The Best Sloppy Joes

Definitely a famliy all-time favorite. I cannot make a little sloppy joe, it must be made in large batches to be savored for days to come. We enjoy our sloppy joes with a couple must have sides, such as wavy potato chips and macaroni and cheese. This recipe does make the best sloppy joes!

This recipe for Sloppy Joes is so simple to make and the perfect thing to prepare and put into a crockpot to allow all the flavors to meld. Great for large gatherings, or if your just having all the kids over for dinner.

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The Ingredients for The Best Sloppy Joes

I start with a nice 90/10 ground chuck, usually the Black Angus type. It is important to brown and drain the meat thoroghly, I do not recommend “rinsing” your meat because you do need at least a tiny bit of fat for flavor, but definitely let it drain a few minutes in the strainer! 

Next, I use prepped frozen green peppers that are very finley diced. This part is important because the flavor of the green pepper is very impactful to this dish, but it does not need to be the star, you really want your green pepper to almost dissolve into the mixture as it cooks. Same thing with the onion, very finely chopped and let it meld into the flavors.

Now, one of the unique ingredients is the dry mustard. I personally would not skip this part, and if I happen to be out of dry mustard, then I will substitute a tablespoon of yellow mustard just to make sure I get that flavoring in the background.

For the beef broth I usually use a soup base or some type of bouillon. I know a lot of recipes just call for adding water, but adding the broth really helps with the depth of flavor. Remember we are building flavor here, and this is our masterpiece. 

The addition of a little tomato paste really brings out the tomatoey goodness of these sloppy joes, I used to think it was not necessary, then I made it without it one time and trust me, people could tell!

Brown sugar is a highly controversial ingredient for me as I lack the sweet tooth. Also, we all know there is a ton of sugar in ketchup, so I don’t like the addition of sugar, but, I do find the brown sugar helps develop some of the flavors and deepens the sweetness to a much milder background flavor. It’s like that ingredient that everyone wonders what the secret ingredient is. Brown sugar, the secret is the brown sugar.

Ketchup is the main ingredient in sloppy joes, second only to the beef, I am going to be honest with you, I am not a ketchup snob and I have used the expensive stuff and the cheap stuff, I do not see a difference. If you are a ketchup snob, by all means, spend away!

Again, we’re building flavor, and when building flavor, Worcestershire sauce is your friend. The Worcestershire sauce is going to help build up that beefy flavor and make it not so ketchupy.

Lastly, you can add the red pepper flakes or not, that is up to you and your family’s tolerance for spice. We like things spicy so we add the peppers and we love the little kick they give these delicious sloppy joes.

Now the real trick to getting everything to meld together is one of my favorite kitchen tools, the good old fashioned crockpot! I usually give it at least two hours on high, the turn it on warm and let people eat when they want. Great for potlucks and larger family gatherings!