Enjoy the best of both worlds with grilled cheese sloppy joes, the ultimate comfort food sandwich made with ground beef, homemade sauce, and melted cheese.
Grilled cheese has to be one of the most comforting of all comfort foods, besides maybe macaroni and cheese. Combine grilled cheese with sloppy joes, though, and you’ve got the ultimate comfort food.
My kids love a good grilled cheese sandwich. I mean, who doesn’t? Especially when the weather starts to turn cold, it’s one of our favorite go to lunch ideas.
I love a little bit of meat on my grilled cheese too, whether it’s ham, turkey, or sloppy joe meat. It just adds a real oomph to the whole sandwich.
This grilled cheese recipe is an easy meal you can throw together in no time, especially if you’ve already made the homemade sloppy joes ahead of time. Did you know that you can make slow cooker sloppy joes?
Pair it up with a batch of homemade steak fries, and you’ve got a meal the whole family will love time and time again.
If you love this easy sloppy joe recipe, you may also enjoy Philly cheesesteak sloppy joes.
WHERE CAN I FIND THE GRILLED CHEESE SLOPPY JOE RECIPE?
If you’d rather skip all of my cooking tips, important cooking info for this recipe, and similar recipe ideas – and get straight to the delicious recipe for grilled cheese sloppy joes – just scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find a printable recipe card.
WHAT EXACTLY ARE GRILLED CHEESE SLOPPY JOES?
If you’ve never had sloppy joes, they’re a sort of loose meat sandwich made with loose ground beef that’s mixed with a tomato based sauce. The sauce usually has ingredients like ketchup or tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sometimes a little mustard, and other tasty ingredients.
Grilled cheese sloppy joes are exactly what they sound like. A loose meat sandwich with melted cheese, grilled between two slices of buttered bread.
DO I HAVE TO USE GROUND BEEF?
Nope. While I prefer to use ground beef, you can also make a good sloppy joe sandwich with ground pork or ground turkey.
TIPS FOR HOW TO MAKE SLOPPY JOES
I recommend using bacon grease for added flavor to the meat mixture (maybe even for grilling the sandwiches, but we’ll get to that in a minute). However, no worries if you don’t have bacon grease; you can also use butter or olive oil.
Be sure to mince up the garlic and onion really well. I like mincing them up so they blend well with the meat and the sauce.
Start by sautéing the garlic and onion in a large skillet. Then add the meat and mix together with the garlic and onion, cooking the mixture well.
Be sure to drain off any excess oil when the meat has finished cooking.
Once you add the sauce ingredients, just let the whole mixture simmer for a good 5 minutes.
TIPS FOR HOW TO CREATE SLOPPY JOE GRILLED CHEESE
Meanwhile, while the juicy burger meat is simmering, prep your bread and cheese.
Butter the outside of 2 slices of bread, a set of slices for each person you’re feeding. You can even brush on a bit of bacon grease, or you can add a little bacon grease to the griddle for frying.
TYPES OF CHEESE YOU MAY WANT TO USE FOR GRILLED CHEESE:
- American
- Cheddar
- Smoked Cheddar
- Pepper Jack
- Smoked Gouda
- Gruyeré
- Swiss
Honestly, the list could go on and on. In fact, The Daily Meal has a list of the 11 best cheeses for a grilled cheese sandwich.
PUT YOUR GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH TOGETHER
Once the sloppy joe meat has finished cooking, add the desired amount of meat to each sandwich, along with 2 or 3 slices of each person’s favorite cheese.
Slap the cover on your sandwich, and fry it in a skillet or on a griddle until each side is golden and the cheese has melted. Turning the sandwich with loose hamburger meat can be tricky, but a little easier if you use a wider spatula.
You can even sprinkle a little bit of fresh basil on each sandwich once they’re fully cooked. Yum!
MORE SLOPPY JOE RECIPES YOU MAY ENJOY:
25+ Sloppy Joe Recipes for Dinner Tonight
KITCHEN TOOLS YOU MAY NEED TO MAKE SLOPPY JOES
Skillet and Griddle – We love using our cast iron skillets for pretty much everything both at home and while camping; they are very much a part of our camping cooking gear on every trip.
Hamburger Chopper – This handy dandy tool makes it easier to chop up the meat into a much looser mixture.
Ninja Food Chopper Express or Cutting Board and Chef’s Knife
GRILLED CHEESE SLOPPY JOE RECIPE
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Grilled Cheese Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon bacon grease (or olive oil)
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/2 medium yellow onion minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons salted butter softened
- 8 slices bread
- 8 slices cheese
Instructions
- Heat the bacon grease, or olive oil, in a large skillet over medium heat 'til hot.
- Sauté the garlic in the bacon grease for 1-2 minutes.
- Stir the onion in with the garlic and sauté for another 2-3 minutes.
- Add the ground beef into the skillet, stirring the onions and garlic into the meat. Cook on medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the meat is well cooked. Be sure to drain off any excess oil when the meat has finished cooking.
- Mix the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar into the meat, stirring until combined.
- Let the sloppy joe mixture simmer over low to medium heat for at least 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prep your bread and cheese. Butter the outside of 2 slices of bread, and repeat with a set of slices for each person you’re feeding.
- Once the sloppy joe meat is finished cooking, add the desired amount of meat to each sandwich.
- Then add 2 or 3 slices of each person’s favorite cheese.
- Slap the cover on your sandwich, and fry it in a skillet or on a griddle over low heat 'til each side is golden and the cheese has melted, probably about 5-10 minutes.
- Once your sandwiches are grilled, they're ready to serve with your favorite side!
A family favorite at our house!
This has gone into regular rotation ay our house. We love these sandwiches! I double the sauce and add a tablespoon of Dijon. Otherwise wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you!
made this for dinner tonight. used low sodium Worcestershire sauce, no salt added ketchup, and 2 kinds of cheese (my mom has to watch her sodium). We doubled the sauce part of the recipe and it was delicious. Even my picky grandfather chowed on it :)
Stacy, awesome! I’m so glad y’all enjoyed it. Thank you!