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Slow Cooker Cheesy Sloppy Joes include everything you love about these traditional ground beef sandwiches except these Sloppy Joes are extra meaty, cheesy, and spicy thanks to the combination of beef and sausage, and added jalapeños!
It's time to roll up those sleeves, wear some dark clothes, and get stuck into these ultra messy and zesty slow cooker Sloppy Joes, served alongside French fries, onion rings, potato chips, slaw, or a light green salad.
These fun sandwiches will likely become one of your family’s favorite dinner recipes.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Sloppy Joes
- Budget-friendly: The ingredients used to make these slow cooker cheesy Sloppy Joes are inexpensive, in fact you are likely to have most of them already.
- Super Easy: This recipe only requires 10 minutes of preparation while the rest is handled by the slow cooker, allowing you to get on with the rest of your day!
- Feeds a crowd: One of the main reasons I love this recipe so much is due to the fact that it yields a lot of food! That's great news if you're feeding a larger family or hosting hungry guests. Otherwise, it's almost certain that you'll have leftovers to enjoy as convenient meals in the days that follow.
Why This Recipe Works
- Easy Slow Cooker Recipe. This slow cooker cheesy Sloppy Joes recipe includes step-by-step instructions with photos for making this scrumptious and comforting meal from scratch. This ensures that you don't get lost along the way but rather serve up something that will give everyone something positive to talk about for days to come.
- Pantry Ingredients. Most of the ingredients used in this recipe are likely to already be in your pantry, and if not, are readily accessible in your local grocery store.
- Recipe Tips Included. You don't need to scroll too far before coming across helpful recipe tips and tricks to make your cooking experience stress-free and enjoyable.
- Tried and True Recipe. I've made these Sloppy Joes for quite some time for various family events and social gatherings which means that you can trust that I'm guiding you with tried and true techniques and processes.
- Recipe Variations. I have included these in case you want to make slight tweaks to these slow cooker cheesy Sloppy Joes when catering to personal preferences.
- Serving suggestions are provided in this recipe that you can use if you want to bulk up this recipe with side dishes or additional garnishing/topping ideas.
What You’ll Need To Make Sloppy Joes
Equipment
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Ingredients
Below, I discuss the ingredients and possible substitutions if you don't have a specific ingredient. However, if you are looking for the specific measurements of each ingredient, scroll down to the bottom of this article, just above the comments, for the printable recipe card, which includes all the ingredients and the specific amounts of each one.
- Ground beef. Always use a high quality ground beef for maximum flavor. If you like, you can omit the sausage and only use ground beef.
- Sausage. I enjoy using half ground beef and half sausage, but you can opt to only use beef if you like.
- Onion. Use white or yellow onion. Both are on the sweeter side of the spectrum which is what you want for these Sloppy Joes.
- Minced garlic. Garlic cloves that are minced are the best for the overall flavor of the ground beef mixture. If you don't have cloves then by all means use pre-mined bottled garlic instead.
- Red pepper. While you could use green peppers instead, consider using red bell pepper instead if you'd like to increase the sweetness of the Sloppy Joe’s meaty mixture.
- Tomato sauce. I used plain tomato sauce. However, feel free to spice it up with Italian seasoned or Mexican seasoned tomato sauce.
- Ketchup. Use your favorite ketchup whether it is traditional or spicy.
- BBQ sauce. Go ahead and use your favorite brand.
- Brown sugar. Sugar draws out all the flavors in this dish…not to be omitted!
- Apple cider vinegar. This helps to cut some of the tart flavors from ingredients such as tomato sauce so that there's a great flavor balance.
- Yellow mustard. You can use Dijon mustard oro spicy brown mustard instead to change it up a bit.
- Worcestershire sauce. This adds a delicious balance or sour, sweet, and spicy.
- Pickled jalapeño peppers. Add these as an optional extra if you enjoy an element of spicy heat in your food.
- Shredded cheddar cheese. Make sure to buy a block of cheese that you shred yourself, not pre-shredded. Pre-shredded never tastes or melts as well.
- Buns. You can use hamburger buns, Texas toast, hotdog buns, or anything you want to serve your Sloppy Joes mixture on.
How To Make Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
Instructions
- In a large saute pan, cook the hamburger and sausage till no longer pink. Drain any grease.
- Add the onions, bell pepper, and garlic and cook for 4 more minutes.
- Place the meat in the slow cooker. Add the tomato sauce, ketchup, BBQ sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, worcestershire sauce, and jalapenos to the meat. Stir till well combined.
- Set the slow cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.
- Warm the buns or toast and serve the sloppy joes over the bread. Top with cheddar cheese. Serve immediately.
Pro Tips
- Block Cheese. Shredding your cheese from a block of cheese instead of having purchased pre-shredded cheese always seems to be best for overall taste and it also seems to melt the cheese better too.
- Sharp Cheddar. You can pretty much use any cheese that melts well but be sure to use a flavored cheese as it's required for flavoring. I wouldn't suggest using mozzarella for this reason as I think it's too mild. Your best bet is using sharp cheddar cheese.
- Reheat. To reheat stored slow cooker cheesy Sloppy Joes, simply warm the meaty mixture up in the microwave or in a skillet. You could even add it back to the slow cooker and heat it up for about 15 minutes or so until ready to assemble your Sloppy Joes.
- Quality Ingredients. Use high quality ground beef and sausage for this recipe for maximum flavor. While you can opt to use lean ground beef, regular ground beef packs a ton of flavor thanks to the fatty content in it.
- Let Cook All Day. Prepare the ingredients and set the slow cooker to cook first thing in the morning before you leave for the day or get busy with your schedule. That way you'll have everything ready in time for dinner!
- Browning Meat is Importing. I don't recommend not browning the ground beef with the sausage first before adding it to the slow cooker but if you need to, you can add everything to the slow cooker at one time and cook it all together.
- Drain Fat. The reason for draining the browned ground beef is that it allows the meat to absorb more flavor from the seasoning and sauces that are added to the mixture in the slow cooker.
- Thicken Meat Filling. To thicken the meat mixture, allow the mixture to simmer for an additional 20 minutes. If that doesn't help, add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch and water (a cornstarch slurry) to the meaty mixture to achieve the desired consistency.
- Toasty Buns. It's always a great idea to toast the inside of the buns prior to assembling the Sloppy Joes so that you get that delicious crunch! You could even add some crispy lettuce with sliced tomato and cheese for added crunch and texture.
- Bolognese. If you have leftover homemade bolognese sauce at home, consider using this as a base for your Sloppy Joes, adding in additional ingredients and adjusting the cooking time on the slow cooker as required.
Variations
- Make Vegetarian Sloppy Joes: For a vegetarian alternative, you can use lentils instead of the ground beef and sausage. The flavor and texture will be somewhat different though since the it won't have the same fat content but it's still going to be delicious.
- Make Pizza Sloppy Joes: This version adds pepperoni and mozzarella cheese.
- Vary The Cooking Time: These Sloppy Joes can be cooked on the slow cooker's low setting for 6 hours or the high setting for 4 hours. Choose a cook time that will suit your movements that day.
- Use Other Meat: While I used sausage and ground beef, this recipe can be made using different types of sausage and ground meat depending on what you have accessible to you or your personal preferences. You could even use lean ground beef if you are trying to cut down on fat content in your diet.
- Simplify The Ingredients: If you're not such a big meat eater or want a more budget-friendly version of this recipe, consider using only ground beef and omit the sausage. It will still be delicious!
What To Serve With Sloppy Joes
These cheesy Sloppy Joes can be served with French fries, onion rings, chips, slaw, a side of veggies (roasted or steamed), and even some homemade soup!
You could also prepare some additional topping ideas such as lettuce, cheese slices, sliced tomato, sliced dill pickle, or jalapenos and allow your family and guests to help themselves when 'building' their own Sloppy Joe.
FAQs
WHAT ARE SLOPPY JOES?
Sloppy Joes are traditionally ground beef sandwiches. They consist of soft hamburger buns that are loaded with a saucy ground beef (and, in this case, sausage too) mixture with onions and peppers added for a delicious contrasting crunch.
WHY ARE THESE CALLED 'SLOPPY JOES'?
As you can imagine, Sloppy Joes can be a pretty messy affair! The loose ground beef packed onto bread buns also gives the impression that it's time to roll up those sleeves before getting stuck in.
The inventor of the original Sloppy Joes was a restaurant owner in Iowa, USA, named Joe. As this delicious sandwich quickly grew in popularity, the term "Sloppy Joe" soon stuck and has done ever since.
HOW SHOULD I STORE SLOW COOKER CHEESY SLOPPY JOES?
Leftover Sloppy Joe mixture should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a maximum of 5 days. Don't store fully assembled buns with the mixture otherwise, the buns will quickly turn very soggy.
You could also freeze leftover cheesy Sloppy Joe mixture in the freezer in an airtight container or Ziploc bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat on the stovetop, in the microwave, or in the slow cooker.
More Recipes You’ll Love
- Lentil Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole
- Baked Pizza Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
- Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches
- Taco Sloppy Joes
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Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 1 pound sausage
- 1/2 cup onion chopped
- 1 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1/2 green pepper diced
- 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons chopped pickles jalapeño peppers optional
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 8 Hamburger buns Texas toast, hotdog buns, anything you want to serve this on.
Instructions
- In a large saute pan, cook the hamburger and sausage till no longer pink. Drain any grease.
- Add the onions, bell pepper, and garlic and cook for 4 more minutes.
- Place the meat in the slow cooker. Add the tomato sauce, ketchup, BBQ sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, mustard, worcestershire sauce, and jalapenos to the meat. Stir till well combined.
- Set the slow cooker on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.
- Warm the buns or toast and serve the sloppy joes over the bread. Top with cheddar cheese. Serve immediately.
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