Classic Sloppy Joes in 20 minutes with a homemade tomato gravy and bell peppers on hamburger buns that have won 3 sloppy joe competitions!
Classic Comfort Food recipes like Slow Cooker Pot Roast, Ultimate Beef Stew and Slow Cooker Chili are popular because they’re family favorites that bring back happy food memories!
Ultimate Sloppy Joes are a quick meal made without the 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 American dinner favorite Sloppy Joe.
These are called Ultimate Sloppy Joes (also known as a Loose Meat Sandwich is some parts), 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 competition where it beat out over 50 other Sloppy Joe recipes!
Plus, it wins the most important contest of all, the kid contest. Kids LOVE this recipe because it is the perfect combination of sweet and savory flavors. You will not see a single kid refuse these Sloppy Joes during any weeknight dinners.
These are the best Sloppy Joes. They’re so good that the base of this recipe made led us to create 25 more Sloppy Joe recipes! There are so many delicious meals, from Philly Cheese Steak, Bacon Cheeseburger, to Pizza too, so if you love these Classic Sloppy Joes you should definitely try out more (another favorite is the Bacon, Beer and Cheese Sloppy Joes)!
How to Make Ultimate 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.
- Step One: Cook the beef until it begins to get a yummy brown crust on the edges. To get a good sear on the meat use high heat instead of medium heat or even medium-high heat, this will create a nice crust giving it a texture more like hamburgers.
- Step Two: After excess oil is drained, add in the butter and chopped onion and green peppers.
- Step Three: After a couple of minutes of browning, drop the heat to medium, add the rest of the sauce ingredients to the meat mixture, and cook until ready to eat!
- Step Four: Spoon beef mixture onto toasted buns. Make sure to toast your bun before adding the filling. If you don’t your bun it may get too soggy, too quickly (psst, you could also butter it to make it even more delicious).
More Sloppy Joe Sandwiches
Frequently Asked Questions
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.
Sloppy Joes can be served again the next day if you add a bit of liquid to help create a bit more Sloppy Joe sauce. To avoid more sugar being added, start with some tomato sauce and water in ¼ cup increments as you gently reheat and taste.
If you look at the back of the store bought sauce, many of the ingredients are similar, though this recipe is not exactly like a homemade version of the canned Sloppy Joes. 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.
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Key Ingredients in Ultimate Sloppy Joes
- Beef: Lean ground beef is the best for this recipe. High fat ground beef will cook down too much so compensate if need be. This recipe calls for one pound ground beef, but you can double everything to make more!
- Ketchup: Your favorite kind will do.
- Mustard: Classic American yellow mustard will do the trick.
- Bell Peppers: This recipe calls for green peepers, but you can use the less bitter red, orange, or even yellow bell peppers (also called capsicum). You can also leave it out, but remember you are removing probably a half cup or more of ingredients, so it will be saucier.
- Brown Sugar: Brown sugar is white sugar with molasses added. You can even raw granulated sugar if preferred.
- Garlic: You can mince one or two cloves garlic, or use pre-minced garlic cloves.
- Onion: We’re using a medium onion in this recipe.
Variations on Ultimate Sloppy Joes
- Meat: Make the Sloppy Joe recipe a little healthier by swapping ground beef for ground turkey.
- Spicy Joes: You can add a tablespoon of red pepper flakes, or hot sauce to give this yummy recipe a good kick!
- Smokey Joes: Add a half cup of your favorite BBQ sauce to make this sandwich sizzle with an incredible depth of flavor!
- Cheese: It’s delicious to add in some American, mozzarella cheese, 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.
- More Flavor: If you want a bit more savory flavor you can also add a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce to the Sloppy Joe meat. A teaspoon onion powder and a dash of chili powder will take it up a notch too!
- Tomato Sauce: If you would like to swap the ketchup for tomato sauce or tomato paste, just play with the rest of the ingredients to increase the sweetness more as the ketchup adds a definite sweet flavor.
- Leftovers: If you would like to use leftovers you may have in another recipe, just use the method found in Ground Philly Cheesesteak Grilled Cheese and you’ll be in heaven!
Alternative Cooking Methods for Ultimate Sloppy Joes
- Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes: Add the ingredients (minus the buns) to the crock pot and cook on low for 4 hours. Stir before serving and scoop onto your toasted hamburger bun.
- Instant Pot Sloppy Joes: Brown the ground beef in the instant pot on the sauté setting per the instructions, then add in the rest of the ingredients (except the buns). Add the lid and set the pressure to high for ten minutes. Release the pressure naturally for five minutes, open the top and scooped onto toasted hamburger buns.
How to Serve Sloppy Joes
Homemade Sloppy Joes are all about comfort food flavors so you’ll love serving them with Onion Rings, Potato Wedges, Sweet Potato Fries or Roasted Potatoes along with some healthier Roasted Vegetables.
More Yummy Sandwiches
How to Store Ultimate Sloppy Joes
- Serve: These sandwiches are best served fresh once they are assembled. You can keep the filling warm in a slow cooker for up to 4 hours or at room temperature for 2 hours.
- Store: Store the Ultimate Sloppy Joes filling separately in an air tight container and assemble the sandwiches right before you want to serve. The filling can be kept refrigerated for up to 4 days.
- Freeze: Cool the beef mixture completely and place in a sealed container. Freeze Sloppy Joes filling for up to 3 months and thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating.
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 coarse ground black pepper
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 excess liquid 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.
- Serve on toasted hamburger buns.
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Fantastic Sloppy Joe recipe! Amazing smell and flavor. ?
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.
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.
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 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!
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 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 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. 🙂
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!
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!
This came out very yummy! My whole family enjoyed 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!
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!
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!
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.
What if I don’t have bell peppers? What do I put in then?
You can just leave them out if you’d like. 🙂
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!
Unbelievably delicious! Follow the exact recipe, iron skillet and all. Thank you for this recipe!!
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
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 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!
I am out of brown mustard can i use regular yellow mustard
Yeah you can, I’d use about half as much though.
dont have brown mustartd will regular work
It said use yellow mustard
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!
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!!
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 haha
Taste 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!!
This is a yummy recipe. I like the sweetness flavor. Thank you for sharing.
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!
Great recipe. Tastes so good.
I don’t normally like sloppy joes but these were the best and really easy
Thanks Denise! So glad you enjoyed it!
Fast and with easy ingredients. Great flavor and of course, add a slice of cheese!
So far these are my favorite sloppy joes!
Thank you!
Thumbs up!
Great quick recipe!!
Thank you for sharing!!
????
Ohhhh, yeah. OH yeah. Can’t wait for the fries to come out of the oven, because this is incredible!
Easy and very good. Made this several times now and always a hit!
Thanks for the 5 star rating! So glad you enjoyed it!
So delicious! Followed the recipe and it was the best home made sloppy joe I’ve ever had!
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.
This recipe was wonderful I just added manwich instead of making my own sauce
You didn’t really make this recipe if you used manwich. Lol
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!
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!
Worstershire sauce is not vegan… It has anchovies in 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 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!
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!
They look amazing! I haven’t had sloppy joes in SO long!
Sloppy Joes are our family’s favorite! We need to add cheese next time!
This Ultimate Sloppy Joe looks fantastic! I would love one right now!:)
Thanks Catalina!
I love sloppy joes! I will have to make this recipe!!
Enjoy!!
These look delicious, and I love that they’re so easy!
Thanks Dee!
Man, that is making me hungry – so ready to chomp into one of those right now!
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.