Are you looking for some mouth-watering yet straightforward weeknight dinner? Then this fast and easy-to-make sloppy joe recipe with chili sauce is what you need. This dish is a sure winner. Chili sauce and ground beef are the main ingredients in this recipe. The other ingredients are so common that most probably they are already in your kitchen. So, this recipe is all set to be on your table from the cooking pot real fast.
It was nearly 15 years back when I tasted this recipe for the first time at a rehearsal dinner arranged by one of my close friends. It had lingering after tastes, and it is still one of the best, if not the best, sloppy joe mixes that I have ever had in my life. Then I prepared the recipe myself a few years back.
Since then, I have received many compliments for this recipe and got numerous recipe requests. That’s why today I’m here to share my versions of this recipe.
Try other Dinner recipes: How to make healthy beet noodle recipes with chicken or How To Prepare Buffalo Wild Wings Street Tacos Recipe
Ingredients of sloppy joe recipe
- Ground beef (1 pound)
- Finely chopped onion (1/2 cup)
- Finely chopped celery (1/2 cup)
- Chili sauce (1/2 cup)
- Ketchup (1 cup)
- Finely chopped green pepper (1 tablespoon)
- Sugar (1 tablespoon)
- Brown sugar (1 tablespoon)
- Freshly ground mustard (2 teaspoons)
- Cider vinegar (1 tablespoon)
- Split hamburger buns (6 pieces)
- To taste, salt (1/4 teaspoon)
- To taste, pepper (1/8 teaspoon)
Directions for cooking sloppy joe recipe with chili sauce
- Step 01: At first, take a Dutch oven or large pot to crumble the ground beef over medium to high heat. Stir frequently and keep cooking until the beef turns browned evenly on both the sides and edges.
- Step 02: Take the beef out of the pot, place them on a cooling rack and drain off the grease. Add the celery and onion and cook until the onion turns tender. It will take approximately 3 minutes.
- Step 03: Now, reduce the heat to medium, and pour in the chili sauce of your choice and. Now stir in the sugar and vinegar carefully. Add the mustard and all other remaining ingredients as per your liking.
- Step 04: At last, simmer the mixture until it forms your desired thickness and texture.
Your Sloppy joe recipe with chili sauce is ready. Now, serve the mixture over the buns as much as you want and serve immediately, as the hot mixture tastes the best.
Tips and Tricks
If you want to reduce the sweetness, you can add a little ketchup along with some Worcestershire sauce. Doing so will take away the overkill of the sweetness, yet remaining sweet enough for excellence. If you find the ketchup taste dominant, try increasing the amount of vinegar.
If you like it to be tang, you can add some tang powder as well. Or you can also bring a tang-like taste by adding a little more “brown sugar” and half the vinegar. If you increase the amount of brown sugar and vinegar, it will make the tangy sloppy joes.
Recipe Variation
- The homemade sloppy joes recipe has got a couple of variations. You can try them all with only a few changes in the ingredients list. Ground chicken or ground turkey, for instance, makes one hell of a dish.
- As some cooks do, you can also try adding 1-2 cups of pinto beans or cooked kidney to the beef mixture at the last moment.
- You can also bring out another variation by topping the beef mixture with cheddar cheese thin slices just before covering the beef with bun tops.
- If you have a liking for zing, you can try adding some chili powder along with a bit of hot sauce, which will give the recipe considerable zing.
Nutritional Information
This easy sloppy joes recipe is very rich in protein, potassium, sodium, and fat. It offers a total of 536.4 calories, out of which 318.8 calories come from fat alone. Some might find the cholesterol level concerning as well, measuring at 139.3mg per 6-serving.
| Nutrient Fact (PER 6-Serving) | Value | Daily Value |
| Calories | 536.4(2244.29kJ) | – |
| Protein | 38.1g | 76% |
| Alcohol | 0g | – |
| Carbohydrates | 13.7g | 4% |
| Dietary Fiber | 0.9 g | 3% |
| Sugars | 11g | – |
| Total Fat | 35.4 g | 55% |
| Saturated Fat | 13.9 g | 70% |
| Trans Fat | 3.4g | – |
| Cholesterol | 139.3 mg | 46% |
| Vitamin A lu | 94lU | 2% |
| Vitamin B6 | 0.4mg | 27% |
| Vitamin C | 3.6mg | 6% |
| Niacin Equivalents | 16.3mg | 126% |
| Iron | 4.1mg | 23% |
| Folate | 27.4 mcg | 7% |
| Potassium | 56mg | 6.7% |
| Sodium | 233.5mg | 9% |
| Thiamin | 0.1mg | 7% |
| Calcium | 41.8mg | 4% |
| Magnesium | 38.7mg | 14% |
My whole family has loved Sloppy Joe’s for many years now. My mother even prepares a different version of sloppy joe recipe with chili sauce, which I call the Juicy Burgers recipe. (Maybe someday I will be back with this version as well if you want.)
I have taken the original recipe, and modified it a bit amp up the flavors and applied a few tricks to bring the best taste and texture. This recipe is very simple but very delicious and insanely flavorful. And it takes about 30 minutes at best, and now you know how to make sloppy joes! So, why waiting? Enjoy your weeknight dinner with this amazing recipe.