Easy Sloppy Joes Recipe 3 Ingredients

Here’s a really easy sloppy joes recipe with ketchup, mustard and brown sugar your whole family will love! Instead of Manwich you can use 3 basic ingredients to make this tangy yet sweet meal served on a bun in less than 30 minutes!

After several trials and “more of this” and “less of that”, we came up with a simple sloppy joes recipe. I know you already have most of the items you need you need right at home. You will never buy “the can” again after making them from scratch this way, as they smell like heaven in a skillet when done!

Years ago this was created out of need because I hadn’t gone to the store to buy my regular sloppy joe sauce. Fast forward 10 years and my family will NOT let me buy it premade from the store ever again. This and our not so sloppy joe sauce is a dish your husband and kids are going to go crazy over.

Ingredient Notes

Ground beef can be sauteed on the stovetop, or you can make air fryer ground beef too. I prefer lean but with a bit of fat to keep the dish moist. Too lean and there isn’t a lot of juices that you kinda’ want for the ideal texture. You could use ground sausage too. I have in the past with spicy Jimmy Dean if I want some heat (beware, it has quite a bit). Another option is to use half and half for just a bit of a kick. 😉

The type of Mustard I use to make this combination is just the yellow variety which will provide the zing you taste. Dijon adds a bit of spice but won’t get you the classic flavor you would expect so I wouldn’t use this as an alternative for these sandwiches.

Ketchup is the main base for the sauce in this case. We prefer organic, Heinz is the most common brand out there but store brand honestly tastes the same. You could swap in tomato sauce instead (though ketchup is better). Other alternatives would be spaghetti sauce or red enchilada sauce. This may sound weird but I am talking about if you are desperate.

Brown Sugar gives it that sweetness you taste. I use light, unpacked. I have not tested it with a sugar-free alternative myself but I imagine it would work just the same so long as it is a 1:1 ratio like Splenda offers. A great option for those watching their blood sugars.

Now, if you want to make it like our easy sloppy joe Philly cheesesteak you would want to add diced bell pepper (about half) in the meat and a slice of provolone cheese on top of each hamburger bun when it is hot. That gives it a chance to melt and get super ooey gooey.

Sloppy Joe Variations

You could add small diced bits of vegetables inside. Hidden veggies are great when they’re non the wiser. Finely chopped bell peppers and onions totally work. I have drained a can of corn before and thrown that in too and my girls thought that was “so fun” served as Texas Toast sloppy joes open faced. Want to make these spicy?? Use half ground spicy Jimmy dean sausage with the beef for a kick, or use just the one for a lot of heat!!

Without a large skillet you can cook ground beef in oven too. I prefer 80/20 fat content. I have actually used 1/2 lb. of spicy ground sausage with 1/2 beef for a meat mixture before and it was insanely great!! Red pepper flakes can add heat too. For leaner and a healthy option go with ground chicken or turkey if you like.

Tweaks that can be made with this could be adding pinches of seasonings like garlic powder, salt and pepper if you like. Like I said sometimes we like a slice of cheese on top like you see in the top photo so it melts.

If you like diced bell pepper you could add them when cooking your ground beef too, totally up to you. I used to just add some minced dehydrated onions but now I add fresh onions and they soften up nicely so my kids don’t mind them in it either. Taste along the way to see if you want it a bit sweeter or tangier (more sugar or mustard to taste).

Sloppy Joes in a Pressure Cooker

With Instant Pot sloppy joes you can set to saute for browning in the initial step. Then you combine with the sauce and warm together. You don’t need to actually use the high pressure function at all.

Sloppy Joes in a Crockpot

If I am serving it for a large crowd I will make Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes because it is just big enough and small enough where the juices really get soaked up by the ground beef. You just cook it all beforehand and then transfer it into your slow cooker to sit on warm.

How to Serve

You can just put on buns and serve. Adding a slice of cheese on top is a nice touch, or adding several sliced pickles is sometimes a fave too. An easy dinner that takes about 20 minutes flat that we all love. Joes are seriously the bomb y’all!

It creates a yummy tangy sweet meat mix to put on any bun and if you drain the meat (sometimes I even put the meat in a strainer and run hot water on top to make it extra healthy). You will want to cook the meat first, then add the above ingredients and continue to cook on low so the sauce simmers a bit and really gets that flavor into the meat before plating.

If you have kids at home you can make them real fun by adding “special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun” like their favorite fast food meal but with a loose meat vs. a patty. The older generation will remember this song too and likely will start to sing along. 😉

FAQ

Other easy ground beef recipes you’ll love

Once you try these easy homemade sloppy joes you’ll be hooked and you should will want to try our sloppy joe casserole. If you love this easy sloppy joe recipe you should try these 5 ingredient crockpot chili. It is to die for and so EASY!