Sloppy Joe Sliders with Manwich

Little ground beef sloppy joe sliders with Manwich or homemade sauce are fun appetizers on Hawaiian rolls you’ll love. Just a few pantry items is all you need for our easy sloppy joes 3 ingredients or a can of your favorite mild or spicy sauce.

Whether you are throwing a Super Bowl party or just want a fun dinner idea your kids will love, these sloppy joes sliders will be a huge hit!! Served in between two layers of Hawaiian rolls or with a scoop inside our sloppy joe bread bowls they are easy to pick and never last long. (affiliate links present)

Manwich Sloppy Joes

If you want a TON of flavor I have made our quick meatloaf recipe first, and used that mixture instead of plain ground beef. Love heat and want to make these a bit or a lot spicy instead? You can use ground sausage instead of beef or add red pepper flakes into your basic sauce! When you cook from scratch there are a lot of tweaks you can make.

If you use this ready made sauce you don’t have to measure anything. Just brown the meat and fold both together. For our Not so Sloppy Joe Sauce you can throw that together in 5 minutes and use that too. On busy nights I am all about canned Manwich sloppy joes though, let’s be honest.

I don’t bother mixing the three ingredients in a bowl beforehand either, I just throw it in with the browned ground beef and stir together. I did this time so I could show you kinda’ what it would look like though. 😉 There is a slight give and take depending on how sweet and/or tang you want for the basics or with our Big Mac Sloppy Joes there’s a sauce.

Your grandmother might call it this instead, it’s the same thing. What I do when I make these with slider buns or regular hamburger buns is make it, when done put a lid on it and let it sit with the burner off for 20 minutes or so before serving. That way the meat will continue soaking up the sauce and get even thicker and richer. You’re going to need;

Loose Meat Sandwich Ingredients

1. A pound of ground beef, any one works but beef is our choice
2. Manwich can
   • or for homemade sauce use;
     • Brown sugar
     • Yellow mustard, the regular stuff
     • Ketchup
3. Buns of your choice, or thaw frozen rolls and bake for fresh fluffy goodness

Keep the bread and meat separate until someone is ready to eat them. If you add it and let it sit the bread will get soggy which is a no go for me. If you were serving a larger crowd you could make a double to triple batch. Then transfer into a slow cooker on the warm setting with the lid on. It will stay great this way for hours until served.

What are other names for sloppy joes?

There are many names for these depending on what part of the country you live in. You might hear Tavern sandwich here and there. Maid rite sliders or maid rite sandwiches in other areas means the same thing if you hear that.

How to Make Sloppy Joe Sliders with Manwich

• In a pan over medium high heat add olive oil with meat with diced onions (optional).
• Break up into small pieces and cook until meat is no longer brown.
• Drain grease from pan (optional but drained will make the sauce thicker).
• Add can of sauce
  • If you want them really wet you can double the sauce
• Cover pan with a lid and leave on low heat for 10 minutes stirring intermittently to soak in the sauce,
• Turn the heat off and serve on small buns or dinner rolls immediately.

Slow cooker directions

There are a few add ins you could try as well. Some like a dash of Worcestershire sauce or garlic powder for a little more punch. If you want to make a large batch and keep it warm for hours during your party make slow cooker sloppy joes instead of in a skillet.

Pressure cooker directions

In the event that you wanted to make these in a smaller kitchen appliance, you could. I have directions for Instant Pot sloppy joes here. You don’t even really need to use the high pressure function to make it with this.

Other appetizers like maid rite sliders you’ll love

Add ons are many too. A slice of American cheese, provolone or even a sliced dill pickle are probably the most popular on these and our pulled pork sliders. To add a bit of color to “pretty” them up you might consider a sprinkle of sesame seeds or diced green onions.

For something similar with leftover meat we make these Chicken Bacon Ranch Sliders all the time for a finger food dinner idea.

How to store leftover sloppy joes

You need to keep the two separate, that is the biggest suggestion. The bread should be wrapped and left on the countertop. Let the meat cool and store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 days. When you reheat transfer into a microwave safe bowl.

Add a tiny squeeze of ketchup and a splash of mustard and fold that into the mix. This will add moisture so when you heat for 1 minute or so it doesn’t dry out, that would be tragic. You could use your pan again to warm once again and enjoy but that does take longer. Jump to recipe and get started y’all!!