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This is a simple dinner idea. Sloppy Joes Recipe has only 3 ingredients and there are no excuses to not try this family friendly dinner idea that everyone will love.
This 3 ingredient Sloppy Joe recipe taste so much better than the can sloppy joe mix. The best part it is so easy to make and delicious too. You probably already have most of the ingredients to make this easy stovetop recipe for the best sloppy joe recipe.
My family loves this meal. We will often plan on eating this for lunch on the weekend. It is so easy to put together and we have a homecooked meal for lunch in between our basketball games.
Table of Contents
Why This Recipe Works
In under 30 minutes, you can have this quick, easy classic dinner idea that your family will love. You can probably cook this in 20 minutes. The sloppy joe mixture is really easy to modify for what you have on hand and so versatile.
We have even added a tiny bit of Worcestershire sauce and garlic powder to the ground beef mixture. You can try using chili powder, red pepper flakes, bbq sauce, olive oil or whatever you prefer.
It really is such a great recipe and we all love sloppy joe meat. It never gets old and we enjoy this recipe so much. Try toasted buns next time to make a delicious sandwich. It is really good!
Ingredients
Besides ground beef, you only need three ingredients to make this delicious Sloppy Joes recipe.
- Yellow Mustard
- Ketchup or tomato sauce
- Brown Sugar
Yep! That is all you need to make a fast sloppy joes for your family. What makes it even better is one of my kids does not like the traditional sloppy joes, but loves this recipe!
Once you make this, you won’t ever buy that store bought stuff again. This has so much more flavor than the canned sloppy joes. For the full recipe, scroll to see recipe card.
How to Make Sloppy Joes
- Step 1 – Brown the ground beef in a large skillet on medium heat until no longer pink. You can use ground turkey too. Once browned, drain the excess grease from the beef. I like to season with salt and pepper while the beef is cooking.
- Step 2 – Add in brown sugar, mustard, and ketchup. Stir to combine.
- Step 3 – Reduce the heat and allow the meat mixture to simmer on low for about 5 minutes to combine the flavors.
- Step 4 – Serve on hamburger buns and with your favorite sides.
Recipe Tips
- Make Ahead – The prep time is very easy on this recipe, but you can prepare ahead of to save even more time.
- Ground Beef – Before mixing in the sauces makes sure to drain the meat to remove any grease.
- Simmer – Allow the mixture to simmer on low to combine the ingredients.
Can I Double The Recipe?
Yes, this is a great recipe to make a double or triple batch and freeze the left overs. It does not take anymore work to make extra. We love to cook once and eat twice or more. This is such a huge help during busy weeks.
It really isn’t any extra work to double the recipe and you have a super easy dinner for another night. I try to do this as much as possible and keep a few quick meals in the freezer.
Serving Suggestions
Here are a few of my favorite side dishes for sloppy joes.
- Easy Homemade French Fries Recipe
- Deep Fried Pickles
- Baked Mac and Cheese Recipe
- Check out our full post on What to Serve with Sloppy Joes
- Top a baked potato for a complete meal idea.
- Potato Chips
It’s really good served with Grilled Corn on the Cob and Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries. These are both so easy and really delicious side dishes. Just keep it simple. This meal can easily be ready with hardly any work at all.
Try adding green bell pepper or onion to the ground beef while cooking. Onion and green pepper really give it an amazing flavor.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store the leftovers in an airtight container and place in the fridge. Leftovers will stay great for up to 4 days.
You can freeze the sloppy joe sauce in a freezer bag. We also like to freeze them in silicone cupcake pans, Then pop them out and place in a freezer bag. Now you can have a lunch or dinner for 1 in no time. This is such an easy dinner idea, but when you freeze them it makes it an even faster dinner idea.
When you are ready to reheat, place in a crockpot or in a pan for an even faster dinner idea. Try sloppy joe recipe slow cooker version and come home to dinner ready to enjoy. This is great for reheating what you put in the freezer and makes dinner so simple. If you have a smaller portion, just thaw in the fridge overnight and then reheat in the microwave.
Try these other Sloppy Joes
- Quick and Easy BBQ Sloppy Joes Recipe
- Big Mac Sloppy Joes Recipe
- Ultimate Sloppy Joes
- Homemade Sloppy Joes
- Easy Crock Pot Sloppy Joes Recipe
- Bacon Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes Recipe
- Easy Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes
- easy Buffalo Chicken Sloppy Joes recipe
We love to hear from you. If you make this homemade sloppy joe sauce recipe, please leave us a comment or star review.
Sloppy Joes Recipe
Equipment
- 1 skillet
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/8 cup brown sugar
- 1/8 cup mustard
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- hamburger buns
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef in a skillet.
- Once browned, drain.
- Add in brown sugar, mustard, and ketchup. Stir to combine.
- Allow it to simmer on low for about 5 minutes to combine the flavors.
- Serve on buns and with your favorite sides.
I love that!
I love this recipe. It is so quick and easy. I can’t do the can mix to tangy. Enough for 3 people to enjoy.
I use this recipe tonight and made sloppy joe pockets with canned pastry dough. These turned out amazing. Will definitely be my new go to for sloppy joes
I replaced the beef with plant based meat and it was delicious! I also added some onions and cheese. Definitely will make again.
Super easy tks
Thank you!
Delicious! And EASY ?
Perfect taste and consistency. Will definitely make this again!
It’s so easy, and it tastes wonderful! I’ve had this pinned for years and it is the only way I’ll make sloppy Joe’s??
I hope they love it! My family doesn’t love canned sloppy joes but they love my homemade sloppy joes recipe!
Gonna try sloppy joe tonite.My family use to not like this.hope they will like this recipe
I usually use light but either will work in this recipe.
Need to use a little less mustard, next time. Otherwise easy and good tasting.
Brown Sugar…Light or Dark?
Thanks for sharing – I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing.
We love this recipe. We add a little hot sauce for some heat. Having it again tonight!
Haven’t had sloppy joes in years this was so simple to prepare, I couldn’t resist. My grandson asked me when we can have them again. Completely delicious.
I forgot to rate it my parents really loved it (BTW I’m 11 and this was easy to follow and not a lot of ingredients) *my old post was below*??
This was super good. I made it for my parents and they went crazy for it. I will probably try this again but I’m not sure but this deserves 5 stars. I will definitely recommend this to people who aren’t sure about making it
So glad it was a hit! Thank you for commenting and leaving a review!
Super easy delicious meal made in minutes. I substituted brown sugar for coconut and used yellow mustard (didn’t have brown mustard). Came out yummy. My family requests this once a week. Thank you!!!
I haven’t tried that yet so I’m not sure but it sounds delicious! If you try it out, please let me know how it turns out. Thanks!
Could you add corned beef to this recipe, I used to make sloppy joes with corned beef and all your spices with a little extra flour and ground cumin . Just curious. Served with bread n butter pickles, on buns.
Thank you, thank you for sharing! Perfect!
I’ms so glad you love it.
I’m so glad you loved it too!
Thank you for sharing your recipe. Now my husband no longer wants to buy manwich. Since he has gout from time to time I use ground turkey instead and add minced garlic and some Worcestershire.
Shockingly good for just three ingredients — I’ve made sloppy Joes with a dozen or more! I might add some chopped carrots next time to sneak in a vegetable.
Just one thought — many recipe sites now have a print button which provides a page that’s easy to copy and paste, and also a link at the top to jump to the recipe. That makes things easier and it’s more likely I’ll follow and subscribe when those are there.
Thanks for a great shortcut recipe!
ETA You do have a jump to recipe button! On my device it puts the recipe over to the far right and is tough to see but thanks!
Shockingly good for just three ingredients — I’ve made sloppy Joes with a dozen or more! I might add some chopped carrots next time to sneak in a vegetable.
Just one thought — many recipe sites now have a print button which provides a page that’s easy to copy and paste, and also a link at the top to jump to the recipe. That makes things easier and it’s more likely I’ll follow and subscribe when those are there.
Thanks for a great shortcut recipe!
This is just what I was looking for, sometimes simple is best! I doubt that many kids would reject this.
I just slightly modified this recipe for adult tastes by frying the meat in a tbsp of butter along with a 1/4 cup of finely diced red, green peppers and onion total. Drained off the majority of grease before adding the ketchup, mustard and sugar. Delicious and so easy!
I’m so glad you love it! We love it. Simple and delicious.
This is, by far, the BEST sloppy joe recipe I’ve ever had! I fixed this tonight and my husband said it was better than any store bought sauce. I completely agree! I haven’t ever been a big fan of canned sloppy joe sauce. There’s always been something I didn’t quite like. But I haven’t figured it out yet. Now, I don’t have to. I’m a complete convert to this is the ONLY sauce I’ll fix when we’re wanting sloppy joes. Thanks for such an incredible recipe!
Might try with less mustard next time. Thanks for the recipe!
Excited to try this sloppy Joe recipe… Forever since I made this…
Pretty tasty basic it’s if room to play and make it your own or just leave it as is . My kids and I enjoyed it tho.
Fantastic easy recipe!
Quick and easy meal to make and tasted awesome!
Nice simple and quick recipe that is easy to tweak to make it your own or leave as is. Easy to reheat for leftovers.
My husband and I have always used Manwich or other brands of sauces for our sloppy joes, but we ran across this recipe and gave it a try. Outstanding. We will never go back to the other ways again .
Thanks for sharing!
All kids and adults loved this! Even the one that doesn’t like mustard.
Worked well but changed it up
Used ground venison and smoked it for a few hours and then added the said amount of brown sugar, mustard and ketchup for 2 pounds and smoked for another 45 mins. Prefect!
Easy to make I only needed the sauce it’s tasty I hate mustard but it’s so good ?
Just made this and added diced onion! Delicious!
I made this twice The first time I made it according to the recipe and the second time I added a few things, like onions and Worcestershire sauce salt and pepper, and a little bit of lemon juice and red pepper flakes and it was a lot better. My husband thought the first time was just like a sweet crumbled-up hamburger and the kids thought it was ok but liked my version better, but thanks for posting it I will stick to mine though. Have a great day.
Now THIS is a good recipe. I have seen recipes with carrots and all sorts of other things added. That is not necessary.
These are great as is, but I like to add a little chopped onion, garlic powder and salt & pepper.
Flavor was great, but consistency was dry. Added some canned tomato sauce and simmered to reduce. Turned out great.
I used a 6 quart crock pot for this recipe. I don’t think that this recipe would work in a 2 quart slow cooker but it might work in a 4 quart one.
What size slow cooker did you use?I want to make this 4 ingredient sloppy joe but I only have a 2 quart slow cooker.
Thank you. You saved me with recipe to fill a quick last minute grandchild’s request, I just needed to make a little more of your sauce and added a tablespoon of sweet pickle relish. So good! Thank you again!
I made this for supper tonight and it was excellent,,,,
I’m so glad you enjoyed it – Thank you!
Absolutely great little recipe for some left over ground beef. Made it as stated with a brioche bun. Yummy! Thanks for a winner.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it – Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!
I made this tonight and it was a show stopper. I used ground turkey and instead of mustard I used honey mustard and didn’t have to add brown sugar. I also added onions to it. This will be added to my rotation of good quick and easy meals. Thanks so much for posting this recipe it made my dinner seem so effortless and delicious.
Truthfully, I’m not really a “sloppy joe” person. However, I had some ground beef and some hamburger buns I needed to use, so I made this recipe. It was SO GOOD.
Our family’s go to football watching food with the toasted buns. On the menu for TH Game on Super Sunday.
another family favorite.
I was looking for a quick and easy sloppy joe recipe and was so happy to find this one. I made them for a family get together and they were a huge hit! My nephew ate three of them! This is now my go-to recipe. I have made them with finely diced peppers and onions, and without. Still delicious! Thank you for sharing!
You’re welcome!
So easy and delicious!! It’s like my grandma used to make! Thank you!!
That sounds delicious!
We use ground chuck and Sweet Baby Rays bbq sauce and is great.
Great ideas – Thank you!
I add onion, garlic and a splash of vinegar and worchershire sauce to the ingredients you listed. My mom never bought the canned sloppy joes and neither do I.
I’ve been wanting to make this recipe for about two months, but my husband doesn’t like sloppy joes. I finally decided to make it for myself and he decided to try it. My two adjustments were that I added 1/4 cup diced onions to the browning meat (as I had them in the freezer from another recipe) and finely shredded cheese on top (also already had from another recipe). I opted for sweet Hawaiian slider rolls (not tiny, but about 2/3 the size of a regular bun at the grocery store). The combination was perfect, just a little extra sweetness and very soft to go with it. My husband LOVED it! Said it’s not like other sloppy joes he doesn’t like and, since I have buns, I’m making it again for lunch tomorrow. He’s happy about that, since he polished most of it off. Fabulous recipe and one of the easiest I’ve seen with ingredients most of us already have. My only side was dill pickle spears already in the fridge. Thanks, Carrie!
Recipe was a real lifesaver thank you Carrie!
Oh my gosh I am SOO incredibly glad I found this recipe tonight!! I was surfing Pinterest trying to figure out a simple, quick recipe to use for ground beef, after a long day at work, stumbled across this one, and decided to give it a try. And IT IS SOOO INSANELY GOOD!!! I made it exactly as it is in the recipe (other than adding a slice of cheese) and it was so easy, and so perfect, I know I will make this time and time again!!
My son is a picky eater so we started going through pinterest pictures bases on what i had shopped for or was in my freezer. I had ground beef so I left him look through the pictures for something he thought he would like to try/looked good. He picked this recipe. I made it tonight and he really liked it. He loves ketchup and smelled it right away. I’ll make this again and slowly add in more veggies like onions and bellpeppers and maybe even sneak in some shredded carrot while adding less and less sugar. I loved sloppy joes as a kid but as an adult the can stuff scares me. Thanks for the mom win and feelings of nostalgia.
We loved these! ? When my husband chooses not to eat potato chips with a “burger” because it would take away from the taste of the Sloppy Joe, I know I have found a WI NNER!!!! He also told me I had found a KEEPER with this recipe. The only changes I made was I I halved the recipe and sauted 1/4 c. diced, yellow onion and 1/4 c. diced green pepper before adding the ground beef to the skillet. I also sprinkled between 1/4 and 1/2 tsp. celery salt into the ground meat as it was browning. I just halved the amount of mustard and catsup. ????
does anyone know how many serving this recipe is, I’m tempting to make this tonight 🙂
This is my favorite recipe for Sloppy Joe’s!
Can you use ground turkey instead of ground beef
I made this recipe tonight for dinner it was really easy my husband loves sloppy joe! But I’m not a big fan of a can or homemade. This recipe didn’t seem to make up a lot my husband liked it I did not but great recipes for quick dinner!
Can you give me an idea of how many this recipe will serve?
made this for years but used tomato soup instead of ketchup
What a great recipe. I had left over meat from taco night and this was a great, easy, fun recipe. Everything I already had in my Kitchen. Thumbs up.
Yes yellow mustard Sue, but you could probably try any kind for a slightly different flavor. 🙂
Just wanted to make sure, yellow mustard right?
That is awesome Jess!
Sved my butt today with this recipe and it was awesome 🙂
Oh that is a great idea! 🙂
This is a great recipe. I have been using this for years. My mother taught me this one while I was still in school. The only difference is a teaspoon of pickle relish for ours.
Thanks Janice – We have done sauted onions too and love it!
I’m so glad you liked them. We love this easy recipe.
These were excellent!
It’s a great place to start. We decided at the last minute to leave out the sugar add chopped green onions that we needed to use. Worked out beautifully. Next time we’ll use a tiny bit of garlic instead of the onions.
Have made sloppy joes this way for over 50 years. This is the way my mom made it. Like any recipe, this can be altered and ingredients added. Try sauteing onions with ground beef. Green peppers are also good. But just making the basic recipe is what I use most of the time!
Wouldn’t let me rate this over three stars……..why is this
made this tonight for dinner, was so easy. added chopped onion and green peppers to the ground beef. Much better then any can mix.
These were delicious, just like my mom used to make! My fiancé loved them! The only thing I added was a drizzle of honey bbq sauce.
My husband and I both agree this is the best sloppy joe recipe we have ever made! Yum!
This is how I’ve been making my sloppy joes for years. Everyone loves it every time I make it. =)