Homemade Sloppy Joes are a quick and easy recipe that everyone loves!
Sloppy Joes are one of those great, quick, and easy comfort food type recipes.
For a long time I stayed away from making them because my impression of them was the kind that I had seen so many people make. You know the version that is just opening the famous can, heating it, and serving it over a bun.
I had no desire to eat or make anything like that famous canned version. If you love that famous kind from a can I apologize. But if you love it, please try the homemade kind. The homemade version has so much flavor.
When I finally gave in years ago and decided to give homemade sloppy joes a try I realized that I loved them.
Once I tried the homemade version I was wondering what took me so long? I wish I had tried them long before I did. Homemade sloppy joes tasted nothing like the canned version, they were so much better.
Not only are sloppy joes really easy and tasty, they make a perfect freezer meal. I usually double or triple my recipe and freeze it in zip top type bags.
Then when I am ready to serve it, all I have to do is defrost, heat, and serve it over a bun.
We also like to eat this over potatoes. This enables me to serve the same meal twice, without it being exactly the same.
Do you like sloppy joes? If so what is your favorite kind to eat canned or homemade?
Sloppy Joes
Homemade Sloppy Joes are a quick and easy dinner!
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, chopped finely
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 - 8 ounce cans tomato sauce
- 1 cup beef or chicken broth
- a few dashes of hot pepper sauce
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- hamburger buns
Instructions
- Brown ground beef with onion until onion is tender and beef is no longer pink.
- Add garlic and cook for approximately one more minute.
- Drain off any fat.
- Add remaining ingredients (except buns)and stir well.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Serve over buns and enjoy.
We used to use (gasp) Campbell’s Chicken Gumbo Soup (with a little added ketchup and mustard) to make sloppy joes. This was my hubby’s family’s way of doing it, but we can’t find Chicken Gumbo Soup in stores anymore so finding a new recipe is on my list of things to do!
My mom used to make sloppy joes with Cream of Chicken Soup!
I like to serve Sloppy Joe Hash Browns. I take frozen hash brown patties and cook them up like the package directs. We top them with sloppy joe meat, lettuce, diced onion, diced tomato and shredded cheese. I usually just use canned sloppy joe sauce because this is a quick pantry meal for me. However, I’ve made my own sauce before. Your recipe is a lot like mine except I include some diced red pepper. Yummy stuff!!
Like Carrie, I use chicken gumbo, some BBQ sauce, mustard, brown sugar, splash of vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. sometimes I use ground mustard, other times regular mustard. Occasionally I use ketchup instead of BBQ and sometimes white sugar…. but it is always chicken gumbo, a form of mustard, a form of sugar, and a form of a tomato condiment!
I had trouble finding Chicken Gumbo soup for a while too. Recently I noticed Campbell’s has re-branded it as a “light” soup. I’m guessing the recipe didn’t change much and that it was always a fairly low-cal/low-fat soup…
I make a similar recipe, but instead of chicken stock and tomato sauce it is water and ketchup. They are an easy, kid-friendly meal.
I made this for my husband who Loves sloppy joes though i’m not a fan, I never liked the can stuff or the powder mix. The only thing I did different was use 1lb ground beef and 1lb italian spicy sausage and we both Loved it. So thanks from my husband for turning me onto sloppy joes 🙂
@Melissa V, I am so glad that you liked them. I think the sausage is a great addition.
I make homemade all the time now. Since I discovered how easy it is to make them I don’t think I’ll ever go back to canned. I use the recipe from Amy’sFinerThings because it is so incredibly quick and easy.
i used to think this too! but i recently found a good recipe that’s similar but has green pepper in it too (prob not too kid friendly but healthy!) and now i want it all the time. haha, never thought i’d say that 🙂
Sometimes I make a fancy version that is really delicious
https://bit.ly/dAQgvc and other times it is just ketchup, pickle relish and garlic powder. But it is always yummy! We don’t miss the canned stuff at all!