Ultimate Sloppy Joes made in just 20 minutes with a rich tomato gravy and melted cheese. Your family will ask for them all the time!
Ultimate Sloppy Joes made without the Manwich Canned Sauce or the packets of sloppy joe seasoning you may have grown up with. With just a few pantry ingredients you’ll have a whole new appreciation for classic sloppy joes.
We call these the Ultimate Sloppy Joes, but you may also want to refer to them as Award Winning Sloppy Joes because this recipe has been victorious in three separate sandwich contests including one in college where it beat out over 50 other sloppy joe recipes!
Ultimate Sloppy Joes are the final sloppy joes recipe on our regular rotation. We’ve already gone over the others, the Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes, Bacon Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes, and Pizza Sloppy Joes so posting these Classic Sloppy Joes are a no brainer to round out the recipes!
How do you make Homemade Sloppy Joes:
Homemade sloppy joes are made with ground beef, onion and green bell peppers that are simmered in a brown sugar and ketchup gravy until thickened and served on a bun.
I’ve looked at the back of the manwich cans, and I can’t vouch for this recipe to be like a homemade manwich sloppy joe, but I can say many of the ingredients are similar. This is also not the same as if you grew up eating sloppy joes made with tomato sauce, but the ketchup in the recipe acts in a similar way.
If you would like to swap the ketchup for tomato sauce, just play with the rest of the ingredients to increase the sweetness more as the ketchup adds a definite sweet flavor.
Some tips about making the perfect sloppy joes:
- Make sure not to cook down the sauce too much, sometimes the sloppy joes can get dry, you’re looking for a consistency where you can see the individual bits of meat, but not dry enough where they don’t cling to each other in sauce.
- I personally add in some American or cheddar cheese to the filling when it is done. Some people like to top the sandwich with cheese. Either way cheese makes it just a little more awesome.
- If you hate green bell pepper feel free to swap it out for a less bitter bell pepper, like yellow or red. You can also leave it out, but remember you are removing probably a half cup or more of ingredients, so it will be saucier.
- If you want a bit more savory flavor you can also add a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce to the pan like I do with the Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes.
- The BUN! I always make sure to toast my bun before adding the filling. I find if you don’t your bun may get too soggy, too quickly. (psst, I also butter mine, but only because that makes it even more delicious)
- If you would like to use leftovers you may have in another recipe, just use the method found in my Ground Philly Cheesesteak Grilled Cheese and you’ll be in heaven!
WANT TO MAKE THESE ULTIMATE SLOPPY JOES INTO A SLOW COOKER RECIPE?
- Add the ingredients (minus the cheese and buns) to the slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours.
- Add the cheese (if using cheese) and stir once you’re ready to serve.
LOOKING FOR MORE SANDWICHES?
- Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
- Ultimate Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Roast Beef Sandwiches with Horseradish
- Slow Cooker McRib Sandwiches
Tools Used in the making of these Ultimate Sloppy Joes:
Cast Iron Skillet: This is my most used pan in my kitchen, heavy, keeps heat well and gives the BEST sear ever.
Chef’s Knife: This knife is one of the three most used tools in my kitchen (tongs and my pig tail flipper are the other two). I love it, I’ve had it for almost 10 years and it is as sharp today as the day I got it. (left column, second from the top). Mind you I love it this much even though I have a ridiculously expense knife set as well.
Recipe
Ultimate Sloppy Joes
- Yield: 6 Servings
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Course: Main Course
- Cuisine: American
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
Instructions
Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
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Add the ground beef to a large cast iron skillet (this browns very well) and brown until a deep brown crust appears before breaking the beef apart.
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Stir the ground beef and brown until a deep crust appears on about 50 or so percent of the beef.
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Remove the beef and drain the fat.
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Add the butter, onions and bell pepper to the pan.
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Let brown for 1-2 minutes before stirring, then let brown for another 1-2 minutes before stirring again.
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Add the beef back into the pan.
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Add the garlic, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar, salt, black pepper, to the pan.
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Cook until the mixture is only slightly liquidy (about 75% of the mixture is above liquid), 3-5 minutes.
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Served on toasted brioche buns.
Nutrition Information
Yield: 6 Servings, Amount per serving: calories
All images and text © for Dinner, then Dessert, Inc.
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We love sloppy joes here, and I’ll definitely give yours a try!
Thanks Amanda! They’re always a huge hit in our house too.
Man, that is making me hungry – so ready to chomp into one of those right now!
These look delicious, and I love that they’re so easy!
Thanks Dee!
I love sloppy joes! I will have to make this recipe!!
Enjoy!!
This Ultimate Sloppy Joe looks fantastic! I would love one right now!:)
Thanks Catalina!
Sloppy Joes are our family’s favorite! We need to add cheese next time!
They look amazing! I haven’t had sloppy joes in SO long!
Yum!!! We made this for dinner tonight. Not sure if mustard is normally in sloppy Joe’s but I loved the use here. Great recipe. Definitely will make often.
I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
I want to make this but need to know how many this recipe serves.
It’s serves about 6 but that may vary depending on how big or small you load your sandwiches. I hope you enjoy it!
I have made this recipe several times and doubled or tripled it for a crowd. It is always a hit! I don’t put quite as much brown sugar in and add a little Worcestershire sauce as we didn’t prefer quite as much sweetness. It is definitely a favorite at our house!
Thanks for the 5 star rating Darla! So glad you all enjoy it!
I just made this today. I am vegan so I used veggie crumbles. It’s super tasty. The only change I made was i added a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce to add some more tanginess. I feel I only needed to add that because of the bland flavor of the crumbles. Thanks for a great recipe I will make over and over again!Debbie
Thanks for the substitution recommendation! So glad you enjoyed it!
Sloppy Joe’s aren’t always my favorite, but these are better than most every other one I’ve had. My husband, on the other hand, loves sloppy Joes and loves these. I added a couple (6) small dashes of mild pepper sauce to mine for a little kick. Very good. Thanks.
So glad you both enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
This recipe was wonderful I just added manwich instead of making my own sauce
Is the serving size equivalent to 1 cup?
It’s probably a bit smaller. I would say to yield 6 servings, the size would be about 1/3 cup. It also depends on how fatty your beef is. The more fat, the less meat left over after cooking down. I hope this helps.
So delicious! Followed the recipe and it was the best home made sloppy joe I’ve ever had!
Easy and very good. Made this several times now and always a hit!
Thanks for the 5 star rating! So glad you enjoyed it!
Ohhhh, yeah. OH yeah. Can’t wait for the fries to come out of the oven, because this is incredible!
Thumbs up!Great quick recipe!!Thank you for sharing!!????
So far these are my favorite sloppy joes!
Thank you!
Fast and with easy ingredients. Great flavor and of course, add a slice of cheese!
I don’t normally like sloppy joes but these were the best and really easy
Thanks Denise! So glad you enjoyed it!
Great recipe. Tastes so good.
Best Sloppy Joe’s ever!! I added a can of pork and beans to stretch the already doubled recipe to feed 9. We loved the beans in it so will probably do it again next time. I also added Worcestershire sauce and shredded cheddar. I served on grilled Texas toast. Yummy!
Sounds fantastic! Love the texas toast idea!
This is a yummy recipe. I like the sweetness flavor. Thank you for sharing.
Wow! I made them last night for my boyfriend and I (cravings!!) Not a fan of mustard so we skipped that and added more ketchup instead. as well as a little more brown sugar to get that sweetness. As per the recipe, we pre-buttered brioche buns before toasting them 350F in a conventional oven, for 5 minutes. So good!! Although I just wished it would have been a brighter red colour to the sauce so it would look good for an instagram post hahaTaste wise, I’ve been told that it “tastes so f*king good” and is “bomb”. Definitely a new dish for future work potlucks too. Thank you!!
You’re welcome!!
i try and make as much home made food for me and my small family of 4 our girls are so picky but when i make this they jump up and down in the kitchen screaming yay so thanks for making this mom and dads dinner time easier 🙂
You’re welcome! Definitley sounds like a winner!!
Made this last night and it was DELICIOUS!! My son devoured it and asked for me. I didn’t have an onion and used celery instead. Thanks for a great recipe!!
I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
dont have brown mustartd will regular work
It said use yellow mustard
I am out of brown mustard can i use regular yellow mustard
Yeah you can, I’d use about half as much though.
I don’t see brown mustard in the recipe, so i am confused….
I thought the recipe calls for YELLOW mustard. Please explain. Thank you
Sorry for the confusion…yes, the recipe calls for YELLOW mustard. Looks like I need more coffee before responding at times, haha!
Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Just made this for lunch today and apparently my beef is dry from the beginning. I didn’t need to cook it down since there’s no liquid from the beginning. What did I do wrong? ?
You didn’t do anything wrong, it just sounds like your beef didn’t have a lot of fat to begin with.
I love your recipes but you sight is so overwhelmingly filled with adds it’s hard to copy down the recipe (yes copy I don’t print them) because every time a new add loads the page jumps, kind of a big bummer
Unbelievably delicious! Follow the exact recipe, iron skillet and all. Thank you for this recipe!!
These are the absolute best Sloppy Joes we have ever eaten. I cannot get over how easy and quick these were to make. I won’t buy a package mix again that’s for sure! I followed the instructions exactly, with the exception of using ground turkey because we can’t do beef. The sauce is beautiful and thick, and the aroma as everything came together – exceptional! My 2 year old grandson ate his entire meal in one sitting, and said it was delicious! Thank you so very much for sharing this recipe.
I know how hard it is to please little kids in the food department, so I take that as a huge compliment!! So glad you all love it!
What if I don’t have bell peppers? What do I put in then?
You can just leave them out if you’d like. 🙂
Can this be made a day ahead and reheated?
Absolutely! I’d toast the buns right before eating instead of making sandwiches ahead of time, but there’s no reason the meat can’t rest in the fridge for a day.
Any time I have ever made sloppy joes I would just use Manwhich and thought it was pretty good. I made this recipe tonight and it is sooooo much better that the canned stuff. So glad I tried it! I will make this from now on for sure.
Fantastic! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Loved it!!!! This recipe is gonna be a staple in my house…it was really easy to make and I love the taste of this over canned sloppy joe sauce. Thank you!!!!
So glad you loved it! Thanks for coming back to tell us about it!
Made it. Husband went for seconds, so I’d say it was a success. I added a few shakes of worcestershire sauce to give a little depth. Way better than the canned stuff and not too much work. A good meal for the work week. I served with corn on the cob.
So glad it was a hit with your family, Brenda!
This came out very yummy! My whole family enjoyed it.
Just found this recipe and had to try it. My girlfriend and I added Mountain Zinfadil red wine to the vegies as they were softening, 1/4 cup to a doubled up recipe, and it came out marvelous.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’m so glad you guys enjoyed it!
Yum! I added a little cayenne and Worcestershire to add a little spunk and it turned out beautifully! Even my picky S/O liked it and before now he said “hated” sloppy Joe’s! It was so simple and called for ingredients i always have on hand! Even when I don’t have fresh beef or fresh onion and pepper, I always have some frozen! Added to my recipe cards for easy access for those “what to do” nights! Thanks!
I made this recipe for dinner and it tasted too much like ketchup and was a little bland. I would recommend adding a second clove of garlic, one or two teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce, more black pepper, and a pinch more salt.
Feel free to customize the flavor to your liking. 🙂
I will never use a can of Sloppy Joes again! My son said this is heartier.
So fantastic to hear, Gayle! Thanks for the 5 stars!
I added the brown sugar to the pepper and onion mixture after they cooked for a bit in order for the sugar to dissolve. This is very tasty and so easy!
I found this tasted too much like ketchup–but a tablespoon of chili powder did the trick! I tossed in some oregano and thyme, too. (Brown mustard would also be good.) Good consistency for a traditional Sloppy Joe! I added a cup of grated carrot for some invisible veggies.
Glad you were able to customize it to your liking! Love the veggie trick too!
Made this tonight and it was so easy and delicious. I added a bit of beef broth to add some moisture back. Also subbed 1 tablespoon of worcestershire sauce for 1 tablespoon of the brown sugar. Also- if you like the tanginess of goat cheese, it tasted AMAZING with it. Would definitely make again. Only thing I would change is make 1.25 lbs of beef next time since it’s a little short of enough for 6 brioche buns.
Thanks for all of your suggestions and feedback. So glad you enjoyed it!
I made them this afternoon and they were amazing. I’m not a great cook, so thank you for the easy recipe.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Harry! Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know.
Not rocket science and nothing new. How sloppy joes have been made for forty years.But for those of you who are new to making sloppy joes. This is the recipe to follow.
Fantastic Sloppy Joe recipe! Amazing smell and flavor. ?