This post may contain affiliate links. Crock Pot Sloppy Joes are here to make dinner easier than ever! A scrumptiously saucy weeknight slow cooker meal that the whole family will love. Don’t get me wrong, I love crock pot apple sauce for my family.
But sometimes I just need something easy to whip up while I finish the other 1,000 things on my to-do list! That’s where slow cooker sloppy Joes come into play. You only need 15 minutes for prep, and then your meal cooks itself! This Sloppy Joe recipe simplifies and perfects this family favorite!
All you need are some ground beef, a few common pantry seasonings, and of course, a crock pot! Mix with a whole pound of ground beef and pile it high onto soft buns. Lean ground beef works well, as it prevents any excess grease from soaking into the meat while it’s in the slow cooker. Really, any type of ground beef works, because the flavor is all in the sauce.
In fact, you could even use a protein alternative! Ground chicken or turkey would be healthier and just as tasty. I like to use yellow onions and red bell peppers because of their crispness and sweetness, but any color variety of either will do just fine. This adds a much-needed acidity to the sauce! There are a lot of alternatives you could use: rice wine vinegar, white wine vinegar, or even malt vinegar.
Regular white sugar could work as a substitute, but will definitely take away some of the depth of flavor in your crock pot sloppy Joes. Creamier and spicier than your average yellow mustard, that’s for sure! But you could easily swap in yellow mustard for only a minor change to the sauce. You can mix up some vinegar, soy sauce, and ketchup if you need a substitute for Worcestershire sauce. But it’s definitely worth having if you love savory slow cooker meals!