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My poor daughter recently said to me, “Mom I keep reading all these books that talk about Sloppy Joes, and I’ve never had it before. Can you please make some so I can finally try it like everyone else??” Gosh, she is so deprived!
Seriously though, if that’s her biggest problem this week I will gladly take it. Not to mention it was a “problem” easily solved with this recipe below. And just for the record, both kids went back for seconds. I hope your family enjoys this dish as much as mine did! :)
Healthier Sloppy Joes made from Real Food Ingredients
I love making homemade, healthier versions of old recipes, and these Sloppy Joes are no exception because they are completely from scratch! Even if you aren’t into real food, these Sloppy Joes are honestly just delicious. Plus I love that it’s a guilt-free “fun” meal that both kids and adults will enjoy.
Recipe ingredients:
The main ingredient in Sloppy Joes is ground beef, and I recommend you opt for organic or at least grass-fed beef if available.
I also added carrot, celery, and onion to the mixture—the celery adds crunch and the carrot is great for sweetness. It also means we’re getting some veggies in each Sloppy Joe slider!
Plain canned tomato sauce, honey, and apple cider vinegar make up the sauce. Finally, you’ll need some garlic, chili powder, yellow mustard, salt, and pepper for the seasoning. I also added cinnamon to my Sloppy Joe recipe because it reminds me of how it used to taste when I was a child, but that’s optional depending on your preference.
Why aren’t these Sloppy Joes made with ketchup?
Have you seen the ingredients in ketchup? Each tablespoon has 4 grams of sugar, which usually comes from high fructose corn syrup. The tomato sauce in this Sloppy Joe recipe replaces the tomato sauce in the ketchup, and instead of refined sugar I used a small amount of honey and also carrots for natural sweetness.
Ketchup can also be expensive so this helps keep this recipe budget friendly, too.
Can you make Sloppy Joes with ground turkey instead of beef?
Absolutely! You can definitely substitute ground turkey for ground beef in this recipe. Since it’s cooked in such a flavorful sauce anyway you probably won’t even notice the difference, unlike other recipes.
Ground turkey tends to be a bit drier than ground beef, but there are a few ways you can deal with that.
The first is to add a bit more oil into your pan when you fry the meat and veggies. If you’re choosing ground turkey in Sloppy Joes because it’s leaner, though, that’s not a great option. In that case, try to keep as much of the juices in while you cook – keeping the lid on helps.
Second, you can quickly brown the meat in your pan (follow the recipe) and let the turkey finish cooking in the sauce. Adjust cooking time, if necessary.
Finally, if your turkey Sloppy Joes are still dry you can always increase the sauce!
How to make these homemade Sloppy Joes into a crock pot recipe
I didn’t make my Sloppy Joes recipe in a slow cooker, but I think a crock pot would be a great way to turn this into an even easier weeknight meal or as party food.
To adapt these Sloppy Joes for the crock pot, first fry the ground beef, garlic, and onion together in a skillet on the stove. Drain the fat, then add the cooked meat to your slow cooker. Then toss in all other recipe ingredients, including the diced carrots and celery, and mix it well.
Cook on high for 2-3 hours or low for 4-6 hours.
Tip: Try and stir a few times while it cooks. If you find the sauce is too thick, you can add ¼ cup of water or stock to thin it out.
What should I serve this recipe on?
We used whole wheat slider buns for our Sloppy Joes and it was delicious, but you can put them on any bread you have on hand—or make some homemade buns or rolls for a completely “from scratch” meal. You could also serve them with bibb lettuce so they can be eaten as lettuce wraps!
I recommend waiting to assemble the Sloppy Joes until just before you plan to eat, otherwise the sauce will make the bun soggy.
Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 cup onion (diced)
- 1 rib celery (diced)
- 1 carrot (peeled and diced)
- 1 pound ground beef (grass-fed recommended)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- pepper (to taste)
- 1 can tomato sauce (plain, 15 ounce)
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (Optional: This was the “secret” ingredient that reminded me of the Sloppy Joes from my childhood, but I realize it’s out of the ordinary so decide for yourself if you like this addition!)
- whole-wheat buns (toasted, for serving (for sliders use small buns or dinner rolls!))
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and carrot and cook until they begin to soften but not brown, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the ground beef and garlic, and cook while breaking up the meat with a spatula. Season with the salt and pepper. Continue to cook until the meat has browned all the way through. Drain the excess fat and discard.
I made this last night, and it got rave reviews from the hubby, and the kids ate it without a fuss, something that is unusual these days. Thank you! It’s a keeper!
We just had sloppy joes last week too! It’s such a good comfort food. All three of my kids gobbled it up.
Thank you for this! My mom has made sloppy joes from scratch for years and I forgot about her recipe until this post. Definitely need to pull it out and take a look! Thanks! I’m glad your daughter loved them!
I need a “real” as possible recipe for a corn dog…that is your mission, should you choose to accept it…
HeavenlyHomemakers.com has a real food recipe for them that is very good IMO.
Thank you!
Like the reality in this story
Sloppy Joes are great for slipping extra veggies to my picky eater. I usually make them by mixing cooked ground beef or turkey with leftover pasta sauce for a super easy dinner.
I’m Australian, so wasn’t 100% sure what sloppy joes were, so thanks for clearing that up :)
I’d love to give these a go with kangaroo mince :)
Do you think you can substitute tofu for the beef for a veggie version?
We use lentils instead of meat and put it in the crock pot. We call them Sloppy Janes. We also use leftovers, add bread crumbs and an egg and make it into a “LentilLoaf” similar to meatloaf.
I make half a recipe of the everyday whole wheat bread and roll it out. Then I cut it into small rectangles and put the sloppy joe mixture on the rectangular pieces of dough and put another piece of dough on top. Pinch the edges with a fork, let rise for half an hour. Rub the tops with olive oil and sprinkle a little garlic powder and salt on the tops and bake until golden brown and not doughy anymore. Then you have yourself an unsloppy joe recipe! My girls and husband love them! I also think they would be good with cheese in with the meat mixture.
Can I come live at your house? Lol sounds delicious!
I have found that if I use a finely shredded sweet potato, sautéed with the onions, etc., that I don’t even need a sweetener. I love sloppy joes because you can hide so many vegetables in them.
I’ve been making a version of this for a long while, with some substitutions, such as black strap molasses, sweet potatoes and nut meg. I also cook all the veggies and tomato sauce and blend them into a creamy sauce, for those kids not likely to eat chunky vegetables. I didn’t like Sloppy Joe’s as a kid (too sweet), but I enjoy this new version.
Mendy, I have found muir glen has tomatoes and tomato sauce with BPA free cans. Most of the cans say BPA free on the back, I’m sure there are others but this is what my store has. They also have a no salt added line as well. Good luck
My Target carries Muir Glens as well as Shoprite here on the East Coast :)
This recipe sounds so yummy. I make one similar and I add a little molasses in place of the brown sugar. Thought you might want to try it out. Thanks for all your stuff we love your biscuts.
Do you know where to buy BPA free cans of tomato’s and tomato sauce?
Hi there. Most large grocery stores will carry at least one. Muir Glen is a common brand. You can also find them in glass jars as well as cardboard containers. This might help: http://bpafreecannedfood.wordpress.com/bpa-free-canned-food-brands/. ~Amy
Oh perfect thank you! I buy all of our bread from Great Harvest and just haven’t transitioned into their rolls yet. Will pick some up when I go to get all of my Irish Breads for St. Pats!
Unfortunately, my kids don’t like sloppy joe’s . How weird are they?! Actually it’s tomato sauce they don’t like. So anything with it is out: spaghetti, pizza, etc. So frustrating. Your recipe looks outstanding though. :)
It’s so funny that you posted this– I just made real food sloppy joes last week, using a spaghetti meat sauce I make. It’s similar to your recipe, except I put kidney beans in it. I thought when my kids are older, I can give them sloppy joes!
Looks great! Like others, we haven’t had Sloppy Joes since cutting out processed food. I think these might make it on the menu next week!
Sloppy Joes were never appetizing to me as a kid, until I saw the Olsen twins in “It Takes Two.” The one girl’s reaction to having something so messy for the first time had me begging my parents to try. And they made a recipe like this one. It wasn’t until university that I learned there were premade things for sloppy joes. Never tried them willingly, I’ve always loved the homemade.
You can stretch your meat by adding cooked lentils. You can’t even tell! My husband caught me adding them, but he admitted that they still tasted great.
Thank you for this recipe. I’ve been looking for a Sloppy Joe recipe that doesn’t use sugar.
If you’re looking for more veggies to add to the mix, a bell pepper is a great addition.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Sloppy Joes are my 5 year old’s fave and since we switched to eating mostly real food he has asked over and over and OVER again when we could eat sloppy joes again. He will be so happy to have this on our menu for next week! :)
I have been looking for a “real food” Sloppy Joes receipe for awhile! Thank you so much for all you do!!
You are so welcome! :)
Thank you! My 9yo has been bugging me to make sloppy joes, and we’ve always used the canned stuff in the past. All the recipes I had found still contained ingredients I didn’t want to include. Your timing is excellent ;)
I need to find a great whole wheat bun. I tried Great Harvest and they were very dense and kind of hard. I hope there is something out there that is soft like a store bought bun.
I have a confession-I’m 28 and have never had a sloppy joe. I was a picky eater as a kid, and they never looked very appetizing to me. Clearly I’ve been missing out because this recipe looks delicious!
You can substitute 1/2 the ground beef for chopped cabbage and you will never know the difference.
Those sloppy joes look great! I haven’t had one since I was a kid. I have all the ingredients too, except for the rolls.
I’m curious-what kind of rolls do you buy? The ones in the picture look like they could be homemade.
Hi Christine. Those are a staple of Lisa’s from Great Harvest Bakery. ~Amy
Emily
Stephanie Bionature makes an organic strained tomato product in a glass jar that it literally just tomatoes. That’s pretty much all I use because I don’t use anything canned.
We are having such a difficult time finding bread or buns w 5 or less ingredients. Any suggestions? These look so yummy! Thank you!
Great Harvest has a honey wheat dinner roll with only 5 ingredients
That’s exactly what you see pictured!
Is mustard a real food? Do I just buy organic mustard? Also interested in the tomatato sauce you added
Thank you
Hi there. Look for an organic mustard without any additives or preservatives. You can find organic tomato sauces that are BPA free in cans or look for one that is in a jar. ~Amy
Stephanie, I buy canned organic tomatoes in a glass jar from Whole Foods. They just have just tomatoes version and a tomatoes with salt version. (Only 1 or 2 ingredients.) hope you’re able to find something similar where you live!
What is the rule on canned tomatoes and tomato sauce? I feel like every brand I’ve found still has some additives that I don’t want to feed my family. Any recommendations?
You can definitely try to look for those that are labeled as BPA-free!
There is a brand at my store local grocery store as well as at Whole Foods that is usually on the top shelf (out of one’s typical line of site) called Pomi. These are in a box and there is no additives (no citric acid nor calcium chloride)…completely 1-ingredient and it is in a BPA free box!
We had almost this exact recipe as a child and my mom called it updated sloppy joes. It is awesome!!!
This recipe looks suprisingly simple! LOVE IT =) definitely have to try it for my Little Man!
These do look really easy to make! I have never made Sloppy Joes (even before cutting out processed foods) and haven’t had them since childhood. I will have to try these!
Do you have a bun recipe? Those look delicious and I have been trying to make my own with no success yet!
Do you make your own bread? I know you can use your breadmaker to make the dough, then put them into bun form, let them rise and bake to make buns. I also think Deliciously Organic has a bun recipe on her website.
Anna, I have been experimenting with bun recipes and had some success with this one, this week. They are definitely the best 100% dinner rolls I’ve made. I left out the wheat gluten, but otherwise followed the recipe. Hope it works for you if you try it!
http://www.texanerin.com/2013/11/soft-and-fluffy-dinner-rolls.html
Thank you SO much for this recipe. I have been using another whole wheat recipe with mediocre results. I’m happy to know you omitted the wheat gluten and still liked them. I’m going to try making half of the dough into rolls and the other half into cinnamon rolls as suggested. I haven’t made cinnamon rolls in YEARS!
Anna – Here is the whole wheat bun recipe I use and we all love it!! I usually make a batch and then freeze the majority of them. They thaw out so well and it’s a big time saver! http://realfitrealfoodmom.com/2013/11/03/honey-whole-wheat-sandwich-buns/
Curious as to what kind of hamburger buns you buy?
I got these “rolls” from a local franchise bakery called Great Harvest. I’ve also used Ezekiel frozen English Muffins as buns before as well.
These look awesome! I haven’t made sloppy joes since we cut out processed foods. Can’t wait to try sometime!