Make delicious homemade sloppy joes in your slow cooker. The sauce and meat slow cook together and makes for a comforting dinner.
Easy sandwich recipes are a must for getting dinner on the table. Next, try my Slow Cooker Garlic French Dips or Easy Pulled Pork.
If you were lucky enough to have a childhood where you had sloppy joes on the menu weekly, consider yourself lucky. Sadly, my mom never prepared them but a family friend often did and that’s where I became a fan.
Now, being a mom my self we have sloppy joes weekly. We often like to make them from scratch with this easy recipe (no shade on Manwich, we love that too!).
How to make Sloppy Joes in the slow cooker:
- Ground beef – I use 7% fat though you can use any percentage.
- Bell Pepper – One green or red bell pepper
- Onion – Sweet yellow
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Brown Sugar – I only use a touch, I don’t like my sloppy joes too sweet.
- Tomato Sauce – Be sure to buy sauce, not paste.
- Ketchup
- Mustard
- Seasonings – Salt, pepper, chili powder and garlic powder.
Do I have to brown the meat first?
- To make crumbly beef for Sloppy Joes, it’s best to brown and crumble the meat on the stove-top before adding to the slow cooker.
- Also, browning the beef gives a beefy caramelized flavor to the dish.
How long do I cook?
- Place the lid on the slow cooker.
- Cook on HIGH for 2 hours or LOW for 3. This recipe has sugar in it and it will burn if left too long.
Can I use ground turkey or chicken?
You can use ground turkey or chicken for Sloppy Joes but beware the flavor will not be the same, the beef and tomato flavor in Sloppy Joes goes hand in hand.
Can I make this vegetarian?
- If you want to make this meal meatless use one pound of meatless crumbles instead of ground beef.
- No need to brown the meatless crumbles, for the crumbles are already cooked. Just add to the slow cooker along with the other ingredients.
Can I double this recipe for a crowd?
- Need to feed more people? You can double this recipe with no problems.
- The cooking time remains the same.
Tips for the best Sloppy Joes:
- Toast your buns! Use the bagel button on your toaster which will toast just one side of your bun. Or put your buns under the broiler in the oven.
- Add toppings such as cheese, pickles or raw chopped onion.
- Give your meal a great side dish, we often do oven fries but also love fruit or carrots sticks instead.
More sandwich recipes for your slow cooker:
- Slow Cooker Reuben Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Hot Roast Beef Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Philly Chicken Cheesesteaks
- Slow Cooker Root Beer Pulled Pork
- Slow Cooker Barbecue Ham Sandwiches
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Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
Equipment Needed:
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground beef I use 7% fat though any will work
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 green or red bell pepper diced
- 1 cup ketchup
- 8 oz. can tomato sauce (NOT PASTE)
- 2 Tbsp. mustard
- 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp. chili powder
- 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
Instructions:
- Set a large skillet on the stovetop and set to medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the ground beef, onion and bell pepper. Brown and crumble the beef. Drain your meat if your ground beef is overly fatty.
- Add the beef, onion and bell pepper to the slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients.
- Stir. Place the lid on the slow cooker.
- Cook on HIGH for 2 hours or LOW for 3. Keep an eye on the meat mixture and stir if it looks as it's starting to burn around the edges.
- Toast buns and pile the Sloppy Joe meat on top. Top with cheese and pickles if desired.
How to Video:
Recipe Notes:
- Toast your buns! Use the bagel button on your toaster which will toast just one side of your bun. Or put your buns under the broiler in the oven.
- Add toppings such as cheese, pickles or raw chopped onion.
- Give your meal a great side dish, we often do oven fries but also love fruit or carrots sticks instead.
- If you want to make this meal meatless use one pound of meatless crumbles instead of ground beef.
- No need to brown the meatless crumbles, for the crumbles are already cooked. Just add to the slow cooker along with the other ingredients.
- Need to feed more people? You can double this recipe with no problems.
- The cooking time remains the same.
Nutrition Information:
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
I’ve made various sloppy joe recipes over the last 25 years. Most were ok to pretty good. This recipe is great! And my husband said I should make sure I save this one! Thanks for the delicious recipe.
Do you think it can freeze well?
Yes, this is the type of recipe that freezes well.
This recipe is delicious. The only change I made is that I used half an onion instead of one whole onion. This is the most flavorful sloppy Joe dish I have ever tasted.
Made some adjustments, but loved the results.
93% lean beef. Allergic to onions (omitted). Used an orange pepper I had in the fridge.
Didn’t have chili powder, used 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper. (Added a hint of heat, but I am a baby so I’ll use less next time. Still very good.)
Didn’t have any good garlic powder either so used 1 tsp “garlic salt” mixture that I had (no addt’l salt after that).
Used 3/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup BBQ sauce.
3 hrs on low. Stirred at 1 hr and 2.5 hrs.
Edges didn’t caramelize until it was left 30min on warm, so I know it was cooked right. It’s a little to the sloppy side, but so so delicious. Will make again.
Thanks for the recipe!
This is by far the best sloppy Joe’s recipe I’ve ever tried! I made it exactly as written, doubled it, and served them with fries and pickles my boys and husband loved them and so did I! We will be enjoying these often your recipes are amazing, can’t wait to try the French dips next
followed a suggestion on these comments and did 1/2 cup ketchup and 1/2 cut bbq sauce (no brown sugar). while I browned the beef and onions and peppers I added the dry spices (my mother used to start chili this way) and a little bit of red pepper flakes. still sweet but not too sweet, with a little spiciness. I did 85% lean ground beef which was fine. I have a new, smaller slow cooker and this was perfect sized.
Good stuff
Great recipe! Perfect! I also made the meatless for my vegetarian part of the family!!!
Êxcellent!
Delicious
Do you have suggestions for making this more like the Bold sloppy joe mix?
I would add a little barbecue sauce.
I’ve seen a lot of BBQ recipes lately that also have BBQ sauce in them. Do you think I could do half ketchup and half BBQ sauce in this one. If so, would I leave out the brown sugar? Your recipe sounds amazing, so will probably try it your way also. I was curious about the BBQ sauce.
Thanks, Jan
Yes! In fact, I have a bbq sloppy joe type recipe I need to publish.
If I add the bbq sauce I need to leave out the brown sugat is that correct
I think so, I wouldn’t add it.
Really a great recipe. It was delicious an what a time saver.
Yummmm