These Healthy Sloppy Joes are made with lean ground beef and hidden veggies. This is a healthy and flavorful take on the classic sandwich.
These Healthy Sloppy Joes are weeknight meal perfection. A one-pan meal that is family friendly, filling, and comforting. What more can you ask for?
How to make sloppy Joes healthy
Here’s what I did to make this dish better for us:
- Use lean ground beef or ground turkey.
- Add lots of veggies. This recipe has nearly three cups of finely chopped vegetables in it. I use carrots, celery, onion, and bell pepper. The vegetables cook down into the meat and sauce and you hardly even realize that they’re there.
- Making the sloppy Joe sauce from scratch allows us to control the amount of added sugar and sodium.
What you’ll love about this recipe:
Quick: Less than an hour from start to finish
Easy: Everything cooks in the same pan.
Versatile: Serve this sloppy Joe meat in buns, baked potatoes, or even on its own.
Flavorful: You’ll love the sweet, tangy, savory flavors of this dish.
Leftovers: If you have any meat leftover it reheats wonderfully.
How to serve sloppy Joes
Sloppy Joes are typically served on a soft bun. In an effort to keep this meal lighter I often serve it “open face” on only half of a bun (and eat it with a knife and fork). You can also add the meat into a baked russet potato or baked sweet potato, or just eat it on its own.
Toppings for sloppy joes
My favorite toppings for sloppy Joes are grated pepper jack cheese and pickles. Feel free to top the meat with any cheese that you like. Jalapenos, pickled peppers, or chopped giardiniera are delicious options as well.
You might also like: Healthy Lunch Ideas
More dinner ideas
PIZZA SLOPPY JOES
CHEESEBURGER SLOPPY JOES
LASAGNA SOUP
FRENCH DIP SANDIWCHES (SLOW COOKER OR INSTANT POT)
Recipe
Healthy Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- ½ cup finely chopped carrots
- ½ cup finely chopped celery
- ½ cup finely chopped green bell pepper
- ½ cup finely chopped red bell pepper
- ½ cup finely chopped yellow or red onion
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar, packed
- 3 teaspoons red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 ¼ cups tomato sauce
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ½ cup low sodium beef broth (preferred) or water
- buns or baked potatoes (optional), for serving
Instructions
- In a large saucepan or skillet, saute ground beef in 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat, breaking it up as it cooks. Once the meat has browned, add the carrots, celery, bell peppers, onion, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are beginning to soften, about 5-8 minutes. If the mixture seems dry at any point you can add another drizzle of olive oil.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute or two, stirring occasionally.
- Add brown sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, ketchup, and beef broth to the meat and vegetable mixture. Stir to combine. Simmer over medium-low heat, partially covered, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes until the vegetables are tender. If the sauce gets too thick you can add another splash of beef broth and/or water. If the sauce is thinner than you like you can simmer it uncovered and the extra liquid should cook off.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper. Scoop the sloppy Joes into split buns or baked potatoes and serve.
Notes
- You can add ¾ teaspoon smoked paprika into the meat mixture.
- If you have the extra time you can add a roasted poblano pepper into the meat mixture. Roast a poblano pepper, remove the skin and seeds, chop it and stir it in along with the sauce ingredients.
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!Recipe updated January 2021. This recipe tastes like the previous version. I increased the quantities of the ingredients to make a slightly larger serving size, as my family was always wishing we had a bit more. This recipe can feed six people with moderate portions or four with large portions
Earl
I made this tonight and I used the 2 table spoons of brown sugar instead of just 1 and it was too sweet, next time I’ll use just 1. However, this tasted almost like the McCormack mix that you add tomato sauce too. I would like something that you can taste the beef more rather than all the tomato sauce.
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Earl. Yes, traditional Sloppy Joes get their distinct flavor from a sweet and tangy tomato sauce, which is what this recipe uses. If you’d prefer something with less tomato flavor, you can try my Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes Enjoy!
McKenzie
This has been on a solid rotation at our house for about a year now! We love it and my kids eat it up like crazy!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
DeeDee
Used your recipe with venison (had added very light italian seasonings as we ground the venison into “burger”) and it was fantastic! We left out the beef broth and celery and could have reduced the brown sugar by a teaspoon or two (of the 2 T) – but this is officially saved for all future sloppy joe needs. Thanks for the great and healthy recipe!
Allison
You’re welcome! I’m happy to hear that you enjoyed it.
Johanne
so delicious I had company for dinner the kids and the adults loved it so much they wanted the recipe.
Allison
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Gina
Love the extra veggies in this recipe – one of my favorite throw together dinners made even better!
Taryn
These tasted like the sloppy joes my mom made when I was growing up. Definite comfort food and delicious!
Olga
Made it last night. Love all the vegetables! The whole family enjoyed it!
Note: I did not have ketchup and used bbq sauce instead.
Allison
That sounds great! Glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
Amy
What size is the serving ???
Allison
1/6th of the recipe.
Jamie
Love this recipe so much! Hard to find GF DF food that my son will eat. The hubby and I are obsessed as well.
HM
This is one of those recipes where the first time you try it, you just know it’s going to be in your dinner rotation for years to come. Such a good idea especially for weeknights!
Allison
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for stopping by.