Ground beef sloppy joe sliders with Manwich or homemade sauce are fun appetizers on Hawaiian rolls you'll love. a few pantry items is all you need to make the filling, you can even make them a bit spicy if you want to!

Whether you are throwing a Super Bowl party or want a fun dinner idea your kids our sloppy joes recipe finger food sized will be a huge hit!! Served in between two layers of Hawaiian rolls or with a scoop inside of bread bowls they are easy to pick up and enjoy. (affiliate links present)

with Homemade Sauce

For our Not so Sloppy Joe Sauce you can throw those ingredients together in 5 minutes. If you want our tried and true 10 year old sauce recipe, you will need ketchup, mustard and some brown sugar to sweeten it a bit. From there you can tweak to your liking to add heat or leave as is.

with Manwich

If you use this canned ready made sauce you don't have to measure anything. brown the meat and fold both together. For more flavor start with our quick meatloaf recipe first, and used that mixture instead of plain ground beef. When you cook from scratch there are a lot of tweaks you can make.

Ingredient notes

A pound of ground beefany one works but beef is our choice. If you wanted these to be spicy use Hot Jimmy dean sausage instead, or half and half for a bit of heat. For a vegetarian option, make lentil sloppy joes mixture instead.

Manwich in a can is the easiest way to make the sauce. If you wanted homemade sauce you would use; Brown sugar, Yellow mustard (the regular stuff) and some Ketchup.

Buns of your choice are needed too of course. You can find several options at the store or thaw and this is how to bake frozen rolls for fresh fluffy goodness

Tips

We don't bother mixing the three ingredients in a bowl beforehand either, we throw it in with the browned ground beef and stir together. There is a slight give and take depending on how sweet and/or tang you want for the basics, or with our Big Mac Sloppy Joes there's a sauce.

Keep the dinner rolls and meat separate until someone is ready to eat them. If you add it and let it sit the bread will get soggy which is a no go for us.

Ground beef Sloppy Joe Sauce sizzle in a skillet, ready for mixing.

Sloppy Joe Sliders Recipe

By Little sloppy joe sliders with Manwich are fun appetizers with a can or homemade sauce you'll love. 4 ingredients is all you need for our easy sloppy joes. Prep: 10 minutes minsCook: 15 minutes minsServings: 8 Save Recipe Saved! Pin Recipe Comment Print Recipe

Equipment

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1/2 small onion, diced, optional
Manwich, 1 can, or use ingredients below to make homemade sauce
8 buns, or rolls

Homemade Sloppy Joes Sauce

3/4 c ketchup
3 tbsp mustard
2 tbsp brown sugar

Instructions

In a pan add 1 tbsp olive oil with meat and onions. Break up into small pieces and cook until meat is no longer brown. Drain grease from pan.
Pour in your can of Manwich, fold together so everything is well coated.
Homemade sauce – Add ketchup, mustard and brown sugar and stir until meat is coated. If you want them wet you can double these measurements. Taste and add more mustard if you want it more tangy or more brown sugar if you want it sweeter.
Cover pan with a lid and leave on low heat for 10 minutes stirring intermittently to soak in the sauce, turn heat off and serve on small buns.

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Appetizer, EntreeCuisine: American Tried this recipe?Mention @thetypical_mom or tag #thetypicalmom!

on the Stove

For the Old Fashioned method use a large skillet over medium high heat to brown the meat. Then add the sauce and fold together turning the heat to low. Allow to simmer for 15 minutes or so allowing the flavors to meld together.

Slow cooker directions

There are a few add ins you could try as well. Some like a dash of Worcestershire sauce or garlic powder for a little more punch. If you want to make a large batch and keep it warm for hours during your party make slow cooker sloppy joes instead of in a skillet.

Pressure cooker directions

In the event that you wanted to make these in a smaller kitchen appliance, you could. We have directions for Instant Pot sloppy joes here. You don't even need to use the high pressure function to make it with this.

How to serve

If you want to make into Sloppy Joe Philly Cheesesteak you'd want a slice of cheese melted on top before placing on the top bun. For sloppy joe bowls as you see below you want to pick up bread that is larger in size so you can fill the centers to serve.

Keeping leftovers

You need to keep the two separate, that is the biggest suggestion. The bread should be wrapped and left on the countertop. Let the meat cool and store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 days. When you reheat transfer into a microwave safe bowl. Add a tiny squeeze of ketchup and a splash of mustard and fold that into the mix. Heat for 1 minute and serve with sloppy joe sides.

A sloppy joe bread bowl filled with a savory meat and tomato mixture, topped with a zigzag of white dressing resembling football laces, all served on a brown tray.

What are other names for sloppy joes? There are many names for these depending on what part of the country you live in. You might hear loose meat sandwich Tavern sandwich here and there. Maid rite sliders or maid rite sandwiches in other areas means the same thing if you hear that.