Texas Toast Sloppy Joes

This is teh best Texas Toast sloppy joes recipe (no Manwich) will be your kids new favorite meal! Served on your favorite frozen garlic toast baked in the oven, this is a hearty dinner topped with your saucy ground beef mixture.

We thought outside of the box the other day and made a baked garlic bread with sloppy joes recipe on the top! That is right, your favorite messy and saucy ground beef can be served up a number of different ways and this is the most fun dinner ever.

Texas toast is believed to have originated in the state of Texas in the 1940s. The idea behind the thick slices was to create a more substantial base for sandwiches, particularly for barbecue and other meat heavy dishes that required a sturdy bread to hold up to the juices and sauces. Now you can buy it frozen in a box and bake in the oven.

Yes you can use rolls to make small sloppy joes sliders too but open faced means you can pile on even more meat! These are messy and that is part of the fun y’all. You can keep these savory and sweet or make them spicy too which we love.

Ingredient Notes

We used just 1 box of frozen Texas toast, 8 pieces, to feed our family of 5 which was plenty. If you wanted 2 slices per person then you may want two boxes instead.

I typically just use fresh or defrosted roll of Ground beef or you can use half lb. of Jimmy dean spicy ground sausage to make it a bit spicy. Use just that for a lot of heat, or make ground chicken sloppy joes for a lower fat option. Diced onions adding in with the meat mixture are optional for a bit more texture.

Can you use frozen ground beef?

Yes this is how to cook frozen ground beef too for this, seriously I am not kidding. I have had lots of moments where I forgot to defrost my main protein. You can recover from it and your family will never know the difference .

To make the sauce easy you can just grab a large can of Manwich sloppy joe mix, or homemade not so sloppy joe sauce is easy to make as well. I will say that from scratch is amazingly simple and better since you can adjust the ingredients to be sweeter or spicier to your liking.

This is personal preference really. Of course a can ready made is easier but homemade is really simple combining: 3/4 cup ketchup + 3 tbsp mustard + 2 tbsp brown sugar and adjust with Worcestershire sauce and/or salt and pepper to your liking.

Can you add cheese?

We like some slices or shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the bread to melt before we add the meat but that is up to you. It can be left off if you need a dairy free option or just don’t care for it.

You will want a baking sheet to bake the frozen garlic bread slices as well as a large skillet over medium high heat to brown the ground beef and saute with sauce. OR you can make the filling quickly following our Instant Pot sloppy joes steps.

Variations and Substitutions

Ok so you’re going to make the “filling” or topping in this case on your stove. You may have a family recipe for this and if so you are more than welcome to use that. If you swear by using just a canned sauce mix there are a few out there with different names from thick to spicy and everywhere in between.

For this one we are using “regular” flavors but you can certainly tweak from there. Make it a bit spicy with red pepper flakes or try something new like sloppy joe Philly cheesesteak topping.

How Long to Cook Texas Toast Sloppy Joes

I explained below that it will take about 6 minutes to cook the toast initially. Then you will add the meat and cheese, continue crisping 2-3 more minutes to heat the bottom more and melt the cheeses. Adding in the time it takes to brown the meat I would say this is a 15 minute meal!

How Long do you Cook Frozen Texas Toast in the Oven?

You first want to always preheat the oven to 425 F. Put the amount of frozen slices (do NOT defrost first) flat on a baking sheet. Bake garlic Texas toast for about 6 minutes on the middle shelf.  Flip each piece over and cook for another 2-3 minutes until both sides are as browned.

How do you know when it is done?

When you first cook the toast itself you want those pieces to get lightly browned. This will keep the loose meat topping from sinking and making the bread soggy. Then after that is added you just want that warmed, and the cheese to melt if you choose to add that.

How to serve

You can totally use two pieces to make this too if you wanted to. I prefer less bread and more filling. I mean the insides are where it’s at anyway right?? You get more meat, less carbs but you still get the crisp you want an desire. Open faced sandwiches is where it’s at y’all.