Homemade Sloppy Joes
on Mar 27, 2012, Updated Jun 24, 2024
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These Homemade Sloppy Joes are quick, easy, and oh-so-good. No canned food of any kind is needed for this recipe! Sloppy Joes are such a fun treat and the easiest meal to make.
Lest you think I only eat cupcakes and oatmeal cream pies, here is something not so sweet. I have just recently fallen in love with—sloppy Joes. They come together in about 15 minutes with not a whole lot of ingredients, so I make them on nights I didn’t plan dinner out very well!
I honestly make them just to have a reason to eat pickles, too. I love pickles. (Mom, if you’re reading this, did we eat sloppy Joes when I was a kid? I can’t remember eating a sloppy Joe until I was in college. Weird, huh?!) Also, don’t you dare get lazy and skip toasting the buns. Golden-brown toasted buns change everything.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- You will love having this Sloppy Joe recipe in your back pocket for busy days when you need a hearty, warm meal that comes together fast!
- They come together in about 15 minutes with not a whole lot of ingredients
- This recipe is sweet, salty, and sloppy. And the pickles complete the sandwich. They give that perfect sour and acidic tang to complement the richness of the sweet meat.
Recipe Ingredients
- Ground Beef – use a lean beef for best results
- Ketchup
- Brown sugar
- Yellow mustard
- Worcestershire sauce
- Seasonings – onion and garlic powder
- Hamburger buns – buttered and toasted
- Pickles – these homemade pickles are great!
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Sloppy Joes
- Brown the hamburger meat and drain.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients and stir to incorporate.
- Butter the buns and put them in the oven, butter side down.
- When the buns are golden, add the meat mixture and enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
More pickles, of course! Also, potato chips, roasted cauliflower, fries, or sweet potato hash are lovely, hearty options to complement this big-flavor sandwich.
Be sure you drain any fat from the cooked ground beef before adding the other ingredients—this will ensure it doesn’t get runny or too sloppy. If it’s still thinner than you’d like, you can mix in a small amount of cornstarch or flour (a tablespoon or less at a time) until it reaches the desired consistency.
A cook in Sioux City, Iowa, named Joe added tomato sauce to his popular ground beef sandwiches, which he previously called “loose meat” sandwiches, and the sloppy Joe was created.
Expert Tips
- Use a lean ground beef and drain off all the grease to keep your sandwich meat from getting too runny.
- If the meat seems dry, add more ketchup. If it isn’t sweet enough, add a little more sugar. If it needs more salt, add a little more mustard.
- You can substitute other types of sweeteners, like coconut sugar, for the brown sugar. I have also had great luck using maple syrup.
More Sandwich Recipes to Consider
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Homemade Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean hamburger
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 4 to 6 hamburger buns
- Butter, at room temperature
- Pickles for serving, optional (but not really optional)
Instructions
- In a large skillet, cook the meat over medium heat until cooked through and no longer pink. If using hamburger, drain off any extra fat.
- Return the pan to medium heat, and add your ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Stir to incorporate.
- This recipe depends a lot on your taste. If the meat seems dry, add more ketchup. If it isn’t sweet enough, add a little more sugar. If it needs more salt, add a little more mustard. (Don’t be shy of the mustard, even if you don’t like it normally. It adds the acid and salt that this dish needs, and the dish doesn’t taste mustardy at all.) If it seems bland, give it another shake of garlic and onion powder. Taste and adjust as needed.
For the buns:
- While the meat is browning, place a baking sheet in the oven, and preheat the sheet and the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter the inside of the top and bottom of the bun. When the meat is almost done and your oven is hot, put the buns, butter side down, on the hot pan. Close the oven and allow the buns to toast until they are golden-brown, 4 to 8 minutes.
- When the buns are golden on buttered side, remove them from the oven. Place the meat mixture and pickles on top of the bun, and grab the napkins.
Notes
- You can substitute other types of sweeteners, like coconut sugar, for the brown sugar. I have also had great luck using maple syrup.
- Ever wondered why they are called sloppy Joes? Here’s your answer. A cook in Sioux City, Iowa, named Joe added tomato sauce to his ground beef sandwiches and the sloppy Joe was created, according to legend. Leave it to the Midwest to come up with a messy, meaty sandwich! (I can say that since I hail from the Midwest.)
- Golden-brown toasted buns change everything. The crisp outside layer prevents the insides from making the bread soggy.
- This recipe is sweet, salty, and sloppy. And the pickles complete the sandwich. They give that perfect sour and acidic tang to complement the richness of the sweet meat. I don’t feel like they are optional, but if you are a true pickle hater, I suppose it could be eaten without them.
Another absolute winner!! I tripled your recipe for my big family and it was gobbled up happily with gusto! So delicious and tangy, this is a clear winner and has a permanent spot in my “keeper” recipe binder. Thank you 🙂
Girl you’re killing it with the recipes and the reviews!! Thank you so much!
Hi Melissa,
I’m a native Siouxlander and ran across your recipe for Sloppy Joes.
We from NW Iowa giggle at Eastern Iowans as they refer to Loose Meats as Maid Rites but since you mentioned that they originate from Sioux City… well… we of course, claim bragging rights, lol.
Anyway, I’ve got 5 brothers and 4 sisters and I believe we all “doctor-up” our loose meats a bit differently, (no wrong answer really). Mine goes like this:
Parboil the hamburger until pink is gone. (Healthier that way too).
Drain ‘most” of liquid but leave a bit so it won’t be too dry.
Squirt ketchup & mustard, salt & pepper into your beef mixture. Continue to taste-test until it’s how you like it.
My preference is a big soft bun, (steamed if possible), with this sandwich but you’re SPOT ON with the dill pickles.
I like mine with onions so I’ll either parboil or add them later.
In the end, as long as you don’t buy the trade mark, “Sloppy Joes,” out of a can, your Sioux City Loose Meats are as individual as the cook who makes’m.
I love this so much! Thank you for taking the time to write back, it was so fun!
Tonight he declared this to be your very best recipe….coming from a guy who has hated sloppy joes for decades but loves them now!
Oh how I love this recipe!!!!!! The craving hit, so I threw it all together in a matter of minutes and now I am a happy camper! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Love this recipe! It’s become a family favourite – so yummy. My toddler loves it.
Yay! So glad that you liked them Steph, and thank you for leaving a comment and review, so appreciated!
can you make this in the crockpot?
Yep, I like the cook the meat on the stove top first through.
These are really good!! I mean really, really good!! Good-bye Manwich….Adios! And toasting the buns on bake in the oven….BRILLIANT! I have always been the place under the broiler, turn my back for a split second and burn the beejeebies outa things type of toaster. I can hardly wait for backpacking season, these sloppy joes will definitely be on the trail with me….gourmet eating at its best! These were excellent without the pickles….wasn’t up to the 50 mile round trip to the store which may or may not have the good ones in stock. Placed good pickles on the “when I go to the city” shopping list. Thanks for sharing a great recipe! 🙂
Yes, you ate them as a kid. Manwich was what the name brand was called, only they were called ‘sloppy mamas’ at our house because I was as messy as the kids.
Haha — I was going to ask you a couple days ago if you had a recipe for homemade Sloppy Joes — guess you read my mind 🙂