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This easy sloppy joe recipe is a bit different than your traditional sweet homemade sloppy joes! I’ve turned them into chili sloppy joes and they couldn’t be tastier!
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It’s entirely possible that I have a problem.
You see, I am straight up obsessed with chili. Not the hours long homemade version with 3 million different spices. I mean, that’s good. I like it, don’t get me wrong.
It’s just that most days around here are busy and I’m on the computer writing about food or in my studio photographing food all day long, so the last thing I want to do at night is turn around and cook another intricate dinner.
I’m about to admit something: My favorite chili is the kind that comes from the little spice packet.
A pound of beef, a couple cans of tomato sauce, and a packet of seasoning. We don’t add beans or diced tomatoes or anything else. It’s just beef, seasoning, and sauce.
It literally takes 20 minutes to make and my whole family absolutely loves it. We usually serve it with a bunch of crackers or a grilled cheese sandwich, but I just so happened to be out of bread and out of crackers the last time a chili craving hit. All I had were hamburger buns.
Hi. I made homemade sloppy joes. But I chili-fied them.
This is kinda like a chili dog, minus the dog, on a hamburger bun. But better. Seriously better.
My kids absolutely loved this twist on sloppy joes and talk about an easy homemade sloppy joe sauce.
This easy sloppy joe recipe is a fun twist on a childhood favorite!
I really like my chili with diced onions, lots of shredded cheddar, and a dollop of sour cream in it. Do you put sour cream in your chili?
It’s divine.
I didn’t add any sour cream to my sandwiches here, but I’m kind of regretting it. Obviously, I’m going to have make these again and try them with a smear of sour cream on the top bun. Like mayo on a burger. But better.
If you need an easy sloppy joe recipe that’s a bit different from the standard, I hope you’ll give this one a try.
But, if you also just want to stay true to the traditional sweet barbecue kid flavors of a sloppy joe, I’ve got you covered there too. Check out my sloppy joe stuffed peppers, sloppy joe cornbread casserole, and my sloppy joe casserole full of tater tots. As you can see, we like sloppy joes around these parts!
If you enjoy this recipe, I hope you’ll share it with your friends on Pinterest or Facebook! 🙂
Chili Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 diced sweet onion divided
- 2 tablespoons chili seasoning mix
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 12 ounces tomato sauce
- 6 hamburger buns
- 1/2 cup shredded cheddar for topping
Instructions
- Add the ground beef to a large skillet and cook over medium heat, crumbling as it cooks.
- Add half of the diced onion when the meat is nearly cooked through and continue cooking until meat is no longer pink and onions are soft.
- Drain grease from the skillet and add the chili seasoning and brown sugar. Stir to coat the meat.
- Stir in the tomato sauce. Continue cooking, stirring often, for 5 minutes.
- Spoon the meat onto the hamburger buns and top with the shredded cheese and remaining diced onions, as desired.
Karen Pawelko says
Love chili and I do onions, cheese and sour cream. I tend to like a little elbow macaroni in mine and because hubby says real chili does not have noodles I take what I want from the pot and add noodles. I don’t do the noodles everytime we have chili though. I will try this sloppy joe.
Karly says
I like it with macaroni in mine as well! 🙂
Sabrina says
haven’t made sloppy joes in years, but saw this beauty on your page and had to open it up, the tomato sauce in the traditional recipes are usually too acidic for me, but with chili, a different story, I just skip the tomatoes, so thank you for this recipe!
Darla says
Can u share what brand prepackaged chili mix u use? I would love to try it!! This looks awesome!!
Karly says
I love McCormick’s chili mix. I get the original one in the little packet.
Amy @Belly Full says
There used to be a time when my kids didn’t like sloppy joes…because they were “too messy” Like WHAT? Ya, kids. That’s why they’re called sloppy joes. And what kid doesn’t like to make a mess? WEIRDOS. Thank goodness they got over it and now I make them all the time. Whew. These look awesome!
Karly says
Hard to comprehend not loving a sloppy joe. 😉
Judy says
The meat mixture is also yummy over cooked pasta~whatever kind you have in the pantry and topped with grated cheese.
Tricia @ Saving Room for Dessert says
Easy and delicious works for us too! These sounds great. Hope you enjoyed your holidays 🙂
Laura says
This sounds and looks amazing. And so quick and easy too!
Sally Wiese says
You can’t make Sloppy Joes without celery. You must have lots of celery. I even put in some bell peppers. But , while I do agree with some of
the ingredients you use, I add about 1/4 cup of vinegar. It kinda’ takes away the sweetness. And a funny thing that I found out works: make it a day ahead and refrigerate overnight. The difference in taste is uncanny.
Karly says
These aren’t traditional sloppy joes, so they won’t be sweet. I’ve added bell peppers before, but never tried celery. 🙂
Shirley Hurt says
Just made this,OMG it is so good! I didn’t read the ingredient list right & used chili powder, it still tasted amazing!
Karly says
Yay! Glad you enjoyed these!
DELORES MCKINNEY says
I LOVE SLENDER RECIPES AND FREE STUFF. THANK YOU