Bacon, Beer and Cheese Sloppy Joes are the perfect gameday food for a crowd with a Guinness sauce and sharp cheddar cheese filling.
We’re fully on board the sloppy joe train and so far your reader favorites are BBQ Sausage Sloppy Joes and Bacon Brown Sugar Sloppy Joes. Keep the reviews coming!
Bacon, Beer and Cheese Sloppy Joes
Another Monday, another Sloppy Joe Recipe! If you want to see all the previous sloppy joes we’ve shared on the blog you can find them all here. We’ve been having such a good time with them (and I think I’m singlehandedly keeping my local baker busy baking brioche buns for me).
We were at Trader Joe’s a few months ago and saw they’d paired up their pub cheese with bacon in the cheese/meat aisle. I was holding a pound of ground beef in my hands when I saw it. This dish was such a natural fit I had a full on lightbulb moment. One quick text later inquiring if we had beer, I was ready to make these sloppy joes.
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In most of my sloppy joes recipes I try to hide vegetables in the recipe so I feel like a better parent (my working mom guilt is real). But these are geared to a more adult crowd so I skipped the veggies.
If you would like to add vegetables into the recipe I’d recommend:
- green bell pepper, chopped finely
- mushrooms, chopped finely
- celery, chopped finely
- carrot, chopped finely
- canned diced tomatoes, water drained
Basically any vegetable that won’t add any additional sweetness that you can soften and brown in the bacon fat. I have used this recipe with mushrooms before and even carrots, both times were delicious.
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What goes good with sloppy joes for a side dish?
We love serving sloppy joes with Crispy Sweet Potato Fries, Beer Battered Onion Rings, Loaded Garlic French Fries or your favorite roasted vegetables.
tips for making these Beer, Bacon and CHeese Sloppy Joes:
- Make sure your ingredients are ready ahead of time, don’t let the pan scorch.
- Make sure you drain excess fat from the beef, I use 85/15 to minimize excess fat.
- Stop cooking when its just slightly too wet still, it will thicken as it sits for a couple minutes.
- If you don’t like beer, use 1 ½ cups beef broth. If you love beer, ditch the broth and use double the beer.
- If you want to meal prep just leave the sauce extra saucy before shutting off the heat. You may need a bit of water when reheating.
- We love adding cheese to the mixture before serving. Just don’t add the cheese too early, add just early enough to allow it to melt slightly.
Are you going to join us and enjoy this recipe on Wednesday? Remember if you make this dish this Wednesday, we’ll be having the same dinner.
I’d love to know how it turns out for you so if you do make the recipe pretty please come back and leave a comment letting me know how you enjoyed them.
We put a ton of effort into recipe testing 35 Sloppy Joes for this weekly series! The reason we did (aside from the fact we LOVE them) is because you all have gone nuts for ALL 4 of the original sloppy joes on the site!
- Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
- Ultimate Sloppy Joes
- Pizza Sloppy Joes
- Bacon Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 8 slices bacon chopped
- 1/2 yellow onion chopped
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 cup beer I used Guinness
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cubed
- 6 brioche buns
Instructions
- In a large skillet cook the bacon on medium high heat for 2-3 minutes or until crispy but still bendable.
- Remove the bacon from the pan and drain all but two tablespoons of the fat.
- Add the onions and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until softened.
- Add in the beef, lower the heat to medium and cook well, breaking it apart but leaving some chunks about the size of a raspberry or small grape (don't crush the heck out of it, the larger crumbles will help give the sandwich stability).
- Cook until well browned (5-6 minutes), then add in the ketchup, tomato paste, Worchestershire sauce, dijon mustard, beer and beef broth.
- Stir well, continue cooking until the sauce starts to evaporate and the mixture becomes "sloppy" (about 5-6 minutes).
- The consistency you are looking for is reduced enough that spoonfuls can be placed on top of each other with the bottom spoonful not spreading more than a half inch or so.
- Add in the chunks of cheddar and cooked bacon crumbles a minute before serving and stir just slightly to melt them into little puddles.
- Toast the buns then spoon over the mixture and top with additional bacon (if desired).
Nutrition
Best tasting Sloppy Joes ever! These were easy to make, and the outcome was a fantastic scrumptious sandwich. My family loved them and I will be making them again. Thank you for sharing.
My family loved these. We’ll definitely have them again soon!!!! ??????
Yay! Sounds like a win. Thanks so much for the 5 star rating,
I made these for dinner tonight and they are amazing!
Best sloppy joes I’ve ever had. I used Mich Ultra because it’s what I had on hand and was perfect. I’ve made these several times and it always turns out perfect.
sounds amazing!
I’ve never had sloppy Joe’s this good and easy too. I’ll be making this one again and again.
I wasn’t sure I would like it, but I tried it anyway since my spouse loves him some sloppy joes; no regrets! I loved it too! Thanks so much for this recipe & after looking through your site, I’m pretty excited about all the great-looking recipes!
We love this sandwich! I have made it several times now and the only change to the recipe is we use pretzel buns. Gives it more of a pub vibe. Beer, pretzels, beef and cheese! Yum!
Pretzel Buns sound amazing with this!
These were delicious!! I used Mich Ultra because that’s what I always have on hand. Surpassed my favorite sloppy joe recipe for us both. Pinned to favorites.
My whole family enjoyed this sandwich. My husband said “this is definitely a keeper!”
Phenomenal! I added mushrooms and it was divine. My entire family loved this recipe, including my picky 6 year old! 10/10 I would definitely recommend trying. I have never been a fan of sloppy joes but this changed my mind for sure!
This is 2022 and found this recipe off an old YouTube video and these are amazing sloppy joes. Probably the best ever! I used blue moon beer that I had on hand but still tasted great!:)
Can you make this in a slow cooker?
Love this! Not such a strong tomato flavor as you usually find in sloppy joes. This is my new recipe for sloppy joes!
Could you put paprika or smoked paprika in this?
Thise who said it was flavorless, it was a YOU problem. The cheese alone adds flavor, but the beef broth and other seasoning, you know the ones you typically use to flavor your food when not following a recipe, also flavor it.
Anyway, as always amazing recipe.
Learn to use your own judgment on seasoning, people. No 2 ppl always agree on flavor/spices. A recipe is like an instructional that you can adapt for you. Think of that before you blame the recipe.
So good! Comes together really quick and satisfies my picky eater husband! It’s becoming a regular in my house!
How do you cook in crockpot?
Finally had the opportunity to make these tonight…….OMG they are sooooo delicious, we are thinking about making a Mac & Cheese bake with them the next time!!!
Is that calorie count just for the sloppy or does it include bun
I am wanting to attempt this for a Sunday football party… can you make then transfer to a crockpot? Will it hold up?
Great recipe!!!
Great flavor and we all loved it. I used Modelo Especial beer instead of Guinness. Not hard to make and will definitely make again.
Making this tonight for my Bf, can I replace the Guinness with Budweiser? Thanks in advantance!
Sorry but I found this awful. Followed recipe as written. Tasted like beer and no other flavor. Will not be making this again
Hello Cj, I am so sorry this recipe didn’t work well for you. Maybe I have another recipe that would be better for you?
So it’s 979 calories per serving and 66 grams of fat, 31 grams of which are saturated fat. Sounds good, but I’ll pass…….
What can I use in place of the beer?
We have lots of other sloppy joe recipes on the blog is you prefer one without beer.
Nothing else! It would not be a Bacon-Beer-Cheese Sloppy Joe! Sort of like leaving the oatmeal out of oatmeal cookies because you don’t like oatmeal LOL
So just to be clear… You don’t drain the beef at all then?
Hi! You would drain excess fat from the beef, I use 85/15 to minimize excess fat.
Sabrina, this is a definite hit – as you can tell from all the other reviews LOL. I added a heaping tablespoon of brown sugar and used more beer in place of the broth…a winner for sure! Will be our go-to sloppy joe recipe in the future. Manwich who?!
Very good! Made a version of this tonight but used sweet Hawaiian sliders instead of brioche buns. Clean plate club tonight 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
Made this tonight and it was delicious. When I make it next time I would definitely add mushrooms as someone suggested and a little heat for added depth. But definitely one of our faves!!
So good. Second time I made this used a gueyre/white cheddar mix and it was delicious too. Great recipe!
This is amazing!!! It seems like too much liquid at first but it reduces quickly. I used all beer and added beef better than bouillon into it.
Can you use Velveeta cheese in this?? and can you put it in the crockpot?
Those ideas both sound delicious. You’d have to cook the beef ahead and drain the fat but yes I don’t see why not. If you add the beef in raw it will be super fatty and oily.
Hi! Chef in training here, big fan of step by step directions. Can you please clarify how I can make this in the crock pot? I want to give it a try this weekend! Thanks in advance!
Love this recipe!!! Forget the broth use the beer!!! A huge smash in my home!!! This is THE go to sloppy joe recipe in my house from this day forward!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
I’m happy to know it’s such a hit, Ken.
I wasn’t so sure about this recipe , but omg, it was amazing! Def on the keep list! I’ll never use manwich again!! ??
Fantastic!
All Guinness; no broth. Indescribably good! Thank you for sharing!!
Can I use ground chicken turkey instead of the groundbeef?
Sure 🙂
I am definitely trying this for dinner this week. Looks FABULOUS!
Enjoy!
This is the best sloppy Joe recipe I have made! I added the diced tomatoes and mushrooms to it . Will definitely be making this again!
I am planning to make this weekend and wonder if leftovers freez well. Didn’t see any recommendations on storing. Thank you
P.S. I just love your recipes
I’m so glad you’re loving the recipes! You can absolutely freeze the leftovers.
The whole family LOVED IT and went back for seconds! Will be making sloppy joes this way from now on!
This recipe definitely needs LOTS of time for the sloppy meat mixture to thicken. I wouldn’t recommend using beer either. We had budweiser and the entire time it was cooking it reeked of beer ??
Yeah.. who cooks with budweiser? You want a good quality, stout or dark ale these are freaking AHMAZING. We actually used a cast iron frying pan over the campfire and ended up feeding half the neighborhood, they were that good. Great recipe.
I’ve made this a number of times for the husband and 7yo son over the past year or so. It’s a huge hit! I make no changes to the recipe and it’s delicious every time!
This recipe looks AMAZING. I will definitely be putting this on my “to make” list for this fall! My husband will love it (while we watch the Packers! Beer and cheese – perfection!)
So perfect for game day!
Very flavorful! I love how the cubed cheese melts and makes little pockets of cheese throughout this!
Mmmmm, now I’m hungry for pockets of cheese! Love it!
Has anyone did this in the crock pot? I seen just cook the meat and throw everything in. But what about the bacon & onion cook it separately?
I would just set aside the cooked bacon until right before serving. Once everything has cooked in the slow cooker, resume with step 8. I’m not sure it really saves you any time from putting this in a slow cooker though. Good luck!
We just adore this recipe! I just quintupled the recipe for our sportsman’s club meeting tonight. 25 hungry men! I’m sure they will love it!
We loved these! I used all beef broth and they turned out great.
I used Yuengling Lager in place of the stout and these came out great! I’m Definitely making these again!
Have you ever tried in a slow cooker? Crockpot
I haven’t but you could brown the meat and add it all into a slow cooker and cook on low 4-5 hours. The last half hour, add the cheese and bacon crumbles. Enjoy!
Did you use Guinness stout for this?
Yes 🙂
Great recipe! I made with a vanilla porter, maple bacon, and chopped mushrooms. Definitely a keeper!
Yum!
Am i supposed to drain the fat after i cook the beef?
I used a leaner ground beef and didn’t have much but if you’re noticing quite a bit of fat, drain most of it before continuing the recipe.
Can you use miller lite?
I’m not sure it would work. We used more of a Stout beer for this recipe. If you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!
We used Coors original and it turned out great!
Good to know, thanks!
Awesome recipes I have seen on here I look forward to plenty more
Thanks, Sheila.
This calls for 2 cups cubed cheese. Is that just measuring the cheese or do I need to use 2 8 ounce blocks of cheese?
This recipe calls for 2 cups of cubed cheddar cheese.
Would Velveeta work? Would reduce the oil from the cheddar
Made theses tonight, they were really good. However it really didn’t thicken up. I used beef broth since I didn’t have beer. Could that be part of the reason?
It is part of the reason, beer reduces differently than broth. Next time you can add a little cornstarch slurry if you substitute beef broth and that should thicken it right up. Glad you enjoyed otherwise! 🙂
These sound delicious. My husband is gluten free. What is a gluten free beer you would recommend?
I don’t have any experience with any particular GF beer but as long as it’s a stout, it’ll work.