Quick & Easy Sloppy Joes
Skip the stuff in the can and make this homemade sloppy joe recipe instead! Sloppy joes are a favorite easy weeknight meal in my house, and I figured it was about time to share my recipe with you. My version comes together in under 30 minutes AND is made completely from scratch (and without ketchup!). Serve it with a side of coleslaw or broccoli salad and you’ve got yourself a filling dinner! I use several key ingredients in my sloppy joes including smoked paprika (remember this from my chicken and rice soup?), ground mustard, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, and worcestershire sauce. The end result is perfectly balanced–just a touch smokey, the right balance of savory and sweet, satisfying and just so delicious.
My sloppy joe recipe is:
Fast: ready in just 25 minutes.Simple: everything cooks in one pan!Plentiful: feeds six people.Kid-friendly: not too spicy and perfectly sweet.Homemade: no pre-made sauce or seasoning packets here!
What You Need
I prefer to make my sloppy joes without ketchup, so you won’t see that in the photo above. Instead, you’ll notice:
Tomato paste. Some recipes use tomato sauce or ketchup, but I like to use tomato paste instead for huge depth of flavor. I like to use double-concentrated if I can find it.Peppers and onions. These round out the flavor of the sloppy joes. I used a red bell pepper, but you could certainly use green bell pepper instead.Spices. Including smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, and black pepper. If you don’t have mustard powder, you can use a teaspoon of prepared yellow mustard instead.Worcestershire sauce. A classic sloppy joe ingredient! Ground beef. Ground turkey or chicken can work too. And yes, the ground beef in the photo above is frozen, but I made sure it was thawed completely before cooking it.
SAM’S TIP: Beef broth is my preference for sloppy joes, but you can chicken broth or even my homemade chicken stock instead. Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Sloppy Joes
SAM’S TIP: 4 tablespoons (or ¼ cup) may seem like a lot of sugar, but keep in mind that the average sloppy joe recipe uses sugar and ketchup (which contains quite a bit of sugar!). I typically use all 4 tablespoons called for, but you can start with just 3 tablespoons and then taste-test to see if you need the last tablespoon. This sloppy joe recipe tastes great on homemade burger buns or even potato buns, if you’re in the baking mood too 😊 Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
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