Slow Cooked Sloppy Joe
Some of the best things take time, and my slow cooked sloppy joe recipe is no exception!
Well, I had to visit the dentist the other day, and my mouth is still a bit sore. So I was looking for something a bit meaty, but easy on my teeth. That’s when my “sloppy joe recipe” came to mind! I thought about some of the best Chili I’ve made, and the fact that it’s best when it cooks for a long time and all the ingredients break down and meld together in one distinguishing flavor! So I set out to make “slow cooked sloppy joe”, and I guess that you could call this my “homemade manwich”!
Ingredients you’ll need for my sloppy joe recipe:
- 2 lbs ground chuck
- 1/4 large Vidalia Onion
- 1 clove “elephant” garlic
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 3 tbsp mustard
- 2/3 cup Honey Barbecue sauce
- 1 1/2 cups Ketchup
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 3 tbsp Cumin
- 1 tbsp Chili Powder
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
Now there are two ways you can make this. One is on the stove, and the other is in slow cooker or “crockpot”. In the crockpot for 4-6 hours is admittedly best, but we don’t always have 4-6 hours (as I didn’t today). In any event, if you use the crockpot you have to cook the meat mixture on the stove first, and then transfer to the crockpot with the rest of the ingredients. In addition, if you’re going to use the crockpot for an event or large family gathering, you may want to double this recipe. A huge crockpot of sloppy joe can easily feed 20+ people.
So as I said - today I’m going to cook the sloppy joe on the stove. I drizzle a large skillet with extra virgin olive oil and then add the ground chuck and chop it up with a spatula on high heat. Let cook for 3-4 minutes, then divide the pan into 4 sections and flip the meat over. Season with the cumin, salt and pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder. Let it cook about 4 more minutes while you dice the onion and peel and grate the carrot. Yes I said “grate” the carrot. Use a fine grater that shreds about the same size as shredded cheese. When you’re done toss both the onion and the carrot in the pan and chop up the ground chuck finely in the pan grinding all the seasonings and veggies in. Another 3-4 minutes and the meat will be done. At that point you can choose to drain it or not. If you don’t care if your sloppy joe is a bit greasy - don’t bother. Else you can just place in a strainer in the sink and quickly rinse with hot water, and return to the skillet. Note - I’m not a big fan of this since it rinses some of your seasonings off.
Now open your can of chopped tomatoes and add to the pan (don’t drain) with the heat on med-high. Stir it up a bit in the meat. Now add the barbecue sauce, the ketchup, the mustard, and a bit more salt and pepper to taste if you want. Chop it up with the spatula real good, and then chop and mine your garlic clove finely. I personally love the use “elephant garlic” which is this massive clove of garlic you can get at the store almost as big as a small fist. It can “spice” things up a bit, so YOU may want either a regular garlic clove or no garlic at all. Once it’s minced add it to the pan and the meat mixture should be bubbling pretty good. The last “touch” is to drizzle the top of the mixture just about (like 3-4 tsp) with A1 Steak sauce if you have it handy. Sweeeet! So - now turn the heat down to med-low and tightly cover. For cooking on the stove like this I highly recommend cooking at least an hour like this covered. The mixture gets really thick and the carrots and onion and garlic break down and meld with the meat as one!
My secret is - these sloppy joes taste great at the one-hour point. But what “I” do is at about the 45 minute mark I peel a dozen large russet potatoes, and I have this great little slicer (kind of like an apple corer, but for potatoes). You just push the potato through it and it makes instant fries! Just put them on a baking sheet at 450 degrees for about 20-25 minutes (flip halfway through and salt) and you’ve got healthy fries to go with your sloppy joe. Oh - yeah, I let the sloppy joe cook a little bit longer of course until the fries are done. Serve the sloppy joe on a big kaiser or onion bun with a nice big slice of american cheese! You’ll be thankful you waited the bit of extra time it took to make these!
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I made this for company camping trip. It was gone before anything else and I recieved several positive comments and requests for the recipe! Very easy to make and VERY tasty!!!