Easy Instant Pot Sloppy Joes

Instant Pot sloppy joes are easy protein packed meals even your kids will love. If you’re looking for pressure cooker ground beef recipes, this is #1. Served on slider buns or made into sloppy joe egg rolls you can make with ground turkey too.

Ninja Foodi Sloppy Joes

I’m all about easy ground beef recipes around here. They’re cheap and everyone in my family loves them. You can make this one in your Crockpot Express, Ninja Foodi or any other pressure cooker brand you have.

I made this easy sloppy joe recipe for years on the stovetop. Now it was time to use my new favorite kitchen appliance! You can just use saute or pressure cook to really lock in those flavors.

InstaPot Sloppy Joe

I tweaked it a bit adding bell peppers and a few other ingredients. Figuring out the timing was another step. After a few batches we determined which was absolutely perfect so we could share it with you. I sometimes have to make a meal more than once to make sure it is just right.

I’d hate to share something with y’all that might have an issue, it has to be perfect. Now if you like spicy you can adjust it for that really easily. My favorite way of adding heat would be some dry Sriracha or red pepper flakes works as well.

Can you make sloppy joes with frozen ground beef?

It is always best to use fresh or defrosted meat but if you need to know how to cook frozen ground beef to begin with try one of these methods. Then you can continue on with the other steps to add all that deep flavoring.

You could use any sort of ground beef you wanted, or a combination of two of them. Chicken or turkey would be the lowest in fat while sausage offers a lot of flavor and can make them spicy. Serve with small buns like sloppy joe sliders or larger sandwiches.

Instant Pot Sloppy Joes Ingredients

1. Lean ground beef or ground turkey if you wish for lower fat
2. Bell peppers diced are nice
3. Onions too
4. Olive oil will help brown the meat in the initial step
5. Garlic we love
6. Tomato sauce to start the sauce
7. Salt and pepper are basic seasonings
8. Worcestershire sauce, I’ve used soy sauce as a substitute at times
9. Tomato paste will thicken it
10. Brown sugar makes it a bit sweet
11. Mustard creates that zing
12. Chili powder can add a bit of heat

How do you thicken sloppy joes?

You always want it nice and thick with the sauce. I didn’t find a need to do anything extra for this one but if you wanted a different texture you could add more tomato paste and a bit less sauce. You can thicken sloppy joes with simple ingredients like a slurry of cornstarch and water. Typically you can have this meal ready in approximately 30 minutes total.

• In a small bowl just whisk together a few tbsp. of cornstarch and water. Set your pot to saute, and add the cornstarch and water mixture. Stir, allow to bubble, and it will get thicker. 
• As it sits in the pot and cools it will thicken more as well.

How Long to Cook Sloppy Joes in Pressure Cooker

10 minutes is the real cook time but that doesn’t account for the time it takes to reach pressure and start to count down. I use a wooden spoon almost always as to not scratch my non stick pot. This recipe is really great because it is super easy and there’s tons of flavor when it’s done.

This is how I start cooking almost all of my Instant Pot ground beef recipes:

1. You need to add olive oil into your pot and set it to saute.
2. I add my ground beef and onions now. If you’re including bell peppers now is a good time to add those too.
3. You want your veggies to soften and outside of your meat to no longer be pink. It doesn’t need to be completely cooked through, just browned on the outside.

Stir occasionally throughout this step and turn your pressure cooker off once this stage is complete.

Do you drain the meat for sloppy joes?

This is totally up to you. Sloppy joes are an all American favorite meal prepared with ground beef, ketchup, tomato sauce, and a few other common ingredients. These delicious sandwiches are loose in their consistency and aren’t intended to take shape like a normal hamburger. I personally do not drain the grease. I feel it gives it a bit more flavor to leave it in and I use lean meats so there usually isn’t much anyway.

Now you’re going to add all your other ingredients and pressure cook them all together. Lock the lid and close your steam valve for this step.

• Cooking time for this stage is just 5 minutes on high pressure followed by a quick release.
• Once you remove the lid, stir and you can serve from here!
• I always unplug my pot when done because even though it is done cooking it remains on warm and can begin to burn the bottom if you don’t.

Why are sloppy joes called sloppy joes?

According to stories, a cook named Joe at Floyd Angell’s cafe in Sioux City Iowa added tomato sauce to his loose meat sandwiches and the term sloppy joe sandwich was created. The rest as they say is history! Today there are TONS of varieties and ways to make these popular sandwiches. You can add just about anything to them really!

Serving sloppy joes are typically served on hamburger buns. Use your imagination though! We love this recipe incorporating noodles too we called Instant Pot sloppy joe casserole, totally fun dish. You could even serve it over chips and call them sloppy joe nachos! Other pressure cooker recipes you’ll love:

• You can go further to add a cornbread topping to this with our Jiffy sloppy joe casserole recipe
• Instant Pot lasagna soup is easy to make and a family fave.

This is just one of our favorite Instant Pot kids recipes. You can find a lot more on that post to enjoy with your family.

Can You Make Sloppy Joes with Ground Turkey?

You can totally use any sort of ground meat you like. There is chicken and turkey that are lower in fat, and spicy sausage is another favorite. I like half beef, half spicy Jimmy dean if I can find it and they are on sale. Adds a ton of flavor, a bit of heat, and even the kids prefer this blend.

Super easy and cheap meal we all love and costs under twenty bucks to feed all of us. That is my goal so win win.

How to Save Leftovers

If you have leftovers they save quite well. Wait until the mixture cools off completely and then transfer it to a plastic container or freezer bag. Seal the container or baggie tightly so as little air as possible gets trapped inside.

Keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. When you reheat it I would just go ahead and use your microwave for about 1 minute. Stir halfway thru and you can even add some shredded cheese to the top the last 15 seconds to melt. Serve this over rice instead of inside a bun to change things up, or just alone.