel,
I made these tonight. I made a 1/2 recipe because there are only 3 of us, but I can tell you the whole pan is gone! I was a little skeptical because I’m not a huge sloppy joe fan, but they were delicious. I’m glad because I had already failed on a black bean soup recipe that I slow cooked yesterday! Thanks again for your great blog.
To make sloppy joes a little less sloppy you might try serving them in a hot dog bun…it really cuts down on the mess! I have 5 kids and it works like a charm!
Now I have to say I loved sloppy joe’s growing up but I’m so with you on the Shepard’s Pie thing – gross!!! But this looks yummy.
these are delicious! and my kids loved them. thanks for the recipe : )
Wow .. wow … wow. Amazing!
The sloppy joes were yummy. I made them with your Cheesy Au Gratin potatoes, also yummy. Comfort food to the max. Thanks!
Yum yum. Made these and the rolls on Friday night. We never go back to my old Sloppy Joe recipe again. Delicious.
Tanya – your comment reminds me I need to make these. It’s been a few months since I made them last. I’m glad they were a hit!
I thought these were way yummy! I made them last night for dinner using your recipe for homemade bbq sauce and your french bread rolls. They were definitely a hit and will become part of our “favorites”.
Carlin – thank you! I’m so glad you liked these!
Erinn – glad you liked these!
I made these & they are amazing! Thanks!
Jill – I have started making my own (I posted it at this link: http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/03/the-best-barbecue-sauce.html) but when I buy it, I always buy KC Masterpiece because it’s my husband’s favorite.
I haven’t found a BBQ sauce that I love….what kind do you use?
Sonya – I'm glad that this meal fit the bill for your family (albeit a few changes). Thanks for letting me know!
Melanie once agian you came through for me. I was having a hard time trying to figure out a meal for ballet night. I checked your blog and came across your sloppy joe recipe. It was a huge hit and fast to toss together. I changed a few things (one kid likes BBQ sauce and one doesnt') to fit our family, but it was great. Thanks again.
Jordan – I was thrilled to read your comment – so glad these were a hit with your husband!
Best Sloppy Joe recipe ever! My husband has always like them but I never found a recipe I’ve liked til this one! He kept saying all night, “Those sloppy joes were soooo good!” Thanks again!!!
I am also not a big sloppy joe fan. I made these the other night for us and to take over to a neighbor. You’re right, it does make a ton. They were a HUGE hit. My pickiest child had four sandwiches and ate more the nest day. I like the BBQ flavor twist. Thanks once again.
Hey Danielle – I always forget that this would be a good meal to take to someone so thanks for the reminder. I’m glad you liked them, thanks for letting me know!
Lauren – I’m excited you are trying these – let me know how they turn out!
what, no manwich? i kid, i kid. this is my kind of sloppy joseph, the ol’ manwich can’t even hold a candle to it. 🙂
Hey, I’m glad to see BEST in front of a sloppy joe recipe since the last SJ recipe I tried was a major flop! I’ll bookmark this one to try next time.
I love a good easy sloppy joe.Looks good.
These are definitely not the sloppy joes I grew up with (um, those would be the McCormick packet!). My family would love these, and it would be a great recipe for a crowd! Yum!
I love sloppy joes, they’ve been my favorite since I was a kid! These look sooo good!
We had these last night and they were sooo good! Kids loved them. So did our company. My husband (picky eater of the universe) told me to make them again. Thanks so much for a delicious, easy, family pleasing recipe!!
I have to confess I’ve always liked sloppy joes, if they are made well. I’ve had plenty that have NOT been good, but I like a well made sloppy joe. I can’t wait to try this. Yum.
I love sloppy joes, but this version sounds even better to me. I’ll have to try this one out.
Anonymous – you are right about this recipe – the flavor is different than a traditional sloppy joe, which is why I like it because I’m not a huge fan of traditional sloppy joes. Sorry it didn’t turn out so great for you. Sloppy joes are one of those things that people have their “favorite” recipe and you either love it or you don’t. Sorry this one didn’t work out for you!
Those sloppy joes look good. It has been too long since I last had sloppy joes.
mmmmmm! I can’t wait to try this one!
Mmmm, this is so funny. I have been begging Nate to let me make sloppy joes but he says he “hates” sloppy joes. Maybe these are rooted in your shared childhood experiences? Anyway, I think I am going to try this out and tell nate to eat a corndog 🙂 haha
Natalie – thanks for letting me know you tried them. I’m glad you liked them! That is always a relief instead of you commenting that they were terrible. 🙂 They are a huge fan of my kids, also.
I’m finally getting the chance to make these tonight. Im so excited!! all of the reciepes i have tried from you are wonderful! Thank you 🙂
Maybe I just didn’t have the most flavorful BBQ sauce, but my family thought this recipe was pretty bland. It definitely doesn’t have the traditional Sloppy Joe flavor (which is probably why you liked it), but I think we will stick with a more traditional recipe next time.
So…I am anxious to try this recipe. I also have a family who are not too keen on sloppy joes and I keep trying to find “the one” because I love sloppy joes. I will let you know what they think. Thanks Debbie
I loved sloppy joes as a kid but could never get my kids to eat them – it’s been years since I tried so think I will give it another try with your recipe – thanks!
I loved sloppy joes as a kid but could never get my kids to eat them – it’s been years since I tried so think I will give it another try with your recipe – thanks!