Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes Recipe is a long time family favorite filled with savory deliciousness in every bite! Sloppy Joes are a favorite for many Americans as they made their way into our hearts and homes during the 1960’s. Our recipe comes from this era and we’ve loved it all these years! Today’s Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes are made with ground beef, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, a pinch of sweet and just the right spices. Nothin’ smells better than coming home to our slow cooker sloppy joe’s after a long day! 

Why we love Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes Recipe 

This pro tip will make your lives 10x easier! Don’t we all want to save a little time, money, and eat delicious food? Have no fear… This pro tip is here! 

Ever since I can remember, my mom (Ruthie) has cooked ground beef in bulk, used a little for dinner that day, and then frozen the rest for future meals. It is such a fabulous hack—we don’t cook ground beef any other way! And from now on, you won’t either. 🙂

Pro Tip for cooking Ground Beef!

• Coat a large stock pot with cooking spray and place over medium high heat.
• Add 4-5 pounds ground beef and 2 onions- medium diced.
• Cook while stirring for 12-15 minutes or until beef is throughly cooked.
• Drain off any excess liquid (with Laura’s Lean Beef there won’t be any–another reason why we LOVE Laura’s Lean Beef).
• Allow to cool for 10 minutes.
• Place 1 1/2 cups cooked meat into quart sized freezer baggies, remove excess air, label with name and date, and freeze. Your ground beef is now ready to use as needed and stays fresh for up to 3 months.

Slow Cooker Tips & Tricks

As most of you know I’m a graduate of Culinary School and one of the classes that’s required is Sanitation and Safety. During this class, we had an eye-opening chat about slow cookers!

• If not careful, they can potentially be the perfect breeding ground for bacteria and pathogens.
• Preheat your crock pot just like you preheat your oven! Plug it in and turn it to the high setting to get it nice and hot from the start for cooking. After all, there is only one little probe heating the whole slow cooker! 
• Add everything into the crock pot as warmed up as it can be, to help cut down on the “getting-the-food-hot” portion of the cooking. This is where you need to be cautious and make sure it is all hot and up to cooking temperature in 2-3 hours.  
• If food stays between 41 degrees and 135 degrees for 4 hours, then it has to be thrown out because the bacteria and pathogens have had much too much time to grow and a food borne illness is a likely result.
• If you add meat, be sure it is thawed and NEVER added frozen. If it’s beef or pork, brown it first.  
• Add liquids hot (i.e., use HOT water or warm up any liquids in the microwave first).
• Spray the ceramic insert with cooking spray to make clean up a snap. It’ll wipe out with no sticking!

Slow Cookers are wonderful things and if we take a couple of quick precautions to keep food safe while using them… they are even better! 🙂

More Slow Cooker Recipes

• Slow Cooker Potato Soup Recipe
• Slow Cooker Creamed Corn
• Coca-Cola BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich Recipe
• Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup
• Crockpot White Chicken Chili Recipe
• Slow Cooker Beef Burgundy
• Italian Chicken Recipe
• Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese

I know that I’m always talkin’ about how much I love online grocery pickup… It’s just the best thing since sliced bread! Literally. Such a game changer. I’m not even sure what I did before! Those days of dragging my two littles into the store with me are blissfully over.

I also love that ya know… on top of like zero effort and a ton of time saved, I save sooooo much money because I’m not walking around the store buying things that I don’t necessarily “need”. My husband loves it too. For all of these reasons–especially the saving money one (he’s a finance guy). 🙂 lol 

Yield: 8

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes Recipe

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Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes Recipe is a long time family favorite filled with savory deliciousness in every bite!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 6 hours

Total Time 6 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound Laura's Lean Ground Beef
• 1 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 4 teaspoons sugar or 2 teaspoons agave
• 4 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dill weed
• 8 whole grain buns or rolls, toasted
• 8 romaine lettuce leaves for serving

Instructions

1. Coat slow cooker insert with cooking spray and preheat on high.
2. Coat large skillet with cooking spray and cook onions for 2-3 minutes over medium high; stirring.
3. Add Laura's Lean Ground Beef to skillet; cook and stir 6-7 minutes or until beef is evenly cooked.
4. Add beef mixture and all ingredients excluding buns and lettuce.
5. Cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours.
6. Serve on toasted buns with romaine lettuce.
7. Enjoy your Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes Recipe!

More Ground Beef Recipes

• Irish Beef & Stout Potpie Recipe
• Mediterranean Meat Sauce & Pasta Recipe 
• Mediterranean Lasagna Recipe
• Quick and Dirty Chili Recipe
• Slow Cooker Lumberjack Chili
• Taco Casserole Recipe 
• Bolognese Sauce with Pasta Recipe
• Artichoke & Parmesan Cheese Stuffed Peppers Recipe
• Gram’s Famous Barbecues — Make this with any leftover roast or ground beef!
• And of course, tacos!!! Add ground beef to Black Beans and Rice Street Tacos Recipe

Whip up a quick and easy dinner with our Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes Recipe!

Thanks for being a part of the CWR blog-family!

All the love,

Ruthie

*This post is compensated by Laura’s Lean Beef; however, all opinions are my own. #LaurasLean