One glance at our sloppy joe recipe ingredients and you’ll see why they’re such a popular recipe for feeding big crowds. Whatever you want to call it—cheap, budget-friendly, inexpensive, easy on the wallet—this easy sloppy joe recipe does not break the bank. Take a pound of ground beef, add a few condiments, slap it into a bun and call it dinner. Yep, you can feed your family of four for about $10. Homemade sloppy Joes are easy, too.If the lunch lady could make a decent sloppy joe, just imagine how delicious your homemade version will be! For more easy crowd pleasers, try our Patty Melt, or homemade Hamburger Helper, or for even more easy beef dinners, we’ve rounded up our 30 Best Ground Beef Recipes for you.
Sloppy Joe Ingredients
Ground beef: We like 90/10 ground beef for sloppy joes, because it’s a little leaner than classic burger beef and keeps these sloppy joe sandwiches a little leaner.
Veggies: Bell peppers, onions, garlic and jalapeños if you want a little kick!
For the sloppy joe sauce:
Butter: You could use olive oil instead of butter, if you want to keep this sloppy joe recipe a little on the healthier side.
Ketchup: Ketchup is our go-to secret ingredient! It’s full of umami sweetness and it’s the best.
Tomato paste: Another dense source of umami, tomato paste adds depth and richness.
Brown sugar: Sloppy joes have to be just a little sweet! It’s a classic kid food, after all.
Chili powder: Chili powder is a spice blend, but it’s not usually spicy.
Yellow mustard: For that classic, All-American diner flavor!
Garlic powder: We never cook without a little hint of garlic!
Worcestershire sauce: Another flavor bomb, it’s a must!
How To Make Sloppy Joes
Brown the ground beef. Since you’re using 90/10 beef, it shouldn’t give off too much fat.
Pulse the peppers, onion, jalapeño, and garlic in a food processor to get it really, really fine. This will help it all just melt into the beef—trust us, it’s worth the extra dishwashing effort! Then add it to the browned beef.
Make the sloppy joe sauce. Richly flavorful sloppy joe sauce—loaded with peppers and onions and every flavor-giving condiment in the cupboard—is at the heart of the deliciousness you’ll be serving up. Stir in the ketchup, water, tomato paste, brown sugar, chili powder, mustard, garlic powder, Worcestershire, and salt.
Butter & toast the buns, and top them with the sloppy joe filling!
Side Dishes for Sloppy Joes
In terms of sides, you can keep it as basic as you want! Sloppy joes are at home on a paper plate with a handful of potato chips on the side, but if you want to really lean into the retro fun of it all, try serving sloppy joes with:
Sandwiches For Dinner? Yes Please!
More Dinner Ideas Ahead!
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