Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
72 CommentsUpdated Jan 22, 2026
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Skip the Manwich and use this delicious homemade sloppy joe recipe to make the best sloppy joes ever. It’s easy to make and something the whole family is sure to enjoy!
Easy sandwich recipes are a must for getting dinner on the table. Next, try my Slow Cooker French Dips or Easy Pulled Pork.
Why You Should Try Homemade Sloppy Joes
Sloppy Joes are an iconic meal, especially when you’re looking for something quick, easy, and with minimal ingredients. But don’t let this homemade crock pot version fool you. It calls for a handful of ingredients, but most of which you’ll already have on hand. We love this homemade version instead of using Manwich.
Also, by making your own homemade batch, you can ensure there are no extra preservatives that aren’t that good for you. This recipe can easily be doubled, tripled, and frozen for later use, all of which can help cut down the grocery bill a bit. Save this sloppy joe recipe and let’s get cooking! We also love to make slow cooker BBQ chicken sliders or slow cooker meatball sliders.
Recipe Ingredients
- Ground beef – I use 7% fat (lean ground beef) though you can use any percentage.
- Bell Pepper – One green or red bell pepper.
- Onion – Sweet yellow onion works best for this recipe.
- Worcestershire Sauce – Balances out flavors and adds a beefy flavor.
- Apple Cider Vinegar – Adds an acidic touch.
- 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 and Mustard – Classic for homemade sloppy joe recipes.
- Seasonings – Salt, pepper, chili powder and garlic powder.
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – 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.
Step Two – Brown and crumble the beef. Drain your meat if your ground beef is overly fatty.
Step Three – Add the cooked beef, onion and bell pepper to the slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients. Stir.
Step Four – Cover and cook on LOW for 3 hours or HIGH for 2 hours. Keep an eye on the meat mixture and stir if it looks as it’s starting to burn around the edges. Serve crockpot sloppy joes immediately and enjoy!
Tips for the best Sloppy Joes:
- Toast your buns! Use the bagel button on your toaster to 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. Some people like to eat sloppy joes topped with barbecue sauce too.
- Give your meal a great side dish. We often do oven fries, but we also love fruit or carrot sticks instead. Don’t forget to serve with crinkle fries or slow cooker mac and cheese.
Recipe FAQs
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.
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.
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.
Place any remaining sloppy joe mixture in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to 4 days. Leftovers taste great on top of baked potatoes, French fries, or served on sandwich bread or hamburger buns.
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
How to Video
Equipment
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.
Sarah’s 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
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Could I leave this unattended for a couple of hours?
3 hours on low is the longest I would go.
How long would you cook if using the crockpot to brown your meat as well. Any other changes you’d make know that is how the meat would be cooked?
It would cook in the same amount of time, though it may be watery do to cooking the beef raw. I personally would brown it first.
Delicious
I am using 3 lbs of turkey (my family does not eat ground beef). How much tomato sauce and ketchup should I use?
Times the entire recipe by three.
Hi, just making this for the first time and I’d love some clarification on the mustard. Dry mustard? Yellow mustard? Dijon? Thanks!
yellow table mustard. 🙂
Thank you!!
Could you mix pasta in the slow cooker with this too?
I don’t see why not. I would use cooked pasta, not dried.
I just finished making this for the second time. My family loves this so much. I do one other thing that to me takes it so far over the top. I use only brioche buns I use a non-stick pan and brown them just a little bit and then put my mixture of softened butter, garlic powder, a little paprika and put it on the buns for the last few seconds just so they get to a golden brown color. Try this and you will see it just makes it the most delectable Gourmet sloppy joe. Thank you so much for bringing this into our lives.
I will have to try the brioche buns! I am so tired of sesame buns lately. Thanks for the tip.
This sounds great!!! I’ll try again it.
Dang! This is so good! I’ve never made sloppy Joe’s like this before and now I won’t go back! I used spicy ketchup instead of regular and wow
Saving for another time
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!