Kitchen notes · a little help before you start
Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
A soft bun full of saucy beef makes sloppy joes a dinner that's easy to enjoy. The sauce has a sweet tomato flavor with a deeper savory edge from Worcestershire. A generous spoonful settles into the bun, ready for a pleasantly messy first bite.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 180 min
- Total
- 190 min
- Original yield
- Serves 6
- Ingredients
- 11 listed
Make it part of your week
Recipe categories & planning details
- Meal type
- Main course
- Primary protein
- Beef
- Cuisine
- American
- Cooking method
- Slow cooker
- Preparation & total time
- Prep: 15 minutes or less · Total: over 60 minutes
A few quick notes
1. Break the beef apart
Cook the seasoned beef in the hot pan, breaking it into pieces with a spatula as it browns.
2. Add onion after beef
Give the beef its initial cook before adding the diced onion for the next stage in the pan.
3. Combine before slow cooking
Stir the beef and onion thoroughly with the sauce ingredients after transferring them to the cooker.
Get to know the ingredients
Beef
Use ground beef for the filling; ninety percent lean beef is the example identified here.
Onion
Finely dice the onion so it mixes into the beef filling before its covered slow cook.
Tomato sauce
Add the canned tomato sauce with ketchup and brown sugar to build the sweet tomato base.
Let’s make it
Choose your servings, then check things off as you go.
Original recipe: Serves 6. Original quantities shown.
Check ingredients as you prepare them. These checks stay on this page.
How to make it
0 of 7 steps completeMake room for Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
Review ingredients in your pantry before anything is added. Meal plans use your household size; grocery-only additions use the servings selected above.
The last little job
Spoon onto buns
Spoon the cooked beef mixture onto the hamburger buns after the slow cooking stage and serve.
A little more help as you go
Choose high or low
Use either the high setting or the longer low schedule after the filling ingredients are combined.
Season in both stages
Season the beef in the pan, then add the sauce-stage salt and pepper when filling the cooker.
A few questions you might have
Does raw beef go into the slow cooker?
Cook it in the pan first, then add the onion before transferring both to the cooker.
When does the garlic powder go in?
Add it with the tomato sauce, ketchup and other sauce ingredients in the slow cooker.
Is Worcestershire added at serving?
It mixes into the sauce before slow cooking, giving the beef filling its savory depth.
Do I toast the buns in this method?
The filling is simply spooned onto hamburger buns; a separate toasting stage is not specified.
Does the ketchup replace tomato sauce?
Use both ketchup and tomato sauce together with the brown sugar and other sauce seasonings.
Storage & reheating safety
For cooked, perishable leftovers, refrigerate within 2 hours (1 hour above 90°F), using shallow containers for prompt cooling. Keep the refrigerator at 40°F or below, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days, and reheat hot leftovers to 165°F, checked with a food thermometer. Follow any shorter package limit.
These are general safety limits, not a tested storage or freezing recommendation for this particular dish. USDA leftovers guidance · Safe cooking temperatures
Recipe source: dinneratthezoo.com. Ingredient names and quantities may be adapted for the pantry.
Preparation notes follow the recipe shown here.
