Homemade Sloppy Joes
Posted Jan 05, 2025
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This Homemade Sloppy Joes recipe is one of my favorite, easy dinners. These sloppy joes are made with 8 real ingredients and can be served as sandwiches or as sloppy joe bowls!
I first had these homemade sloppy joes at a good friend’s house and absolutely fell in love with them. She sent me her recipe and I tweaked it a tiny bit to make what I consider the best sloppy joes ever.
This sloppy joes recipe is made with real ingredients like tomato sauce, olive oil and honey and is so delicious I can’t even describe it – they just always hit the spot.
Plus, you can serve them as classic sandwiches, or you can serve them over rice with a variety of toppings as sloppy joe bowls (our preference)!
Homemade Sloppy Joes: Ingredients & Substitutions
- Ground beef. I suggest 93/7% or 85/15% lean ground beef for the best results.
- Onion. Use yellow, white or red on onion.
- Minced garlic. freshly minced or jarred are both great choices.
- Fine sea salt. I use Redmond fine sea salt in this recipe and I really think it’s amazing! But any sea salt works well.
- Tomato sauce. I use organic tomato sauce. You can use canned or homemade.
- Olive oil. Avocado oil is a good substitute.
- Honey. I don’t suggest substitutes, but granulated or brown sugar do both work in place of honey.
How to Make Sloppy Joes
Begin by cooking the ground beef, onion and garlic in a large, nonstick skillet or cast iron pan over medium heat, breaking the meat up into small pieces until it is no longer pink.
Sneaky Veggie tip
I often shred 1 zucchini into the mixture and cook it with the ground beef and onion. No one can tell!
Then, add the tomato sauce, sea salt, paprika, black pepper, olive oil and honey and stir to combine.
Cook the sloppy joes uncovered over medium heat, until the mixture comes to a boil.
Then, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
Serve
You can serve these as traditional sloppy joes on buns, or as sloppy joe bowls (our preference).
To serve on a bun, choose your favorite bun (I suggest these homemade hamburger buns or pretzel rolls). Scoop some of the sloppy joe mixture onto the bottom half of the bun, then add toppings (if desired) like pickles, coleslaw, etc., then put the top of the bun on and enjoy.
Serve with your favorite side dishes, some suggestions include:
- French fries or Sweet Potato Fries
- Fruit Salad (or Winter Fruit Salad)
- Serve them with a side salad like spinach salad, broccoli salad, or pasta salad.
- I often roast veggies to accompany these homemade sloppy joes – our favorites are roasted broccoli, roasted green beans, and roasted carrots.
Sloppy Joe Bowls
To serve as sloppy joe bowls, cook 1 cup white rice in 2 cups water (according to package instructions).
Then, serve sloppy joe mixture over rice with cheddar cheese, black olives, cilantro, etc.
Store/Freeze
Store leftover homemade sloppy joes in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Homemade Sloppy Joes Recipe FAQS
What I love about this recipe is that the sauce is made of real ingredients – onion, galric, tomato sauce, olive oil, honey and spices!
Yes, you can scale this recipe up or down however you need. If I halve the recipe, I use half of a can of tomato sauce (about 7.5 oz) and put the other half in a glass jar in the freezer to use the next time I make these sloppy joes (because they are on our regular rotation)!
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Homemade Sloppy Joes Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 onion diced
- 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- ¼ tsp paprika
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 Tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Cook the ground beef, onion and garlic in a large, nonstick skillet or cast iron pan over medium heat, breaking the meat up into small pieces until it is no longer pink.
- Then, add the tomato sauce, sea salt, paprika, black pepper, olive oil and honey and stir to combine.
- Cook uncovered over medium heat, until the mixture comes to a boil.
- Then, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
- Serve:
- You can serve these as traditional sloppy joes on buns, or as sloppy joe bowls (our preference).
- Sloppy Joe Bowls
- To serve as sloppy joe bowls, cook 1 cup white rice in 2 cups water (according to package instructions).
- Then, serve sloppy joe mixture over rice with cheddar cheese, black olives, cilantro, etc.
Video
Notes
- Ground beef. I suggest 93/7% or 85/15% lean ground beef for the best results.
- Onion. Use yellow, white or red on onion.
- Minced garlic. freshly minced or jarred are both great choices.
- Fine sea salt. I use Redmond fine sea salt in this recipe and I really think it’s amazing! But any sea salt works well.
- Tomato sauce. I use organic tomato sauce. You can use canned or homemade.
- Olive oil. Avocado oil is a good substitute.
- Honey. I don’t suggest substitutes, but granulated or brown sugar do both work in place of honey.
- Sour cream
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Sliced olives (black or green),
- Diced red or green onions
- Avocado
- Chopped Cilantro
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
