Cora's Cottage

Life can be hectic, but getting dinner on the table shouldn’t have to be. One of the easiest ways to combat that evening fatigue when it comes to getting dinner on the table is to start dinner earlier in the day. This is exactly why I love slow cooker Sloppy Joe.

This Sloppy Joe recipes is perfect for when you know you will have a busy evening but still want to be able to get a hot meal on the table for your family. Whether a day spent outside, evening activities that you’re coming home late from, or you just have littles and it’s much easier to start dinner in the afternoon than to cook it during witching hour this is the perfect recipe for you.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Hands Off: This recipe takes very little time of hands on preparation. The hamburger will cook in the crockpot while you’re out and about or busy doing other things and the seasonings that are added at the end take a minimal amount of time to add to the crockpot.

Delicious: Crockpot Sloppy Joe pack all of the same tasty punch as Sloppy Joe made on the stove top while giving you the freedom to be able to do other things while they’re cooking.

Simple: You don’t need a lot of fancy ingredients and you don’t have to do a lot of ingredient preparation for the crockpot. This is a true dump and walk away recipe.

Tips and Tricks

Additional Nutrition: If you’ve seen my recipes using ground beef before you know one of my favorite tricks to add additional nutrition is to include some liver when I’m cooking the ground beef. This is a simple way to add nutrients to your dish in a budget friendly way and your family won’t even know that there’s liver in their Sloppy Joe. This recipe also has the added benefit of the beef being cooked in bone broth; another way to add in nutrients that is simple and hassle free.

Test Run: I have made this recipe in both of our crockpots and they both acted a little bit differently. It is best to test this recipe when you can watch how long it will take your beef to cook and about how much liquid you will need for your specific crockpot. You can go off of the rough estimate times that I give you but do know that it could scorch or burn your hamburger around the edges or the hamburger might not be cooked through in your crockpot.

Tools

• Crockpot
• Measuring Cups
• Measuring Spoons
• Cutting Board
• Sharp Knife

Ingredients

• Ground Beef
• Onion
• Bone Broth
• Brown Sugar
• Rotel
• BBQ Sauce
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Ketchup

Substitutions

Ground Beef: Ground beef is called for in this recipe but any type of ground meat will work. I have successfully used ground beef, ground pork, and ground wild game and my family couldn’t tell a difference.

Bone Broth: The bone broth in this recipe can be substituted out for just broth or even water, but using bone broth helps to add flavor as well as add nutrients to the Sloppy Joe.

Rotel: You can use store bought or home canned Rotel. If you have neither of these available to you some tomatoes and peppers can be substituted. We are all about using what we have on had in the kitchen!!

How to Make Crockpot Sloppy Joe

Start with your hamburger broken up as small as you can get it in the bottom of your crockpot along with the chopped onion. Pour bone broth over the top of the onions and ground beef. Set your crockpot according to how long you will be gone. In my experience with my two crockpots setting it on high will take approximately 2 to 3 hours and setting it on low will take 6 to 8, but your crockpot might be different.

You can walk away from the crockpot for the entire time; however, if you can occasionally stir it the hamburger will cook more evenly and more quickly as the hamburger on the outside edges cooks much faster than the hamburger in the middle.

Once the hamburger is completely cooked, and there is no longer any pink, you can add in the rotel, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, and barbecue sauce. Stir these into the beef and allow it to cook on low for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. This meat can be served in the traditional Sloppy Joe style on buns or it can be served over rice (my favorite!).

While this recipe is for cooking Sloppy Joe in a crockpot. They can also be done on the stove top in a skillet. To do this Sloppy Joe in a skillet, simply brown your hamburger before adding in the rotel, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, and barbecue sauce.

Once you have all of the ingredients for the Sloppy Joe in the skillet, stir them together and allow it to simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Any leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up 10 days, or they can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I run out of bone broth while cooking the hamburger?

Simply adding additional broth to allow the hamburger to continue to cook without scorching or burning to the crockpot is the best way to handle this. However, if you are concerned about it, be sure to add plenty of liquid as you can always drain it off later.  I use this method when I will not be around to occasionally check on the hamburger.

What do I do if the hamburger is done cooking before my family is ready to eat?

I have had this happen a couple times and the best way to handle this is to simply turn down the crockpot to its lowest setting (either warm or low) and be sure there is plenty of liquids so the hamburger will not burn to sides or bottom of the crockpot. If you are able, stir the hamburger every hour or two until your family is ready to eat.