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If you love the comfort food appeal of sloppy Joe’s but aren’t necessarily looking for a big, hearty meal, why not make sloppy Joe’s sliders instead? They boast all the appeal of the regular sloppy joes but they’re smaller, which means you can have more than one or you can have room to fill up on your favorite side dishes too. This sloppy Joe sliders recipe is easy to make and perfect for anyone in the mood for some seriously tasty sliders!
Sloppy joes sliders make a great weeknight dinner. They’re popular with the kids as well as the grownups and the juicy meat mixture is wonderful served in sweet, pillowy Hawaiian rolls.
You might also like unsloppy joes biscuit pockets, a cowboy beef and rice skillet, bacon cheeseburger sliders, or crunchy air fryer beef taquitos.
Why You’ll Love It
So tasty: Sloppy Joe’s aren’t just comfort food, they’re also great comfort food because they taste so good! The meaty beef, juicy onion, creamy cheese, tangy mustard and ketchup, sweet brown sugar, soft and pillowy Hawaiian rolls and other ingredients just taste phenomenal and this recipe is a keeper!
Simple to make: You need to cook the ground beef mixture, add it to the Hawaiian rolls and then just bake the whole tray in the oven. This is an easy recipe.
Crowd-pleasing: Expecting a crowd over? Make these. They’re small enough so those who aren’t that hungry still have room for one and those who are can have two! Or have two plus sides – it depends on what the host (i.e. you!) plans to whip up and serve on the side!
Sloppy Joe Slider Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below
Ground beef: You can use hamburger meat, ground sirloin, ground chuck, or any ground beef you prefer. Ground chicken works too.
Seasonings: Garlic powder, salt and pepper, sesame seeds and thyme offer a great flavor.
Hawaiian rolls: These soft and fluffy buns are just perfect for sloppy joe sliders. If you prefer to serve your manwich sloppy joe sauce on dinner rolls or another type of bun, that’s fine. You can sprinkle sesame seeds on top if there aren’t any on the buns.
Cheddar cheese: This adds a delicious element to the sloppy joe sliders. You can use an alternative to the shredded cheddar cheese if you prefer, perhaps a Mexican blend, monterey jack or colby jack cheese instead.
How to Make Sloppy Joe Sliders
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card
Brown the meat: Add the ground beef, diced onion, sugar, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to a skillet over medium heat and cook ground beef until it’s lightly browned and fully cooked.
Add more ingredients: Stir in the beef broth, ketchup and mustard. Mix the water and cornstarch together and stir this into the cooked beef mixture.
Assemble the sliders: Slice the rolls in half across the middle and put the bottom buns on a greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Spoon on the meat mixture and spread evenly, then add the shredded cheese on top and the bun tops.
Add the topping: Mix the melted butter with the salt, sesame seeds and thyme to make the topping and brush or spoon this over the slider buns.
Bake the sloppy joe sliders recipe: Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes, then discard the foil and broil for a couple of minutes until golden brown. Serve hot.
Substitutions and Variations
Gluten-free option: If you want a gluten-free version, use gluten-free buns (dinner rolls like this would work).
Another meat: Swap the ground beef for ground pork, turkey, chicken, or something else.
Different cheese: Sharp cheddar cheese is tasty in sloppy joe sliders but you can use any kind of shredded cheese you want.
Serving Suggestions
Appetizers: Kick off your meal with spicy deviled eggs or smoked shrimp.
Side dishes: Crispy potatoes are great with sloppy joe sliders. If you want to offer a selection of sliders, consider cowboy sliders or pizza sliders. Some people like baked beans on the side or Spanish rice.
Dessert: Something like cherry cream cheese pastries would be a perfect finish to this delicious meal.
How to Store the Sloppy Joe Mixture
Store: Keep leftover sloppy joe mixture in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Freeze: Freeze the sloppy joes in portions in airtight containers.
Thaw: Defrost overnight in the refrigerator.
Reheat: Reheat the sloppy joe mixture in a pan on the stove or in the microwave. You can enjoy it with rice or noodles or as a baked potato topping. If you’re serving it on buns, then assemble the sliders in a baking tray, cover with foil, and bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Top Tips
Toasty bottoms: If you want to crisp the bun bottoms as well as the tops, bake the bottoms only for 5 minutes before you assemble the sloppy joe sliders.
Sloppy Joe meat: As the meat is the main ingredient, it pays to choose something you love. I like to use ground sirloin to make sloppy joe sliders. You can use ground turkey or chicken, pork, or a blend.
Fine-tune the flavor: Feel free to add your preferred seasonings to the meat mixture. BBQ sauce, onion powder, a splash of soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce, or some minced garlic and tomato sauce.
Sloppy Joe Sliders FAQs
When it’s browned throughout and there’s no pink bits left, it’s done.
Sure, you can use your favorite vegetarian protein in this recipe, such as TVP (here), soy mince or even tofu or tempeh. And swap the beef broth for vegetable broth.
Swap the King’s Hawaiian rolls for your favorite keto buns, the sugar for brown Swerve (here) and choose reduced sugar ketchup.
Sloppy Joe Slider Recipe
Sloppy Joes Sliders
Ingredients
- 1 Pound ground beef
- ¼ Cup yellow onion, diced
- 2 Teaspoons brown sugar
- ½ Teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 Teaspoon salt
- ¼ Teaspoon black pepper
- ½ Cup beef broth
- ¾ Cup ketchup
- 1 Teaspoon yellow mustard
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons water
- 1½ Cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 12 Hawaiian rolls, or slider buns
For the Topping:
- ¼ Cup butter, melted
- ½ Teaspoon salt
- 2 Teaspoons sesame seeds
- 2 Teaspoons fresh thyme, finely chopped
Instructions
- Set the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9×13-inch pan using cooking spray.
- Combine the beef, chopped onions, brown sugar, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper in a large pan over a medium heat and cook until the beef is browned.
- Pour the beef broth, ketchup, and yellow mustard into the pan and fold into the beef mixture.
- In a separate bowl, mix the water and cornstarch. Slowly add this mixture to the beef while stirring to combine (this should thicken up the liquid).
- Using a large knife and cutting board, slice the rolls in half (like one big hamburger bun). Add the bottom half of the rolls to the greased 9 x 13-inch baking dish.
- Spoon the beef mixture onto the rolls, then use the back of the spoon (or a spatula) to spread the layer evenly. Spread the shredded cheddar cheese over the beef layer.
- Add the top layer of the rolls on top of the cheddar cheese.
- Using a separate small bowl, combine the melted butter, salt, sesame seeds, and freshly chopped thyme. Spoon this over the top of the rolls evenly.
- Place aluminum foil over the baking dish and cook in the oven for about 15 minutes.
- Next, turn the oven to broil, remove the foil, and allow the tops of the buns to toast for 2 to 4 minutes. Serve hot.
Notes
Sloppy joe meat: As the meat is the main ingredient, it pays to choose something you love. I like to use ground sirloin to make sloppy joe sliders. You can use ground turkey or chicken, pork, or a blend.
Fine-tune the flavor: Feel free to add your preferred seasonings to the meat mixture. BBQ sauce, onion powder, a splash of soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce, or some minced garlic and tomato sauce.
Nutrition
For anyone who loves the homely charm of sloppy joes but don’t want a big meal, consider sloppy joes sliders. They pack the same flavorful punch as their larger counterparts but because they’re smaller, you’ll have room to indulge in your favorite sides too. This recipe for sloppy joe sliders is simple to make and it’s a fun dish as well as a truly tasty one.
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Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
Such a pretty dish that seems complicated but so easy and delicious! We enjoyed it so much!