Best Sloppy Joe Recipe | Quick, Easy and Delicious

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Slop­py Joes have nev­er been one of my go-to favorites, until this scrump­tious recipe. I have made easy slop­py joes quite a few times over the years, but I did­n’t enjoy the meal as much as I knew I should. I always took the sim­ple “pre-made sauce from a can over browned ground beef” route. Pre-made sauce is def­i­nite­ly quick and easy, but it’s short on com­plex flavors. 

Now, that I’ve cre­at­ed this Slop­py Joe Recipe packed with knock-your-socks-off fla­vor, I’m hooked. It’s still quick and easy, but it also tastes amaz­ing! It has sub­tle sweet­ness from that carame­ly dark brown sug­ar and savory good­ness from the beef, onion and all-pur­pose sea­son­ing. Then, just as you’re think­ing how deli­cious it is, you get that lit­tle kick of heat on the back of your tongue. Boom! Seri­ous­ly guys, these are THE best slop­py joes!

The Ingredients

The cast of char­ac­ters for this easy Best Slop­py Joes recipe is straight out of your every­day pantry.

• ground beef — I use an 85/15 blend. It seems to be just enough fat to give the meat excel­lent fla­vor with out being over-the-top greasy after it’s drained. I have actu­al­ly found organ­ic, grass-fed ground beef at Wal­mart for only $5.78 a pound, which is com­pa­ra­ble, or even less than, the non-organ­ic beef. Choose the beef you can best afford. This recipe will be scrump­tious, regardless.
• red onion — I just love them. That’s the only rea­son. It’s what I always have on hand, because I love the savory fla­vor they bring to so many dish­es. Use the onions you have on hand. Yel­low, white or red will all be deli­cious in your slop­py joes.
• fresh gar­lic — Again, I just love it. I feel like the fla­vor is so much more herba­ceous than dried. But if you have gar­lic pow­der on hand, sub­sti­tute in 1 tea­spoon of that in place of the fresh garlic.
• all-pur­pose sea­son­ing — There are a cou­ple things to remem­ber about this sea­son­ing. I use my own home­made ver­sion when I make these easy slop­py joes. (It’s fab­u­lous, if I do say so myself.) Keep in mind that mine has salt in it. If you have an all-pur­pose sea­son­ing that does­n’t con­tain salt, you may want to add some. So, taste as you go and sea­son it to suit your own fam­i­ly’s tastes.
• ketchup
• dark brown sug­ar — One more time, this is per­son­al pref­er­ence. If you have light brown sug­ar on hand, use it. The dark has more molasses and so will enhance the bit­ter caramel notes in the recipe. But, the light will make a tasty sauce, too.
• bar­be­cue sauce — Use your favorite. We had Sweet Baby Ray’s in the fridge.
• stone ground mus­tard — Yes, yel­low mus­tard could work. I love the spici­er bite of stone ground. Use what you have. Make this recipe about you and your family.
• apple cider vine­gar — Acid always helps to bal­ance sweet, spicy and bit­ter in a dish while cut­ting through fat and rich­ness. The lit­tle zing of vine­gar real­ly pops the fla­vor of these slop­py joes in the best pos­si­ble way.
• chipo­tle pep­per pow­der — Cayenne pep­per can be used instead, how­ev­er it packs a lot more heat than the chipo­tle, so be sure you only use half as much. I made the hot pep­per option­al in the recipe, real­iz­ing that some of you may not enjoy spicy food. But, if you do I encour­age you to try it. It’s medi­um spicy and you could even cut it back to be less of a kick. We absolute­ly love what it adds to the over­all fla­vor of the slop­py joes.

The Recipe

Here’s the easy recipe for cre­at­ing your own slop­py joes for din­ner. If you feel a lit­tle more con­fi­dent after see­ing the recipe come togeth­er, scroll down below the recipe card for the easy pic­ture tuto­r­i­al. Enjoy!

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How to Make Sloppy Joes

Start by brown­ing the ground beef in a cast iron skil­let along with the all pur­pose sea­son­ing, gar­lic and onions.

Once the meat is browned, drain it and set it side while you make the slop­py joe sauce. The meat isn’t going to spend more than 5 min­utes or so in the sauce, so be sure it’s cooked through before tak­ing it off the heat. 

For the sauce, use the same skil­let and pour in the ketchup, bar­be­cue sauce, brown sug­ar, vine­gar, mus­tard and chipo­tle pow­der. Stir to com­bine every­thing and heat over medi­um heat until sug­ar is melt­ed and the sauce is hot. 

Add the ground beef back into the skil­let with the slop­py joe sauce. Stir togeth­er and sim­mer for about 5 min­utes to meld all the fla­vors and allow the sauce to thick­en slightly.

All that’s left is to build your deli­cious slop­py joe sand­wich­es. We like ours with a lit­tle melt­ed cheese. But you do you and enjoy them the way you like best. How easy is that!!!?? The Best Slop­py Joes need to become a go-to recipe in your week­night din­ner rota­tions. Go make some sup­per, my friend. You’ve got this!

Since I’ve become a Slop­py Joe lover, I may try and give some oth­er ver­sions a try. I am intrigued by the Meat­less Slop­py Joe over at Lit­tle Spice Jar. They use minced mush­rooms and wal­nuts to replace the ground beef. I also think these Philly Cheeses­teak Slop­py Joes look real­ly good. 

What­ev­er ver­sion you land on, just get out in the kitchen and give it a try. Mak­ing deli­cious, home­made easy food is so much sim­pler than you imag­ined. I hope you’ll love my Best Slop­py Joe recipe and let me know if you give it a try! You can do this!

Hugs!

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