Description
Easy, saucy, delicious Sloppy Joe’s! My kids’ favorite dinner. Super simple to make with just a few ingredients.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Sloppy Joe Beef Mixture
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 2 lbs ground beef (85/15)
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons Better Than Bouillon beef base (optional, gives it a richer flavor - if you skip it, you'll want to add salt to taste)
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2/3 cup BBQ sauce
- 1/2 cup water (more as needed)
For Serving
- Hamburger buns
- Pickles or lettuce, if you want
Instructions
- Brown the Beef: Heat the avocado oil in a large skillet over high heat. Brown the ground beef, leaving undisturbed for a while to get extra browned bits. Cook until no longer pink and break it apart into very small pieces with a spatula.
- Reduce Oil in the Pan: If you want to reduce the oil, tip the pan to the side to absorb some of the oil with a paper towel (this is optional).
- Add Spices: Add onion powder, garlic powder, bouillon base, and salt; stir to incorporate.
- Add Sauces: Add ketchup and BBQ sauce; stir to coat everything. Add water a little bit at a time until it becomes a thick, glossy, meaty sauce. Bring to a low simmer and so it’s nice and bubbly and warm.
- Optional Simmer: The meat mixture is ready to go right away. But if you don’t need to serve it right away, I like to let it simmer over low heat for 1-2 hours, or place in a slow cooker on low for 2-4 hours. The color will deepen and the sauce will concentrate and caramelize a bit around the edges.
- Serve: Serve Sloppy Joe mixture on softened burger buns! We recently topped ours with pickled jalapenos and it was delicious.
- Prep Time: 0 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: sloppy joe's, sloppy joe sandwiches, easy dinner, kid-friendly dinner