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Stress-Free Cooking Installment 2: Gourmet Sloppy Joes

December 13, 2013 by Laura 22 Comments  Richmond Savers has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Richmond Savers and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Disclosures.

Sloppy Joes RecipeSloppy Joes have a horrible reputation as being some less than impressive meal served out of a can that you would only feed to an 8 year old.  I thought that too until I saw Rachael Ray making her version one time on TV; I just had to try it because the sandwiches looked insanely delicious.  And let me just say, it did not disappoint!  Below is her recipe, tweaked a tiny bit.

This is a great stress-free, economical meal because the recipe below easily will feed 4 adults, so if it’s just 2 of you, you definitely have 2 nights of dinner taken care of (and of course, the leftovers freeze well if you can’t get to them within a few days).  There is a lot of extra juice/sauce in this recipe (we always need a slotted spoon to serve it), so you could easily add an extra half pound of meat and that would make an extra couple sandwiches for a child or two.

Also, though it’s a slightly longer list of ingredients than most of our meals, I have most of the ingredients on hand and usually just need to buy the beef and maybe the rolls, so this works out to be a really inexpensive meal.  Take this hearty sandwich and add a side salad and you have a great, easy meal.

Ingredients

  • 1 TBS olive oil
  • 1 ¼ pounds ground beef
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 TBS steak seasoning (such as McCormick Montreal Seasoning)
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1 small red bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 TBS red wine vinegar
  • 1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 can tomato sauce (15 oz can)
  • 2 TBS tomato paste
  • Big, crusty wheat rolls to serve on

Directions

Heat oil in large skillet over medium high heat.  Add beef and begin to break it up (you’ll want to break up the beef so it’s very fine & crumbled).  Combine brown sugar & steak seasoning and add to the skillet and combine with beef.  When the meat has browned, add onions & peppers. Reduce heat to medium, add red wine vinegar & Worcestershire sauce and cook about 5-8 minutes. Add tomato sauce & paste and stir to combine.

Reduce heat to a simmer and cook at least 5 minutes more (I will usually let mine simmer for about 20 minutes).  Using a slotted spoon, pile the Sloppy Joe mixture onto a buttered, toasted wheat roll.  Enjoy!

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Richmond Savers has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Richmond Savers and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Filed Under: Recipes

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Comments

  1. Michelle says

    December 13, 2013 at 4:49 am

    I love sloppy joes! Definitely going to make this soon.

    Reply
    • Laura says

      December 13, 2013 at 3:21 pm

      Yes, it’s excellent. The brown sugar & steak seasoning gives it a great flavor! Enjoy!

      Reply
  2. Michelle @fitisthenewpoor says

    December 13, 2013 at 11:32 am

    Totally saving this! Yummmmmm!

    Reply
    • Brad says

      December 15, 2013 at 10:37 pm

      Definitely let us know if you try it — it’s absolutely delicious!

      Reply
  3. Josh says

    December 13, 2013 at 12:47 pm

    Ahhh man…that looks yummy! Sloppy Joes are my favorite! Thanks!

    Reply
    • Brad says

      December 15, 2013 at 10:38 pm

      Josh: if you already like Sloppy Joes then you will love this recipe! It’s just very tasty…

      Reply
  4. Done by Forty says

    December 13, 2013 at 5:33 pm

    You know, I’ve never had a sloppy joe before. I’m ashamed to admit it, but the looks of them didn’t appeal to me. Maybe a fancier one is up my alley?

    Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply
    • Brad says

      December 15, 2013 at 10:39 pm

      haha, I had never had one either! They always had this crazy reputation and I just had no interest. Laura made this a while back and it’s just a great tasting meal, and really pretty easy considering it makes a few nights of dinner for us.

      Reply
  5. femmefrugality says

    December 14, 2013 at 12:14 am

    These look so great! And having the ingredients already in my fridge is SO huge when I’m making a new recipe…or anything really!

    Reply
    • Brad says

      December 15, 2013 at 10:40 pm

      Yeah, it’s all about finding recipes where you don’t have to go out and buy a dozen new ingredients to make! That just adds up so quickly, but when you buy some of these more common things in bulk and spread the cost over many meals it is so inexpensive to make a home cooked meal. We usually find our meals cost less than $2 per person after all is said and done.

      Reply
  6. Jen @ Frugal Rules says

    December 14, 2013 at 4:19 am

    Just by how you described this Sloppy Joe sandwich is already mouth-watering on its own. I would sure love to try it and I can already imagine my teenage boys’ reaction.

    Reply
    • Brad says

      December 15, 2013 at 10:40 pm

      Nice Jen, I’m glad you liked Laura’s description! You and the boys will really like this one…

      Reply
  7. Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life says

    December 15, 2013 at 7:06 pm

    I need to find a good veggie version of this, maybe if I just substitute the beef for black beans.

    Reply
    • Brad says

      December 15, 2013 at 10:42 pm

      That could definitely work! We don’t have any vegetarians in the family, or I’d ask around, but I think that could be a good alternative. I can vouch for the sauce being really tasty, so I think it would work well when adapted for a vegetarian diet…

      Reply
  8. Alicia says

    December 17, 2013 at 10:02 pm

    My fiancé loves the idea of sloppy joes, and I definitely agree with your description of them having a bad rap. Perhaps these will be better for my taste buds 🙂

    Reply
    • Brad says

      December 17, 2013 at 10:57 pm

      Definitely try it out! Just forget the whole “sloppy joe” thing and it becomes hard not to like it as it is just a really tasty dish. I hope you enjoy it…

      Reply
  9. KK @ Student Debt Survivor says

    December 17, 2013 at 11:48 pm

    Sloppy joes are such a comfort food for me. They totally bring me back to my childhood. These days I don’t eat red meat, so I make them with turkey burger (yum!).

    Reply
    • Laura says

      December 18, 2013 at 2:39 pm

      Great idea, I have been meaning to try them with ground turkey, I’m sure they will be just as good!

      Reply
  10. SuburbanFinance says

    December 30, 2013 at 10:31 am

    Gourmet sloppy joes – wow. I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever see the words “gourmet” and “sloppy joes” in one sentence, haha!

    Reply
    • Laura says

      December 30, 2013 at 3:27 pm

      Yes, I know what you mean. Sloppy Joes have such a bad reputation, but these are delicious! Much different than what I remember having as a 9 year old on a camping trip!

      Reply
  11. Eric David Lough says

    March 25, 2014 at 9:00 am

    Mmmm. This made me so hungry.

    Reply
    • Brad says

      April 5, 2014 at 6:38 am

      Nice! This is a really good one 🙂
      Be sure to check out the rest of Laura’s recipes that she’s posted…

      Reply

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