Make this easy Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes recipe at home with ground turkey, lots of veggies, and a traditional, sweet and savory ketchup-based flavorful sauce in 30 minutes!
This recipe is slightly adapted from the one my sister originally emailed me back in 2009. Yes, I still have the email! I have no idea who she got the recipe from, but I've been making it ever since!
In fact, I literally just made this recipe last night because it's such an easy weeknight meal.
Serve turkey sloppy joes on hamburger buns with a side of applesauce or lettuce salad with strawberry balsamic dressing, baked beans and/or chips and homemade guacamole. Dinner will be set!
It's a timeless and veggie-loaded meal that your family will love! Thankfully, leftovers reheat easily and make the perfect lunch!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Meal Prep Either meal prep by chopping all of the veggies or make the entire recipe ahead of time. Plus, this recipe makes a lot so you can count on having leftovers.
- Simple Ingredients All of the ingredients are easy to find and easy to measure.
- Kid-Approved Kids love the sweet sauce and get loads of nutrients from the veggies. This will quickly become your new family favorite sloppy joes recipe!
- 30-Minute Meal This recipe takes just 30 minutes to make from start to finish. Perfect for busy weeknight dinners!
- Protein and Fiber Consider this recipe to be a nutritious and tasty twist on classic old-fashioned sloppy joes. In fact, it's made with 4 cups of veggies! Ground turkey is a good source of protein, while the celery and bell peppers add fiber.
What Are Sloppy Joes?
Also known as 'loose meat sandwiches' or 'barbeque' sandwiches, sloppy joes are sandwiches made of ground or minced meat. They are traditionally made with onions and a tomato-based sauce that contains Worcestershire sauce.
There are different ways to make them. While you can use ground beef or ground chicken, I chose ground turkey for this version of sloppy joes.
Dietitian Tips
First, remember that you don't have to highlight when a meal like this is loaded with veggies when your kids ask, 'What's for dinner?'. After all, "sloppy joes" or "ground turkey sloppy joes" sound way more appealing to most kids than "sloppy joes made with a lot of veggies." 😉
Also, if your kids are new to eating sloppy joes, serve them with a food that is familiar to them. Examples include serving the sloppy joe filling on brioche buns instead of a whole wheat bun or serving potato chips and applesauce as sides.
Ingredient Notes
- Ground Turkey I like to use lean turkey in this recipe but it can be substituted with ground beef or, for a vegetarian option, TVP (textured vegetable protein).
- Bell Pepper Full of fiber, vitamins (especially vitamin C and vitamin A), and minerals. Green bell pepper is less noticeable than red, orange, or yellow bell pepper.
- Onion and Celery Add perfect texture, flavor, and fiber to these sloppy joes.
- Ketchup Unlike most other recipes, this one calls for ketchup instead of tomato sauce.
- Worcestershire Sauce Makes this sauce so savory. It has a vinegar base which adds the perfect touch of tang and it contains molasses which adds sweetness.
- Brown Sugar Can use light or dark brown sugar. Two tablespoons are more than enough to make the sweet homemade sloppy joe sauce.
- Spices Chili Powder and Cumin are key ingredients to giving this flavor you would expect from sloppy joes.
How To Make Sloppy Joes
Here’s a quick overview of how to make homemade sloppy joes. For the full list of ingredients and specific instructions, scroll down to the recipe.
- Chop the bell peppers, celery, and onion into small pieces.
- Use a large nonstick skillet to sauté all of the vegetables in a small amount of olive oil over medium heat for five minutes. Then, add garlic and spices to the skillet. Stir well.
- Add ground turkey to the skillet and cook over medium-high heat until meat is golden brown.
- Reduce heat to medium or medium-low and add the remainder of the ingredients to the turkey mixture. Stir well. Simmer on low heat for an additional 5 minutes.
- That's it! Serve it on a regular or toasted bun and you're set.
Helpful Tips
- Use a good quality food chopper for chopping the onions, bell peppers, and celery to save time and to get the vegetables to a size that appeals to kids.
- When bell peppers are in abundance (like in the summer months here in the East Coast), chop them up and freeze in a resealable bag. This way, you can pull them out of the freezer to use in recipes like this all year long.
- I used one orange and one green pepper to make sloppy joes for the pictures in this post. As you'll see, green bell pepper is less noticeable than the orange bell pepper. The flavor will be the same, it will just look different.
- Place leftovers in a sealed container or resealable bag and store in the refrigerator. According to the USDA, refrigerated leftovers should be consumed within three to four days.
- Reheat sloppy joes (at least the meat and veggie mixture) in a pan on the stove or in the microwave.
What to Serve with Sloppy Joes
- French Fries
- Sweet Potato Fries
- Applesauce
- Chips and Guacamole
- Fresh Fruit Salad
Questions You May Have
Yes. Let the sloppy joe mixture cool completely then store in an airtight container in the freezer. Reheat it on the stovetop or in a microwave.
Yes! I heat up the sloppy joe meat in the morning and send it with my kids in a thermos. I pack the sliced bun up separately for them to assemble at lunch or I pack crackers for them to eat with the sloppy joe meat.
In my opinion, they taste different. People always think I don't like ground beef because I'm a dietitian, when in fact I haven't liked the taste since I was a kid.
While ground turkey and ground beef have a similar texture, ground beef has more flavor than ground turkey. When you add the sweet and tangy homemade sauce that this recipe calls for, you really don't even notice the taste of the turkey.
Excellent question! Believe it or not, I've just recently learned about sloppy janes and this recipe actually meets the criteria.
From what I understand, Sloppy Janes are made with ground turkey instead of beef, include veggies, and tend to be less acidic than sloppy joes.
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Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 2 onions chopped
- 2 bell peppers seeded and chopped
- 2 stalks of celery chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tablespoon cooking oil* I use olive oil
- 2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large skillet.
- Add chopped bell peppers, onion, and celery to the skillet and saute for five minutes
- Add garlic, chili powder, and cumin to the skillet. Stir well.
- Add the ground turkey and cook until meat is browned.
- Add the remainder of the ingredients and stir well.
- Simmer on low heat for 5 minutes
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Using a good quality food chopper will save time and will help ensure the pieces of celery, bell pepper, and onion are small enough that they will blend right in with the meat.
- Green bell peppers are less noticeable in this recipe than red, orange, or yellow bell peppers.
- The type of oil you use will depend on the type of pan you have. Some pans (i.e.: ceramic non-stick) advise users not to use extra virgin olive oil when cooking with it (when heating the pan). If this is the case, use a higher heat oil like avocado oil or canola oil.
- The heat setting will depend on the type of skillet you will be using due to the difference in heat conduction. For instance, if you will be using a skillet made by Green Pan or Le Creuset, they often recommend cooking on medium heat.
Bethany says
We are not normally a sloppy joe family but this was delicious and great to have as leftovers for lunch while working from home.
Lisa says
We had these a couple of nights ago. Kids gave it two thumbs up and it is going in the regular rotation! Texture is the best past. Kids who are not fans of the texture of typical sloppy joes liked this recipe.
Kristi says
I'm so glad they were a hit with your kids!!