Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes
Homemade sloppy joes are such great quick meal for when you’re in a pinch, and these easy cheeseburger sloppy joes are a fun twist on the classic! Cook some ground beef with onions and garlic, then mix up your sauce with some ketchup and mustard, then top with a slice of cheese for a fast and easy meal the whole family will love.
If you love this recipe, you’ll love my Classic Sloppy Joes and Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes. Looking for sides for sloppy joes? Air Fryer French Fries go great with a cheeseburger sloppy joe. Or, for some healthier options, serve it alongside some simple Buttered Vegetables or my favorite Summer Citrus Salad.
Why This Recipe Works
- Quick dinner recipe. Once you’ve got your onion chopped and your garlic minced, these easy sloppy joes take 20 minutes to make and require very few dishes. Perfect for busy weeknights!
- Tastes just like a cheeseburger. Beef broth, ketchup, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce make this sloppy joe recipe taste just like a classic cheeseburger, but without the hassle of forming patties and cooking them a few at a time.
- Kid-friendly dinner. I feel like my kids are pretty good eaters, but sometimes dinner can be a struggle. This delicious recipe is always a winner for them, though, which means it’s a winner for me!
Ingredient Notes
- Ground beef: You can use your preferred amount of leanness. You can also swap ground beef for ground turkey or chicken. I prefer to use ground beef because it gives more of that cheeseburger flavor.
- Beef broth: Again, adding serious beef flavor to these sloppy joes, as well as necessary liquid to make them saucy.
- Onion and garlic: Adding onion and garlic brings a lot of savory goodness.
- Ketchup and mustard: For true cheeseburger flavor, you gotta add these classic condiments to the sauce!
- Worcestershire sauce: A little bit goes a long way when it comes to adding flavor.
- Cornstarch: To thicken the sauce.
- Cheddar cheese: Can’t have cheeseburger sloppy joes without the cheese! I just like to add slices of cheese on top of the meat.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Cook onion, ground beef, and garlic. Dice half a yellow onion and add it to a large skillet. Cook over medium heat until translucent, about 4-5 minutes. To the onions in the skillet, add 1 lb ground beef and continue to cook until the meat is browned, breaking it up into pieces as you go. Drain excess grease from the pan and discard the grease, then add 1 teaspoon of minced garlic to the beef and onion mixture in the pan and cook an additional minute.
- Mix up your sauce. In a large liquid measuring cup or a small bowl that’s easy to pour from, add ½ cup of beef broth, ¼ cup ketchup, 1 tablespoon mustard, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, and 1 teaspoon cornstarch. Whisk to combine, then pour the mixture into your skillet with the ground beef.
- Cook until thickened. Stir your ground beef and broth mixture together, cooking until the liquid reduces into more of a thick sauce.
- Toast hamburger buns (optional). While your sauce thickens, toast 4 hamburger buns. Toasting your hamburger buns can help them stand up to the saucy sloppy joe mix a little better, but it’s not necessary.
- Serve and enjoy. Portion the cheeseburger sloppy joe mix onto your hamburger buns and top with sliced cheddar cheese and any other toppings you like, such as pickles, tomatoes, and lettuce. My family likes to add extra ketchup and mustard as well.
Recipe Tips
If you feel topping sloppy joes with cheese doesn’t make them cheesy enough, make extra cheesy sloppy joes by adding grated cheddar cheese to the sloppy joe mixture. Wait until the sauce has thickened, then add grated cheddar cheese a little at a time, stirring and letting it melt before you add more. You don’t need a lot to get cheesy flavor—a ¼ or ½ cup would be plenty.
Make these bacon cheeseburger sloppy joes by cooking up 4-6 slices of bacon in your pan before cooking the ground beef. Set aside the crispy bacon to cool, then crumble it back into the mixture right before serving.
Love pickles? Instead of adding them on top of your cheeseburger sloppy joe, mix diced dill pickles into the ground beef mixture to get pickle flavor throughout.
You don’t have to toast your hamburger buns for this recipe, but doing so may help them stand up better to the super saucy sloppy joes.
Make Ahead, Storing, and Freezing
Make Ahead: You can mix up your sloppy joe sauce a couple of days before you plan to serve it.
Storing: Store sloppy joe sauce separate from buns in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container.
Freezing: Cheeseburger sloppy joes freeze great! Let the ground beef mixture cool completely before transferring it to a freezer safe container or zip top bag. It will stay good in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Recipe FAQs
Definitely! I recommend you still use beef broth for that burger flavor, but you can swap that out as well. It will taste very different, but still good!
Sloppy joes can be gluten-free, but make sure to double check your Worcestershire sauce. Many brands are gluten-free, but some use soy sauce in the ingredients, which is not gluten-free. And of course, use gluten-free buns!
Absolutely! The meat mixture freezes very well and will keep for up to 3 months.
There is no clear inventor of the sloppy joe, but lots of legends about it. Some say it was invented by a cook named Joe, whereas others say it was invented at a bar or saloon called Sloppy Joe’s. The origins are unclear, but it’s not hard to see why sloppy joes have been a popular meal for decades!
More Ground Beef Recipes
- Instant Pot Beef Stroganoff
- Mexican Lasagna
- Homemade Hamburger Helper
- Walking Taco Casserole
- Steakhouse Burger
Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 yellow onion - diced
- 1 teaspoon garlic - minced
- 1/4 cup ketchup - more for topping if desired
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- hamburger buns - for serving
Toppings (optional)
- sliced cheddar cheese
- lettuce
- sliced tomatoes
- pickles
Instructions
- Spray a large nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Add the onion and cook for 4-5 minutes over medium heat until translucent. Add the ground beef and cook over medium heat until browned, breaking the meat up into small pieces as you go. Drain excess grease and discard. Add the minced garlic and cook 1 minute more.
- In a large liquid measuring cup add the beef broth, ketchup mustard, Worcestershire sauce and cornstarch. Whisk to combine. Pour the liquid into the warm skillet and simmer, stirring frequently until the sauce has reduced a little bit.
- To serve, portion the meat mixture onto toasted hamburger buns, add a slice of cheddar cheese and any additional burger toppings you’d like (we like to drizzle on more ketchup and mustard because we like them extra saucy!!). Enjoy!
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