Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese sandwich with sloppy joe filling on small plate.

The ultimate mash-up of two classics - sloppy joes and grilled cheese!

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 30

Total Time 40

Servings sandwiches

Calories 727kcal

Author Karly Campbell

Ingredients

1 recipe homemade sloppy joes see notes
12 slices sandwich bread
6 tablespoons butter softened
8-10 ounces shredded cheese see notes

Instructions

Make the sloppy joes as instructed or reheat leftovers. Start with warm sloppy joe meat or the middle of the sandwich may not heat through properly.
Heat a large skillet or griddle over medium heat.
Butter one side of each slice of bread.
Place two slices of bread, butter-side down, in the skillet and top each piece with a enough cheese to cover the bread fully. Spoon the sloppy joe mixture onto one piece of bread and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the bread is toasted and the cheese has started to melt and stick to the bread.
Place the bread with the melted cheese over the piece of bread with the sloppy joe mixture to form a sandwich and cook, flipping as needed, until cheese has fully melted and the sandwich is golden on both sides.
Repeat with remaining sandwiches, keeping cooked sandwiches warm in a 200 degree oven until ready to serve.

Notes

Sloppy Joes: Yep, if you're in a rush you can definitely use a can of sauce and call it a day. But, if you have the extra 5 minutes, I highly recommend our homemade sloppy joes. The sauce is sweet, savory, tangy - all the good things!

Leftovers: This is a great way to use up leftover sloppy joes! Be sure to warm the meat up before adding to the grilled cheese for the best results.

Cheese: This recipe originally called for shredded pepper jack cheese and that's still my favorite way to make these sandwiches. The heat + the sweet sauce is perfection. But, I've also found that this is a great way to use up the random leftover cheese in the bottom of your cheese drawer. Swap the shredded cheese for slices if you prefer. It all works great! Use as much or as little cheese as you like here. It's hard to mess this one up!

Flipping Sandwiches: You'll see that we use an unconventional method here (both slices of bread down on the pan with cheese on them) to cook a grilled cheese sandwich. We just find it's less messy/risky than making them the usual way and trying to flip the sandwich when it's full of sloppy joe mixture. You can totally make these the traditional way if you prefer.

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