Healthy Sloppy Joes Recipe (Homemade Sloppy Joes) (2024)

These healthy sloppy Joes are and easy and delicious weeknight meal ready in 30 minutes. They’re made with simple ingredients, contain some sneaky veggies, and are much lower in sugar than traditional Sloppy Joes!

I love making healthier versions of classic recipes, like these healthy sloppy Joes!

This recipe hasmuch less sugar than traditional sloppy joe recipes, contains veggies, and it’s gluten & dairy-free.

Also, I wanted to solve the “soupy” sloppy Joes problem – and this recipe delivers. Because with six kids we like our Sloppy Joes to be thick. I am not interested in cleaning soupy red juice off out of all of my kids’ clothes! Plus, a thick sloppy joe means no soggy buns (and homemade burger buns are the best to serve with this recipe)!

How to make Homemade Sloppy Joes

Here are a few notes on making this recipe.

1. Brown the meat.I thoroughly brown my ground beef every time I use it in a recipe. I think it enhances both the flavor and the texture. If you use a super lean meat you may need to add a tablespoon of olive oil to get it to brown.
2. Thicken the sauce.Like I mentioned above, runny sloppy joes have no place in our house. So I like to remove the lid from the pan in the last 5 minutes of cooking so the sauce will thicken. If you like runnier sloppy joes then you do not have to do this!
3. Storage.Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator! If you will be packing leftovers to take to work I recommend packing the bun and meat separately to avoid a soggy mess!

Healthy Sloppy Joes: Ingredients & Substitutions

This recipe is fairly versatile! Here are a few potential substitutions!

• Lean ground beef.I recommend 93% lean ground beef, however ground turkey or chicken can be used in it’s place if desired.
• Green Pepper.Any variety of bell pepper works well in this recipe. I like the addition of a veggie to these homemade sloppy Joes, but if you have picky eaters you might want to leave it out. Or substitute a veggie like shredded zucchini that disappears when it’s cooked!
• Onion powder.Real onion can be substituted for the onion powder. I recommend using about 1/2 cup finely diced onion depending on your tastes. Add it to the skillet when you add the meat!
• Garlic powder.Minced garlic can be used in place of garlic powder. Add it with the meat and/or onion.
• Brown Sugar.Coconut sugar can be used in place of brown sugar for a refined sugar free version.

A quick note on Ketchup.

You could replace the ketchup with tomato sauce and increase the sugar (or not if you like less sweet sloppy joes) but I use it for ease and taste. Just make sure to check the ingredients on the ketchup that you buy! I recommendorganic varieties like this.

Yes, ketchup has sugar – but I try to steer clear of corn syrup and it’s the first ingredient in most commercial ketchups. This Heinz Organic Ketchup only has 7 ingredients and organic cane sugar is number 4, as opposed to other varieties that list “corn syrup” as the number 1 ingredient.

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