Homemade Sloppy Joes are always a crowd pleaser. Ground beef, peppers, and onions combine with the best simple sauce for the perfect sandwich. They are so easy to make and absolutely delicious. You will love this easy dinner recipe packed with flavor.
My kids are huge Sloppy Joe lovers! Unfortunately, my husband and I were on the fence about them for years. I think we had unpleasant lunchroom memories that clouded our judgment. All that changed when I made my own sauce for them years ago when I first published my Turkey Sloppy Joes. We are using the same sauce here, and it is a winner – bound to change the minds of anyone else traumatized by the elementary school cafeteria.
Why This Recipe Works
This recipe has all of the ingredients in a basic sloppy joe recipe, like hamburger, onions, and peppers. Where this recipe really shines is in the sauce. It uses a full can of tomato sauce plus ketchup and then works in Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and ground mustard to layer in flavor. The sauce simmers for 30 minutes so that it is both rich and saucy. In the end, you get a sloppy joe that has great flavor and just the right amount of sauce.
How to Make Sloppy Joes
These homemade sloppy joes come together in one pan on the stovetop with simple steps and ingredients. For the full recipe including all measurements, see the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Brown the Beef
Cook the meat, breaking it up, until the meat just starts to brown. Add the bell pepper and onion and sauté until they soften. Drain off any excess grease.
Make the Sloppy Joe Sauce
Add the sauce ingredients (tomato sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, ground mustard, salt, and ground pepper) and stir to combine.
Simmer and Serve
Cover and cook for about 30 minutes. Serve on buns.
Tips and Tricks
- Using ground turkey: My family often prefers ground turkey to ground beef. If your family is the same, Turkey Sloppy Joes are an easy swap to make in this recipe. If you are using a low-fat content turkey (such as 93 percent or higher), add a little bit of olive oil to your pan before you start browning the meat.
- Crockpot Sloppy Joes: Sloppy Joes are a great meal to make in the crockpot ahead of time. If you want to do that, follow the instructions in my Crock Pot Sloppy Joes recipe.
- Serving: Be sure to use a sturdy bun that can stand up to the delicious sloppy joe filling.
Add More Vegetables
If you are trying to work more vegetables into your family dinners, this recipe is a great place to do it. Dice up carrots, an additional red bell pepper, zucchini, or squash. Hearty vegetables like carrots will need to go in with the onions and cook for closer to seven minutes. Softer vegetables like squash and zucchini could be added at the end of that cook time in step 3 to just begin to soften them as they will soften quite a bit more as the sauce simmers.
The Best Make-Ahead Sloppy Joes
If your life is as busy as ours is, this is a dinner that can certainly be made ahead. Because we are making a rich sauce to go with these, there is no risk of them drying out when you reheat them. This is a great recipe to double or triple to feed a crowd or keep leftovers for the rest of the week.
Storing Leftovers and Freezing
These sloppy joe sandwiches are delicious leftover. Store the leftover meat mixture in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. Reheat over very low heat, covered, stirring intermittently. Always use your best discretion with leftovers.
You can also freeze the leftovers. Make sure to freeze them in a container that will allow for a little expansion. It should only be thawed once, so you may consider freezing it in individual serving sizes. Store them in the freezer for up to three months.
Sloppy Joe Sides
These easy sides are perfect for serving with your homemade sloppy joes.
If you try this Homemade Sloppy Joes recipe or any of my others, please let me know what you think by leaving a comment. I love hearing from you!
Recipe Video
Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef (453.6 grams)
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 15 ounces tomato sauce (425 grams)
- 1/4 cup ketchup (68 grams)
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the ground meat and cook, breaking it up until it begins to brown, about four minutes. No need to cook it all the way through.1 pound ground beef
- Add in the green pepper and onion and cook until tender, about five minutes. Drain off any excess grease.1 green bell pepper, 1 small yellow onion
- Add in the tomato sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, ground mustard, salt, and ground pepper. Stir to combine.15 ounces tomato sauce, 1/4 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard, 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- Bring to a simmer and then reduce the heat to low. You should still be able to see intermittent bubbles. Cook, covered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Notes
Jan says
This recipe was a good start but too much sauce and not enough flavor. It was better as leftovers when I added some chili powder. If I use this recipe again, I will only use an 8 oz can of tomato sauce and maybe tomato paste instead of ketchup, will also add some chili powder. Overall, the recipe is good for a starting point.
We will have to agree to disagree, I like my Sloppy Joes sloppy and that means a lot of sauce :)
Terri says
I totally agree with you, Lisa. sloppy Joe’s are supposed to be sloppy, hence the name. This recipe sounds perfectly delicious to me. Thank you for sharing.
I hope you love these, Terri!
Shan says
Doubled the recipe for Sunday Dinner. Added some barbecue sauce to the mixture for more flavor. This was great! Will definitely make again!
Linda says
Love so many of your receipes, running out of printing paper.