My normal sloppy joe recipe is delicious…and it uses ketchup. There’s nothing wrong with that!! And it is delicious. But this lock down thing has got me starting wondering things like “What if you can’t get ketchup?” so I set out to make a recipe that doesn’t use ketchup. More likely in this household, “what if you’re craving sloppy joes but your ketchup supply is super low because you have a husband who uses ketchup on everything”, for full disclosure. Damn seriously I suspect that man gets up and has a 1/3 cup ketchup for breakfast. Nothing else, just ketchup.
So I started with ground beef and crushed tomatoes. I added the Maggi beef base in place of salt because it’s salty, but adds to the umami.
Mustard powder (because what if you can’t get mustard), onion powder and garlic powder (serious umami), paprika, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Also, apple cider vinegar powder. Or of course you can use real apple cider vinegar.
Brown your ground beef. Add onions (diced) and cook until translucent.
Then bash it all up into the appropriate texture. The Pampered Chef Mix and Chop is perfect for this.
Add remaining ingredients. The dried bell peppers are great (but you can also use fresh bell pepper).
Add your tomatoes.
And cook for 30 minutes. Add water if it seems to be getting too dry.
Actually, I do prefer this to my recipe that uses ketchup. It just tasted more natural? I’m not saying I would never use the other recipe (it’s quick, and easy for the hubby to put together on a weeknight) but all things considered, this tastes better.
Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pound ground beef
- 1 medium onion diced
- 4 tablespoons dried bell pepper or one bell pepper diced
- 14 ounces crushed tomatoes
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 tablespoon dried mustard
- 1 tablespoon Maggi beef base
- ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar power or 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Brown ground beef and break into small parts. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add remaining ingredients and cook until heated through. Cook on low heat 30 minutes. If the mixture is too dry, add water by the tablespoons to keep at the proper consistency.
[…] are by far the best sloppy Joe’s I’ve ever made. I do have a version that doesn’t use ketchup (for those days during the pandemic where we run out of ketchup) but this one is really […]