½cupchopped yellow or white onions, about 1 small-medium onion
½ to ¾cupchopped green bell pepper, about 1 large or 2 small-medium peppers
8ounces(227h)white button or baby bella mushrooms, stemmed and finely minced (see note)
1teaspoonsalt
¼teaspoonblack pepper
¼cup(36g)all-purpose flour
1 ½cupslow-sodium beef broth
2tablespoonsWorcestershire sauce
¼cupBBQ sauce (see note), use a brand/recipe you love
Provolone cheese slices, for serving (or other cheese of choice)
Buns, for serving (see note for my go-to homemade recipe/method)
Instructions
Heat a large, 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the meat, onions, bell pepper, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often to break the meat into small pieces, until the meat is evenly and completely cooked and the vegetables are tender, 5-10 minutes. Drain excess grease.
Sprinkle the flour over the meat/veggies and stir to combine. Cook the mixture over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring often (this helps cook out the flour taste).
In a bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, and BBQ sauce.
Over medium heat, gradually add the sauce mixture to the skillet, stirring with a wooden or silicone spoon or spatula. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 4-5 minutes until bubbly and thickened. Add additional salt and pepper to taste, if needed.
Serve the sloppy joe mixture on buns topped with a slice of provolone cheese (or other cheese of choice). For a meltier cheese, place the assembled sloppy joes in a 350 preheated oven for a few minutes before serving.
Notes
Nutrition Facts:the nutrition facts for this recipe were calculated based on the sloppy joe mixture (but do not include the buns or cheese as those are added based on personal preference). Mushrooms: if you HAVE to, you can leave out the mushrooms. But they do add great flavor (and texture - I know, some of you are cringing right now). The idea is that they should be very finely minced so they meld perfectly into the meat mixture. Buns: I use this whole wheat bun recipe when I have the time (and usually have some of the finished, baked rolls in the freezer, which makes this meal easy peasy). I weigh out about 3 ounces of dough per bun, shape into a ball and then lightly flatten on the baking sheet so they bake more wide than they do tall. Clearly, though, storebought buns are going to work just fine here as well!BBQ Sauce: here is my favorite homemade BBQ sauce.