Mouthwatering Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese are the ultimate comfort food! Easy homemade sloppy joe mixture and melted cheese in crispy buttery slices of bread.
Take our ultimate Sloppy Joes to the next level by serving them inside, a melty grilled cheese! Try these ultimate grilled cheese sandwiches with any of our Sloppy Joe Recipes.
SLOPPY JOE GRILLED CHEESE
This Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese recipe is so easy and there isn’t a can of store bought sauce in sight. The mouthwatering sloppy joe mixture is made from scratch in less than 25 minutes for quick comfort food you can feel good about. Plus making into a grilled cheese is not a new thing on this site, one of our most popular recipes is our Philly Cheesesteak Grilled Cheese!
The sloppy joe mixture in these Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese is kid friendly AND award winning! That’s right, this Ultimate Sloppy Joe sauce has won 3 awards plus kids love the mild savory and slightly sweet flavors. While any sloppy joe mixture would taste good, this one is hands down the one you should try first.
One bite of this homemade sloppy joe sauce and you’ll never go back to cans of Manwich again. Made with common pantry items and cheeseburger condiments (you know you have them on hand), not only does this easy recipe taste better, it doesn’t break the bank.
You can make Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese ahead of time for quick weekday lunches by cooking the sloppy joe mixture and refrigerating. Simply warm up the beef mixture in the microwave or stovetop. Heat up a large skillet (or griddle) and prepare grilled cheese sandwiches with the reheated sloppy joe mixture.
Is a Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese really a grilled cheese without a cup of Tomato Bisque on the side? If you want to skip the soup, try a side of Creamy Easy Coleslaw. Go for comfort food overload and serve Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese with Baked Mac and Cheese. Serve these as a sloppy cheeseburger with your favorite burger toppings like ketchup, yellow mustard, and pickles.
MORE DELICIOUS SLOPPY JOES RECIPES
Ultimate Sloppy Joes
Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
Bacon, Beer and Cheese Sloppy Joes
Chicken Bacon Ranch Sloppy Joes
Create a free account to Save Recipes
VARIATIONS ON SLOPPY JOE GRILLED CHEESE
- Filling: You can serve most of your favorite Sandwich Recipes inside a grilled cheese using this recipe. Try it with Buffalo Chicken, Italian Beef, or BBQ Beef Sandwiches!
- Meat: If you substitute lean ground beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken use a tablespoon of olive oil when browning.
- Cheese: Use your favorite sliced cheeses like cheddar cheese, provolone cheese, Havarti cheese, Gouda cheese, or smoked mozzarella cheese.
- Bread: Instead of white bread, try thick slices Texas toast bread, French bread, or sourdough bread. Thicker, denser bread should cook at lower temperature so it doesn’t burn in the time it takes to melt the cheese.
- Seasoning: Change up the seasoning by adding things like taco seasoning, bbq sauce, Worcestershire sauce, or crispy bacon to the ground beef mixture.
- Sloppy Joe Cups: Prepare the sloppy joe mixture. Grease 6 cup muffin tin and press a slice of white bread (crust removed) into each cup. Top with shredded cheddar cheese. Top with beef mixture and more cheddar cheese. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, until cheese is melted.
Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese Casserole
-
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Make Sloppy Joe mixture according to recipe. Set aside.
- Butter 12 slices Texas Toast bread.
- Place half the slices of bread in the bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish, butter side down.
- Cover bread slices with shredded cheddar cheese (or cheese of choice).
- Spread beef mixture over cheese evenly, top with more shredded cheese and cover with remaining bread slices butter side up.
- Bake 25-30 minutes, or until bread is golden brown.
MORE FUN FAMILY FAVORITE RECIPES
Big Mac Sloppy Joes (w/ Secret Sauce!)
Super Crispy Chicken Tenders
Chili Cheese Sloppy Joes
Cheesy Taco Pasta
HOW TO STORE SLOPPY JOE GRILLED CHEESE
- Serve: These sandwiches are best served right away and can be at room temperature for up to 2 hours.
- Store: You should store the sloppy joe mixture separate and make the grilled cheese when serving. The sloppy joe mixture can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Freeze: Again, freeze the sloppy joe mixture separately. Freeze in a sealed container for up to 3 months and thaw completely in the fridge before reheating for Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1/2 yellow onion , chopped
- 1/2 green bell pepper , chopped
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
- 3/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 12 slices American Cheese
- 12 slices white bread
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Instructions
- Add the ground beef to a large skillet (this browns very well) on high heat and brown until a deep brown crust appears before breaking the beef apart.
- Stir the ground beef and brown until a deep crust appears on about 50 or so percent of the beef, and it is cooked through, then remove the beef, drain the fat and add the butter, onions and bell pepper to the pan.
- Let brown for 1-2 minutes before stirring, then let brown for another 1-2 minutes before stirring again and add the beef back into the pan.
- Add the garlic, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, to the pan and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated (about 75% of the mixture is above liquid), 3-5 minutes.
- Spread the butter on one side of each of the 12 slices of bread.
- Butter side down on the cutting board.
- Add a slice of American Cheese to each of the slices.
- Top six slices with the meat mixture and close the sandwiches pressing down lightly.
- In a cast iron pan or griddle on medium high add the sandwiches and cook for 3-5 minutes on each side.
Nutrition
Want to save this recipe? Create a free account to easily save your favorite recipes
heart attack on a plate would not use to much butter like i did on mine
Love that you can prepare it ahead of time. This is perfect if you’re in a hurry. Love the idea of sloppy joe and grilled cheese in one. Thanks for this! 🙂
Enjoy!
That looks INSANELY good! I love how everything just melts. I know it’ll be packed with comforting flavours since there’s butter and American cheese. Can’t wait to try it!
It’s perfect comfort food!
Oh my goodness girl! You have just made my kids dreams come true. 2 of their favorite things together. I am going to make their day and put this on the menu for next week.
Yay!! A total mom win, I love it.
These look amazing. I grew up eating sloppy joes and occasionally my mom would add cheese. I haven’t eaten them this way in years and now I can’t wait to try your version!
Enjoy!
Who would have thought to put the two together?! Seriously amazing!
It’s fun getting creative in the kitchen. Thanks for the 5 stars, Sapana.
What an awesome recipe to make for my kids dinner tonight! These look delicious; too good to pass up, indeed!
Thanks for the 5 star rating, Sara.
My grandchildren will love these sandwiches. I cannot tell you how much my family enjoys ALL your recipes. Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks. Thanks, Sabrina
You’re welcome!
Holy cow!!!!!
Haha, thanks!