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.

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!

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.

Instant Pot sloppy joes

1. Lean ground beef
   1. or ground turkey if you wish
2. Bell peppers
3. Onion
4. Olive oil
5. Garlic
6. Tomato sauce
7. Salt and pepper
8. Worcestershire sauce
   1. I’ve used soy sauce as a substitute at times
9. Tomato paste
10. Brown sugar
11. Mustard
12. Chili powder can add a bit of heat
13. Hamburger buns

How do you thicken sloppy joes?

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.

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.

1. 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!

How do you make sloppy joe’s thicker?

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.

Serving sloppy joes are typically served on hamburger buns. Use your imagination though!

We have made Instant Pot sloppy joe casserole with noodles which was fun. You could even serve it over chips and call them sloppy joe nachos!

Other pressure cooker recipes you’ll love:

• We have lots of Instant Pot ground beef recipes here
• Instant Pot lasagna soup is easy to make and a family fave.
• A batch of Instant Pot pot pie soup is terrific

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.

If you have leftovers they save quite well. Wait until the mixture cools off completely and then transfer it to a plastic container. Seal the lid tightly so as little air as possible gets trapped inside. Keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. You could serve this over rice instead of inside a bun to change things up, or just alone.