This is the best healthy sloppy Joes recipe. Saucy and filled with flavour these homemade sloppy Joe's are made without ketchup, without wine, and without brown sugar and are filled with veggies to make it a healthier version of the classic recipe we all know and love.
Table of Contents
Why you will love this recipe:
- This healthy sloppy Joe recipe is so good! It tastes just like traditional homestyle sloppy Joes and has the most delicious richly flavoured sauce. It has gotten rave reviews from everyone I have made it for.
- It is quick and easy to make and is ready in less than 30 minutes!
- This recipe is made with no added sugar and is sweetened naturally with dates.
- It is made in one pan so the clean up is so simple and easy.
- This recipe is perfect for meal prep, makes great leftovers, and also freezes really well.
- It is loaded with veggies to make it a complete, healthy meal. This recipe is a great way to get picky eaters to eat extra veggies.
- This recipe is not only healthy but it is also Whole30 compliant, paleo, gluten free and dairy free.
Key ingredients and substitutions:
You should be able to find all of these simple ingredients at your local grocery store. For the exact measurements refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Lean ground beef - lean ground beef is my favourite meat for making sloppy joes. I prefer using grass fed and grass finished ground beef but you can use any type of ground beef that you like. You could easily swap this for ground turkey, ground chicken or any other ground meat that you prefer.
- Fresh vegetables - I use sweet bell peppers and onions to give this recipe the most amazing flavour and beautiful colours. You can use any type of bell peppers that you like including red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, orange bell pepper or green bell pepper.
- Canned chopped tomatoes or canned diced tomatoes: these form the base of the sauce. A sloppy Joe just isn't a sloppy Joe without tomatoes!
- Tomato paste - this helps the sauce thicken when it cooks to make it even more delicious.
- Coconut aminos: to help give this homemade sauce the perfect flavour. Instead of coconut aminos you can use soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce instead (just don't make these swaps if you are gluten free or following a paleo or Whole30 diet).
- Coconut vinegar: this is one of my favourite types of vinegar! It has such a unique flavour. You could easily use apple cider vinegar instead.
- Dates: to give the sloppy Joe sauce the perfect amount of sweetness, without any refined sugar or ketchup!
- Spices: sea salt, ground black pepper, parsley, mustard powder and smoked paprika all blend perfectly to give this sauce the best flavour.
How to make (step-by-step):
Step one:
To make the sauce, add all the sauce ingredients to your Vitamix or other high speed blender and blend the ingredients well until they are smooth.
Step two:
To make the beef and vegetables, place a large pan or large skillet on the stove on medium heat and add the coconut oil to the pan and let it melt.
Step three:
Next, add the chopped green onion and chopped bell peppers to the pan and sauté for a couple minutes.
Step four:
Then add the ground beef to the pan and cook it until it’s no longer pink, stirring regularly to break the meat apart and ensure it cooks evenly.
Step five:
Next, add the sauce to the pan and mix well to combine all the ingredients. Then turn down the heat to low and let the meat mixture simmer for 15-20 minutes (until it reaches the thickness you like). Then serve and enjoy!
Top Tip:
If you don't have a high speed blender you could use a large food processor to blend the sauce instead.
Recipe variations and add ins:
- Instead of using ground beef feel free to use ground bison, lean ground turkey, or ground chicken to make these paleo sloppy Joes.
- If you don't have coconut vinegar you can use apple cider vinegar instead.
- You can use either green onion, white onion, sweet onion or yellow onion to make this recipe.
- You could add other vegetables such as carrots or celery.
- Instead of smoked paprika you can use regular paprika instead.
- For even more flavour you can add a bit of garlic powder or chili powder to the sauce.
- If you are serving a crowd or want leftovers feel free to double or triple this recipe.
How to serve:
These sloppy joes are perfect for busy weeknights and can be served in many different ways. Here are a few of my favorite ways to serve this recipe:
- Serve these sloppy joes plain and eat them as is right out of a bowl.
- You can serve sloppy joe's in hotdog buns or hamburger buns. If you are gluten free be sure to use gluten-free buns.
- If you prefer to make these bunless, you can serve them in a baked potato or in a baked sweet potato. Some people refer to these as potato buns or sweet potato buns.
- Serve over rice, cauliflower rice, noodles, vegetable noodles or veggie rice.
- Pair this dish with your favorite side dishes such as a side salad or coleslaw.
- This is a great recipe to serve for game day or Super Bowl parties.
- I love pairing this healthier sloppy Joe recipe with cornbread muffins or biscuits.
To make these into sloppy Joe bowls:
You can easily turn these into sloppy Joe bowls by topping your favourite cooked veggies with the sloppy Joe sauce from this recipe. Some of my favourite veggies to use are cauliflower rice, broccoli, spaghetti squash and zucchini noodles.
How to store:
Store any leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days. This recipe also freezes really well for up to 3 months.
Frequently asked questions:
I love pairing sloppy joes with cooked broccoli, cooked cauliflower, a side salad or chopped raw vegetables. If you don't use a potato bun or a sweet potato bun you could also add the sloppy Joe sauce to cauliflower rice or white rice (if you aren't on the paleo or Whole30 diets). You could also use my paleo bread recipe instead of a sweet potato or potato bun to create a sloppy Joe sandwich.
All you need to do is bake your potatoes, then slice them in half and fill them with the sloppy Joe sauce. Note that technically white potatoes are not paleo, so if you are following a strict paleo diet then you will need to use a sweet potato bun (white potatoes are allowed on the Whole30 diet).
Manwich is a brand of pre-made sloppy Joe sauce that is made by Hunt’s. You can buy canned manwich sauce at grocery stores or you could make your own homemade sloppy Joe sauce instead.
No, this sloppy Joe recipe is not low carb or keto.
Other recipes you will love:
- Whole30 Scalloped Potatoes
- Paleo Bread Recipe
- Meatloaf with Blueberries
- Bacon and Vegetable Egg Casserole
- Paleo Chili with Blueberries
- Whole30 Potato Salad
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Recipe
Healthy Sloppy Joes
Equipment
Ingredients
Sauce Ingredients
- 2 cans chopped or diced tomatoes (equivalent to 796mL)
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 6 dates (sub 2-3 tablespoon honey if not on the Whole30 diet or if on the SIBO diet)
- 2 tablespoon coconut vinegar (sub apple cider vinegar)
- 1 clove garlic, crushed (sub 1 tablespoon garlic infused olive oil)
- 1 tablespoon coconut aminos
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (sub for paprika if you don't have smoked paprika)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Beef and Vegetable Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon coconut oil
- 3 lbs grass fed ground beef
- 1/2 cup chopped green onion
- 1 yellow pepper, chopped
- 1 red pepper, chopped
Instructions
Sauce Instructions
- Add all the sauce ingredients to your blender bend everything until it's smooth.
Beef and Vegetable Instructions
- Place a large pan on the stove on medium heat and add the coconut oil and let it melt.
- Add the green onion and chopped peppers to the pan and sauté for a couple minutes.
- Add the ground beef and cook until no longer pink.
- Add the sauce and mix well to combine all the ingredients.
- Turn down the heat to low and simmer for 15-20 minutes (until it reaches the thickness you like).
Notes
- If you don't have coconut vinegar you can use apple cider vinegar instead.
- Instead of green onion you could sub a medium white onion.
- Feel free to use different coloured peppers.
- You could make the sauce with honey instead of dates (note that honey wouldn't be Whole30 compliant).
- To make a potato bun or sweet potato bun simply bake a potato, slice it in half and pour the sloppy Joe mix on top.
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