Slow-Cooker Sloppy Joes

There’s nothing quite like savory sloppy joes when it comes to comfort food. The sandwich is an automatic crowd-pleaser, with its saucy ground beef, peppers and onions on a soft bun. Slow-cooker sloppy joes are just the recipe for busy days: Do a little prep in the morning, get everything in the crockpot, and come home to a tasty dinner everyone will love.

Slow-cooker sloppy joes strike a balance between ease and excellence. To maximize flavor, cook the meat on the stove with bell pepper and onion, then combine the meat and sauce in a slow cooker. The low, slow heat develops the sweet, rich flavors until the kitchen smells delicious. The sauce pairs convenience with complexity; instead of making a from-scratch sauce, you jazz up packets of store-bought sloppy joe mix with a few extra pantry ingredients. The result? An easy slow-cooker dinner recipe you’ll make again and again.

Ingredients for Slow-Cooker Sloppy Joes

• Ground beef: For the most flavorful sloppy joes, we suggest using ground beef with an 80-to-20 ratio of lean to fat. You can use leaner beef if you prefer; slow-cooker beef recipes don’t dry out easily.
• Vegetables: Chopped green pepper and onion are lightly sauteed and stirred into the beef, adding sweet flavor and varied texture.
• Ketchup: Ketchup makes up the base of the sauce, so choose whichever ketchup brand you prefer.
• Sloppy joe mix: While other sloppy joes require a homemade sauce, this recipe makes it simple with store-bought sloppy joe mix.
• Brown sugar: A dash of brown sugar sweetens the sauce and thickens it up a bit.
• Prepared mustard: Break up the sweet flavors with a bit of prepared mustard.
• Hamburger buns: Lightly toasting the burger buns dries them out, making it easier for the bread to absorb the sloppy joe sauce.

Directions

Step 1: Saute the beef and vegetables

In a large skillet, cook the beef, pepper and onion over medium heat until the beef is no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes, breaking up the beef into crumbles with a wooden spoon or fork as you cook. Drain any excess fat.

Editor’s Tip: Cooking meat before adding it to the crockpot is an important slow-cooker tip. It helps lock in flavor and juices, which results in better-tasting sloppy joes.

Step 2: Add the sauce

Stir in the ketchup, sloppy joe mix, brown sugar and mustard.

Step 3: Slow-cook your sloppy joes

Transfer the meat and sauce to a 3-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low until the flavors are blended, four to five hours. Serve on buns.

Editor’s Tip: Slice the buns in half and lightly toast them if you’d like. Spoon a generous dollop of sloppy joe meat and sauce onto the bun and serve the sandwiches hot.

Taste of Home

Recipe Variations

• Swap in ground turkey: For lighter sloppy joes, you can use ground turkey instead of beef. Look for dark meat, which will have the most flavor.
• Add toppings: Like hamburgers, sloppy joes taste great with all kinds of toppings. Try shredded or sliced cheese (we like cheddar and pepper jack for sloppy joes) or bacon slices. Most pickles are delicious on sloppy joes, including classic dill pickles, bread and butter pickles or pickled onions. Add a spoonful of your favorite coleslaw recipe or sprinkle on some crumbled corn chips for added crunch.
• Go gluten-free: As long as the packaged sloppy joe mix is gluten-free, you can easily make this a gluten-free dinner. Just serve the sloppy joes on gluten-free buns.

How to Store Slow-Cooker Sloppy Joes

Leftover slow-cooker sloppy joes keep well in the refrigerator when stored without the buns. Transfer the meat and sauce into an airtight container to keep it fresh.

How long do slow-cooker sloppy joes last?

Crockpot sloppy joes keep well in the fridge for up to four days, as the sauce ensures the beef stays juicy.

Can you freeze crockpot sloppy joes?

Yes, these sloppy joes are one of our favorite crockpot freezer meals. There are two ways to freeze slow-cooker meals: cooked or uncooked.

To freeze cooked crockpot sloppy joes, let the meat and sauce cool, then transfer them to a freezer-safe container (or even a sturdy freezer bag). Freeze the sloppy joe filling for up to three months. Defrost it in the refrigerator overnight before reheating it.

To freeze uncooked sloppy joes, prepare the recipe through Step 2, then transfer the filling to a freezer-safe container and freeze it for up to three months. Defrost it in the fridge overnight, then transfer it to a slow cooker and cook it as directed in Step 3. Don’t skip the defrosting step; cooking frozen meat in a slow cooker is unsafe. The meat will remain at an unsafe temperature for too long, giving dangerous bacteria the opportunity to grow.

How do you reheat slow-cooker sloppy joes?

Reheat leftover sloppy joe filling in a covered dish in the microwave or a saucepan on the stovetop. Heat through, stirring occasionally, so the meat will warm evenly. Serve the meat on freshly toasted buns.

Slow-Cooker Sloppy Joes Tips

Taste of Home

Can you put raw ground beef in a slow cooker?

If you’re in a rush, you can skip the saute step and place all the ingredients into the slow cooker. The downside is that the meat will have less flavor (since you skipped the browning) and will leave more grease in the pot (since you can’t drain the excess fat). Cook your sloppy joe filling on low for five to six hours until the beef cooks through and the sauce is rich and hot.

How else can you cook sloppy joes?

This sloppy joe crockpot recipe is convenient when you want a hands-off cooking method where the sauce is gently simmered and the beef’s moisture is preserved. However, if you’re in a hurry, simply cook the sloppy joes on the stovetop. Add the sauce ingredients directly to the saute pan in Step 3, bring the pan to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer the sauce for 15 minutes or until it’s heated through.

What can you serve with slow-cooker sloppy joes?

Sloppy joes are a classic comfort food recipe, so they pair well with cozy side dishes like baked beans, macaroni and cheese, potato salad or even plain-old potato chips. But the sweet, rich beef sandwiches taste great with all sorts of sides. Roasted vegetables, steamed broccoli or sweet potatoes, tomato salads, sauteed green beans and other vegetable side dishes make delicious pairings with sloppy joes. A simple green salad and a baked potato would be healthy. If you’re serving kids, make a side dish kids will love, such as glazed carrots or crispy zucchini pancakes.

How else can you use sloppy joes?

Think outside the hamburger bun! Serve sloppy joes on biscuits, as a dip alongside big chunks of Texas toast or on hoagie rolls. Or try a dollop of sloppy joe beef over a bowl of creamy mashed potatoes. It’s pure comfort food!