This healthy Sloppy Joe recipe is family-friendly, made with ground sirloin beef and some minced veggies – great for those picky eaters!
Sloppy Joe Recipe
I always have ground beef in my freezer, and one of the ground beef recipes I make all the time is this Sloppy Joe recipe. We love to serve it on potato rolls but I have also served it over baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes and roasted spaghetti squash. I used lean ground sirloin and minced up some carrot, mushroom, bell pepper and onion for flavor and bulk. I mince them in the food processor so no one notices the veggies. For a slightly different on a Sloppy Joe you may also like this Sloppy Joe Baked Sweet Potato which is also gluten free or Crock Pot Italian Sloppy Joes.
How To Make Sloppy Joes
I adapted this recipe from Rachel Ray’s Sloppy Joe recipe, which was a great place to start, as it was rated five stars with rave reviews. To make it a bit lighter I use lean ground beef and minced up veggies. Instead of brown sugar I used minced carrot for a little natural sweetness.
Ingredients
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How to Eat a Sloppy Joe
The nutritional info for this sloppy joe filling is just for the meat. Below are some ideas for serving them.
- Sandwich – Serve on a hamburger buns, whole wheat roll or potato roll, which is my family’s favorite way to eat them. Just make sure to have plenty of napkins on hand!
- Sliders – If you’re feeding kids, use slider buns for a smaller sandwich.
- Over Veggies – Make it gluten-free and serve it over baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes, or roasted spaghetti squash.
- Sides – serve them with a green salad, veggie sticks or baked potato chips
How to Freeze Sloppy Joes
The meat will last in the fridge for up to four days and in the freezer for three months. To freeze, store in single-serving airtight containers. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat in the microwave.
Variations:
- Swap the ground sirloin for lean ground turkey.
- If you don’t like mushrooms, feel free to skip them and add more bell pepper or carrot or grated zucchini. You really can’t taste them, though!
- If you don’t have steak seasoning, you can add garlic powder, paprika, salt, and pepper.
More Family-Friendly Recipes You’ll Love:
- Instant Pot Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs
- Lighter Baked Macaroni and Cheese
- Air Fryer Chicken Tenders
- House Special Fried Rice
- Burger Sliders
Sloppy Joe Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.25 lbs 93% lean ground beef sirloin
- 1 tbsp steak seasoning or seasoned salt
- 1 carrot, minced
- 1 medium onion, minced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup red bell pepper, minced
- 4 oz mushrooms, minced
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cups tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
Instructions
- Chop all the vegetables really fine, using a chopper or food processor.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the meat to the pan and break it up as it cooks.
- Season with steak seasoning and cook the meat until it browns.
- Add onion, garlic, carrots, mushrooms and red peppers to the skillet.
- Reduce heat to medium and add red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, cook 5 more minutes.
- Add tomato sauce and paste to pan, stir to combine. Cover and reduce heat to simmer and cook an additional 5 minutes.
- Using a measuring cup, pile 1/2 cup of sloppy meat onto toasted buns.
very tasty! I doubled the recipe and used ground turkey. Used a bit less tomato sauce and also added a bit of crushed red pepper, along with some additional chopped fresh peppers.
Does the 4 points include the bread or is this the meat mixture only?
Absolutely loved it. I love veggies and this is perfect
Delicious! Made this regular version along with a vegetarian version for my daughter. Traded out the beef for the non beef crumbles. It was a hit with everyone.
Loved this recipe and honestly almost every recipe of yours I have tried! Thank you for making healthy eating taste so good!!
Yummy! Loved the veggies. We look forward to repeats.
These are great to make ahead and keep warm in the slow cooker to serve. Loaded with veggies and so fast with the chopper. But serve them in HOT DOG BUNS. A restaurant we grew up near always served them this way and called them grub burgers. It’s easier to keep the meat in the bun. 👍
This was the best sloppy Joe I have ever had, I will never buy canned sloppy Joe again…………
Hubby asked for canned manwich for dinner tonight, he came home to Turkey Sloppy Joes! I use ground turkey for a healthier dinner. Like you, I will never buy the can again. This is a repeat in our house. Everyone loves it.
Made this for tonight’s dinner and my 14 year old grandson had no idea how much veggies there was in it and he LOVED it! Will definitely make it again.
I enjoy this and make a couple modifications. I just dice the veggies and cook before the meat, no carrots for me. I use ground chicken, and I add a little brown sugar which makes it more sloppy Joe like. Yummy!
I think the carrot flavor just threw me off. It wasn’t the worse taste thing ever, but I think leaving out the carrots would make these better.
How do I adjust to do a crockpot version?
Oh wow! Made this today because I was trying to get back on track. This is so much better than my old system of canned Sloppy Joe. This was easy to make and very tasteful. I can’t wait to use the leftovers up later.
Probably a dumb question, BUT by “tomato sauce” do you mean jar of spaghetti sauce,.like Prego or Ragu?
She means tomato sauce that comes in cans. Not spaghetti sauce.
I put this into butter lettuce for sloppy Joe wraps for lunch and it was delicious!! Keeper for sure!
Love your idea with the butter lettuce wraps!
These are da bomb!!! Never going to make sloppy joes any other way! Kiddos devoured them.
These were delicious!
I never liked sloppy joes growing up but this recipe was a real hit. My husband and 5 year old enjoyed them too.
More nutritious than classic sloppy joe recipes, and more satisfying with the increased fiber from the vegetables.
Will made these again!
How would I make this in the crock pot? I’m thinking it would be easier for feeding a large group.
I had same question.
I really liked this recipe, my only feedback was they were a little too sloppy lol. Completely made the bottom bun soggy after 1 minute. I would make again but with 1 cup of tomato sauce and had the extra to taste.