How to make delicious Crock Pot sloppy joes with simple ingredients. Easy comfort food recipe that you can make in a large batch to feed a crowd, or at home as the ultimate weeknight dinner the whole family will love.
We make a lot of homemade sloppy joes. It’s just an easy way to get something hearty and somewhat nutritious on the table on even the busiest of days. That said, lately I’ve been making them in the CrockPot instead of on the stovetop, and let me tell you, these Crock Pot sloppy joes are easily a new family favorite meal for an easy weeknight dinner!
The best way to eat this classic comfort food is on a hamburger bun or between two slices of bread with a little bit of mayonnaise. You can also make grilled cheese sloppy joes, cheesy sloppy joe shepherd’s pie, pepperoni pizza sloppy joes, taco sloppy joes and sloppy joe stuffed peppers.
Why You’ll Love Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
- This classic comfort food is so easy to make in the slow cooker, and it makes a simple, budget-friendly dinner that the whole family will love!
- Slow cooker sloppy joes are absolutely delicious, using loose ground beef mixed with a sweet and tangy sauce from scratch, which is way better than the canned sauce from the store.
- Because they cook for a longer period of time, slow cooker sloppy joes have so much more flavor than stovetop sloppy joes. That said, I’ll also include instructions for how to make your sloppy joes on the stovetop if you’re in a hurry.
- Crock Pot sloppy joes are a perfect make-ahead recipe to feed a crowd. Serve them up at a 4th of July party, church potluck, family get-together, or any other large gathering!
Ingredients & Substitutions Notes
This is an easy recipe with simple ingredients. You may already have everything you need on hand…
- Ground Beef – I prefer something like a 90/10 ground beef for the best sloppy joes. Any raw ground beef will work, but a lean ground beef will create way less grease to be drained off later.
- Minced Veggies – I always add a little bit of minced celery, yellow or white onion, and green bell pepper to my sloppy joe meat for an added boost in flavor.
- Sauce & Seasonings – I always make a homemade sloppy joe sauce. Usually this is a mixture of ketchup, barbecue sauce and a little bit of tangy tomato sauce. Then I’ll add a splash of Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, a pinch of mustard powder and brown sugar to the sauce mixture. Then salt and pepper to taste!
- Hamburger Buns – Classic sloppy joes are best served on hamburger buns, but we often just use plain sandwich bread in a pinch. If you’re making this for a party, go ahead and grab some hamburger buns; but if you’re making it at home, just use whatever you’ve got on hand.
How to Make Sloppy Joes in the Crock Pot
Before getting started, get your slow cooker out and ready to go. You’ll also want to use a large knife to mince up the veggies. If you’re using frozen meat, be sure to get it out ahead of time so that it can thaw in the refrigerator.
How to Cook the Ground Beef
- In a large skillet over medium-low heat on the stove top, cook the ground beef, celery, onions and green pepper ’til the beef is no longer pink but well-browned, and ’til the veggies are soft and translucent.
- Next, drain the grease out if necessary. The best way that I have found to do this is to scrape the meat all to one side of the pan, and then slightly tilt the pan downwards away from the meat, soaking up any excess grease with a paper towel.
At this point, you can add the rest of the ingredients to your skillet and make stovetop sloppy joes. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat for another 15-30 minutes, or ’til heated through. All that said, I prefer the slow cooker method below…
How to Make Sloppy Joes in the Slow Cooker
- Once your meat mixture is fully cooked, go ahead and add it to the CrockPot along with the ketchup, bbq sauce, tomato sauce, brown sugar, mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir to combine with a wooden spoon, and cook on low for about 2-3 hours, or ’til heated through.
Once your sloppy joe mixture is heated through, serve and enjoy on your favorite hamburger buns or between two slices of bread lathered in Mayo. My kids sometimes eat their sloppy joes on a bed of tortilla chips or even wrapped up in a flour tortilla instead. It makes a great meal, and it’s the perfect busy weeknight dinner!
What to Serve with CrockPot Sloppy Joes
Here are a few ideas as to what you can serve with your sloppy joes…
- For the sake of ease, we most often pair our sloppy joes with a side of potato chips. But sometimes we’ll serve them up with a bed of tortilla chips and bowl of fresh tomato salsa, or even this yummy mango peach salsa.
- You can also serve up some of this chili cheese dip, creamy BBQ chicken dip or even this bacon cheddar BBQ ranch dip to go along with your chips. They’re all so easy to make!
- My kids love these crispy seasoned steak fries, and these loaded chili cheese fries would go really great with sloppy joes!
- If you’re making your sloppy joes for a party or other special event, they’d go great with a fun mashed potato bar or even a baked potato bar.
- Add a little variety to the menu by serving your sloppy joes up alongside these Philly cheesesteak sliders.
- Of course, anything pairs well with corn on the cob. Take things a step further with my favorite Mexican corn on the cob recipe!
- Last but not least, these CrockPot sloppy joes would go great with a big batch of CrockPot baked beans.
- This creamy layered salad is the perfect side dish for this delicious homemade slow cooker recipe. You could also try this broccoli salad with bacon and cauliflower, or even this dill veggie finger salad.
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ’s
The main difference is that sloppy Joes use ground beef, while as sloppy Janes use lean ground turkey. Other than that, they’re mostly the same!
I recommend storing your leftover sloppy joes in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Stored this way, they should last for up to 3-4 days.
Yes, you can freeze sloppy joes. Once the ground beef mixture is fully cooked, go ahead and mix all of the other ingredients in. Then transfer to an airtight container or freezer bags and into the freezer for up to 6 months.
When you’re ready to use your sloppy joe meat, go ahead and move it back to the refrigerator to thaw overnight. Then add the mixture to the slow cooker and cook as directed in the recipe card below.
More Slow Cooker Recipes
- If you looking for more easy slow cooker recipes, you’ll love this recipe for CrockPot hot dogs. In fact, hot dogs and sloppy joes would pair really well together for a party.
- This slow cooker pork roast is another delicious and nutritious dinner recipe for even the busiest of weeknights.
- My family loves a good whole chicken in the CrockPot!
- It just doesn’t get any better than CrockPot Philly Cheesesteaks for an easy dinner treat!
If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page? I always appreciate your feedback. You can also follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. And subscribe to my email list too!
Crock Pot Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 pound Ground Beef
- 2 Celery Stalks minced
- 1/3 cup Yellow or White Onion minced
- 1/3 cup Green Pepper minced
- 1/4 cup Ketchup
- 1/4 cup Barbecue Sauce
- 1 8oz. can Tomato Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Brown Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Mustard Powder
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- Sea Salt to taste
- Black Pepper to taste
- 8 Hamburger Buns optional
Instructions
- Before getting started, you'll want to use a large knife to get all the veggies minced up.
- In a large skillet over medium-low heat on the stovetop, cook the ground beef, minced celery, minced onions and minced green pepper 'til the beef is no longer pink and the veggies are soft and translucent.
- Next, drain the grease out if necessary. To do this, scrape the meat all to one side of the pan, and then slightly tilt the pan downwards away from the meat, soaking up any excess grease with a paper towel.*
- Once your meat mixture is fully cooked, add it to the CrockPot along with the ketchup, barbecue sauce, tomato sauce, brown sugar, mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.
- Stir to combine with a wooden spoon, and then cook on low for about 2-3 hours, or 'til heated through.
- Once your CrockPot sloppy joes are heated through, serve and enjoy on your favorite hamburger buns for dinner!
