Best sloppy Joe recipes from New Jersey

Any foreigner in New Jersey will have to get familiar with the words “sloppy Joe” in school menus. If you wonder what it is, a sloppy Joe is just meat sauce served on a bread roll.

The name is spot on. It is a messy thing to eat, especially on sandwich form as there is no way to prevent the sauce from spilling from the bread. Keeping clean is difficult business. Knife and fork would make eating a sloppy Joe easier.

This is the same meat sauce you could have with pasta or potatoes baked in their jacket, why is then so popular in its sloppy Joe form? No mystery there, a sloppy Joe is good to eat and convenient to prepare. Meat sauce is easy, can be made in advance to re-heat later, slice the bread and the dish is done. Skip the baking –potatoes- or boiling-pasta and that is the only risk about a sloppy Joe, it is easy to become a lazy Joe and not to cook much else. A kid old enough to use the microwave can make a sloppy Joe meal if there is meat sauce in the fridge and bread in the pantry.

We brought back some favorite sloppy Joe recipes from our time there. I got them from my Italian neighbour and the influence is clear.

Simple sloppy Joe recipe | Top

Use a simple meat and tomato sauce, just season with your favorite herbs and spices.

Ingredients

USA   1 lb    lean ground beef   2 Tbs    olive oil   1 cup    plain tomato sauce   1/2 tsp    salt   1/2 tsp    sugar   1 pinch    pepper

Metric   450 g   lean ground beef   30 ml     olive oil   250 ml     plain tomato sauce   1/2 tsp    salt   1/2 tsp    sugar   1 pinch    pepper

Procedure

1. Heat oil in a large skillet over a medium-high heat. Brown the beef.
2. Add tomato sauce, salt and pepper. cover and simmer for at least 10 minutes, ideally about 20 minutes.
3. Halve four bread rolls, place each one, opened, on a plate. Pour some meat sauce over each roll and serve.

Servings: 4 to 6   Nutrition facts Serving size: 1/5 original recipe Percent daily values based on a 2000 calorie diet. Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. Bread not included.

Amount Per Serving       Calories   304.95   Calories From Fat (70%)   222.19       % Daily Value Total Fat 24.39g   37%   Saturated Fat 8.28g   41%   Cholesterol 68.04mg   23%   Sodium 552.14 mg   23%   Potassium 401.09mg   11%   Carbohydrates 4.13g   1%   Dietary Fiber 0.78g   3%   Sugar 2.50g       Sugar Alcohols 0.00g       Net Carbohydrates 3.36g       Protein 16.71g   33%

Cooking Tips

If you don't have cooked tomato sauce, substitute the tomato sauce with 2 cups passata -sieved tomatoes with no seeds or skin, comes in jars- or 3 cups canned chopped tomatoes and increase the simmering time to 30 minutes.

You could flavor your sloppy Joe with a dash of Tabasco or Worcestershire sauce. Try herbs 1 Tbs fresh chopped herbs or 1-2 tsp dried herbs -basil, oregano, marjoram, parsley are good options. Spices? coriander or cumin go well with tomato -add 1 tsp ground cumin or 1 tsp ground coriander. Mustard or crushed garlic are also a popular addition.

Substitute palin tomato sauce with other varieties, such as tomato sauce with onions, with herbs and cheese, with mushrooms, with onions, green peppers and celery, or tomato chili sauce, just to give some ideas. Other option is condensed tomato soup.

Substitute plain tomato sauce with barbecue sauce and a little ketchup, or just with ketchup and brown sugar with no compunction. These are popular variations for sloppy Joes.

Sloppy Joe with Carrots and Mushrooms |Top

This is a slow cooking meat sauce, but this brings out more of the flavor, and, as kids love a sloppy Joe, why not take advantage and sneak some more vegetables in the sauce?

Ingredients

USA   1   large onion, chopped   1   small carrot, peeled and finely chopped   4 Tbs    olive oil   1 Tbs    fresh chopped parsley   1 level Tbs    flour or cornstarch   1 lb    lean ground beef   1¼ cup    passata   1 cup    sliced mushrooms   1½ cups    beef stock   1 tsp    salt   ½ tsp    sugar   ½ tsp    pepper

Metric   1   large onion, chopped   1   small carrot, peeled and finely chopped   60 ml    olive oil   1 Tbs    fresh chopped parsley   25 g     flour or cornstarch   450 g     lean ground beef   300 ml     passata   200 g   sliced mushrooms   400 ml     beef stock   1 tsp    salt   ½ tsp    sugar   ½ tsp    pepper

Procedure

1. Heat oil in a skillet over a medium heat. Cook onion until soft. Add carrot and parsley and cook over a low heat for about 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently.
2. Sprinkle flour over the meat. Add to the pan stirring to break lumps. Brown the meat.
3. Remove from heat. Add sliced mushrooms, passata and beef stock. Stir and season with salt, pepper and sugar.
4. Bring back to the heat, cover and simmer for 40-45 minutes or until sauce has thickened to your taste.
5. Halve bread rolls, place each one opened on a plate, pour over the warm meat sauce and serve.

Servings: 4 to 6   Nutrition facts Serving size: 1/5 original recipe Percent daily values based on a 2000 calorie diet. Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients. Bread not included.

Amount Per Serving       Calories   394.80   Calories From Fat (69%)   271.61       % Daily Value Total Fat 29.86g   46%   Saturated Fat 9.06g   45%   Cholesterol 68.04mg   23%   Sodium 686.20mg   29%   Potassium 724.19mg   21%   Carbohydrates 11.62g   4%   Dietary Fiber 1.91g   8%   Sugar 5.41g       Sugar Alcohols 0.00g       Net Carbohydrates 9.72g       Protein 19.27g   39%

Cooking Tips

If you don't have passata, substitute with 1 can -16 oz- chopped tomatoes, sieved, including pulp and liquid.

For a more grown up flavor, add 1/2 cup red wine just after browning the meat and before adding the rest of ingredients. Increase heat to medium-high and cook for about 3 minutes -the alcohol will evaporate- then reduce heat and follow the rest of the recipe, but reduce the amount of beef stock to about 1 cup.

Carrot and mushrooms are a family favorite, but you can try your own. Carrot and celery are also a good combination but add just 1 stalk celery chopped, as too much celery can give a bitter taste to the sauce. Diced peppers are an ideal match with tomatoes.

Quick homemade sloppy Joe recipe | Top

This sloppy Joe recipe uses ketchup, not tomato sauce, and it is the quickest one to prepare. So quick and easy, once you try this one you will wonder how you ever bought the sauce ready made before.

Ingredients

USA   1/2 cup    minced onions   1/2 cup    chopped green pepper   1/2 cup    mushrooms (optional)   2 Tbs    butter   1½ lb    lean ground beef   2-4 Tbs    tomato ketchup     salt     pepper

Metric   75 g     minced onions   75 g     chopped green pepper   100 g     mushrooms (optional)   50 g     butter   700g   lean ground beef   30-60 ml     tomato ketchup     salt     pepper

 

Procedure

1. Heat butter in a large skillet. Sauteé onion and green pepper until tender. Add the meat and cook until browned.
2. Drain the excess fat. Add ketchup and seasonings
3. Cook uncovered for 5 minutes.
4. Serve on buns.

Servings: 6   Nutrition facts Serving size: 1/6 of the original recipe Percent daily values based on a 2000 calorie diet. Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.

Amount Per Serving       Calories   352.84   Calories From Fat (73%)   257.20       % Daily Value Total Fat 28.01g   43%   Saturated Fat 10.04g   50%   Cholesterol 85.05mg   28%   Sodium 331.23mg   14%   Potassium 366.76mg   10%   Carbohydrates 3.25g   1%   Dietary Fiber 0.45g   2%   Sugar 1.94g       Sugar Alcohols 0.00g       Net Carbohydrates 2.80g       Protein 20.50g   41%

More sloppy Joe variations

The truth is that there are possibly as many sloppy Joe recipes as cooks in the East coast. We have mention about other flavors -mustard or garlic granules, for instance- and about adding other vegetables. The only extra thing we have left to mention is the meat. Try a ground ground lamb or pok -pork is usually cheaper than beef - sloppy Joe.

Why not a a sausage meat sloppy Joe? Use ground turkey for a turkey sloppy Joe. Ground chicken and cream of celery soup will give you a white sloppy Joe.

Vegetarians don't need to deprive of this pleasure, just by substituting the ground meat with cooked beans, finely chopped tempeh or tofu, and adding a good variety of vegetables and herbs to the sauce, the result is a vegetarian sloppy Joe -don't forget susbstitute the beef stock with vegetable broth.

Enjoy!