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This homemade sloppy joes recipe has all the best parts of the classic recipe we loved as kids: perfectly seasoned meat, a toasted bun and a little messiness with every bite. It’s an easy favorite for a party or a quick weeknight dinner.
Serve these sloppy joe sandwiches with a side of coleslaw, corn casserole and a slice of applesauce cake for dessert — and you’ll have a meal that people will beg you to make again.
MORE BEEF RECIPES:
Beef Stroganoff | Hamburger Casserole | Ravoli Lasagna
Ingredients FOR Sloppy Joes
You will need:
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 tbsp butter
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- ½ cup ketchup
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp prepared mustard
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp onion powder
For Perfectly Toasted Buns: Serving up these sloppy joes on buttered and toasted buns takes them to another level! You’ll need about 2 tsp of softened butter for six hamburger buns to make it happen.
(The complete sloppy joe recipe is at the end of the post in the recipe card. You can easily print and pin it from there as well.)
Ingredient Substitutions:
This recipe uses a pound of ground beef. Using ground beef gives this recipe it’s classic sloppy joes flavor. Popular substitutions that are still tasty include ground turkey or ground chicken.
How to Make this Sloppy Joe Recipe
STEP ONE: Brown the ground beef in a large skillet, drain the grease and set aside the meat. Don’t skip this part, draining the meat is crucial to stopping your filling from getting greasy.
STEP TWO: In the same skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and saute the onions over medium high heat until translucent, about 3 minutes.
STEP THREE: Stir in the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 – 7 minutes. The sauce will thicken. As your sauce simmers, it will bubble and start to splatter. Watch for these splatters and turn your heat down if the sauce is making too much of a mess.
STEP FOUR: Add the ground beef to the sauce in the skillet and stir until cooked through.
To serve, butter the insides of your hamburger buns and toast them lightly on a griddle pan. Add the filling to your hamburger buns in heaping spoonfuls & enjoy. You can even top it with cheese (cheddar cheese recommended) for some added delicious melted cheese flavor.
PRO TIP: DON’T wait to serve them. Sloppy joes are best served as soon as they’re made. Adding filling to the buns and letting it sit for more than a few minutes can make your buns soggy. Instead, if you need to make this recipe ahead of time, keep your filling and buns separate until they’re ready to serve.
Double (or Triple!) This Recipe
Sloppy joes are a GREAT recipe for a crowd: they’re inexpensive, easy to make, and satisfying. This sloppy joe recipe is for 6 people, but it can be doubled or tripled. Simply make your filling and toast your buns and assemble the sloppy joes when it’s time to eat.
Making Sloppy Joes in Your Slow Cooker
This recipe is also easy to make in a crockpot. Especially on a busy night or during a game day, it’s simple to simmer your sloppy joes in a slow cooker until you’re hungry. To make sloppy joes in a crockpot, cook the beef and onions in a skillet (as instructed), but then add all of the ingredients to your slow cooker. Simmer for 2 – 3 hours on low, stirring occasionally.
What to Serve With This Recipe
What Sides Go with Sloppy Joes? There are so many good options. We love pairing them with traditional BBQ or picnic style sides such as:
Sloppy joes have been favorite recipe for decades for good reason — they’re a tasty and easy weeknight family dinner. This old fashioned sloppy joes recipe is a crowd-pleasing family favorite. It’s flavors are the best and it’s easy to make. Definitely worth a little mess 🙂
More Recipes You’ll Love
CASSEROLES: Taco Bake | Lasagna Casserole
EASY: Dirty Rice | Poor Man’s Steaks
COMFORT: Shepherd’s Pie | Meatloaf
Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup finely chopped onion
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- ½ cup ketchup
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon prepared mustard
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- Softened butter to toast the hamburger buns 1-2 tablespoons
- Hamburger buns
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef in a large skillet, drain the extra grease and remove the ground beef and set aside.
- In that same skillet add the 2 tablespoons of butter and melt over medium high heat and add the onions and saute until transparent, about 3 minutes.
- Stir in all remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 to 7 minutes. Watch for bubbling and splattering tomato sauce!
- Add the ground beef to the sauce in the skillet and stir together and cook until all is reheated.
- Butter the inside of the buns and toast them on a griddle pan.
- Spoon the meat mixture on to the prepared buns and enjoy.
I hadn’t had Sloppy Joes in years, but I will be fixing them more often after making this recipe! They received so many compliments and requests to make them again! YUMMY!!!!
Best sloppy joe recipe! I have 4 kids who are extremely picky.. after making this they all requested I make this so much more often! Thank you!
LOVE this recipe. I did want to say I noticed in the picture you have 1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce but 2 tbls in the recipe. I only used the 1 tsp because I think 2 tbls is a bit much. I also only used 1 tbls of brown sugar because we don’t like it that sweet.
Thanks for the recipe! Looking forward to having these tomorrow!
Can you substitute white vinegar for apple cider vinegar?? Can’t wait to try it!
Yes, hope you enjoy!
Delicious! I made this with beyond meat plant based ground “meat” and it is delicious!! Thank you so much!
Fantastic!! Super quick dinner!
We enjoyed our sloppy joes! We even have more for dinner tomorrow. It tasted great. I may use a bit less brown sugar. I also loved that it was so easy to make and much better than canned sauce. Finally, it was economical at a time when dinner on a dime is reality!
How much Worcestershire do you use? You have 1 tsp in the picture but then in your printed recipe it says 2 tbsp. Thank you.
Whoops, I’m sorry about that! I just got it corrected… it’s two tablespoons. Enjoy!!
Your instructions never say when to add the 8oz of tomato sauce!
Hi, Lisa – you add it in step three as you’re making the sauce. Enjoy!