These are the Easiest Instant Pot Sloppy Joes, with a delicious and homemade tangy tomato sauce served on hamburger buns with coleslaw.
Ingredients and substitutions
- Olive oil – use another neutral cooking oil such as canola oil or avocado oil.
- Extra-lean ground beef – ground beef is the traditional option but you could try making these sandwiches with ground turkey or pork instead.
- Celery stalks – shredded carrot or zucchini would also work here.
- Yellow onion – white onion or shallots can be used if you don’t have any yellow onion.
- Green pepper – use any other colour bell pepper like red or yellow pepper.
- Garlic – freshly-minced garlic is best, but jarred minced garlic will work in a pinch.
- Worcestershire sauce – swap out for an equal amount of soy sauce.
- Soy sauce – coconut aminos or tamari are the best substitutes for soy sauce.
- Brown sugar – use a combination of white sugar and molasses to make your own brown sugar.
- Salt & pepper – to taste.
- Jar tomato sauce – use any jarred tomato sauce of your choice or even a homemade version.
To serve
- Hamburger buns – pretzel buns or brioche buns will add extra flavour to your sandwiches.
- Coleslaw mix – kale or cabbage slaw mix will work. In a pinch, use plain shredded cabbage.
- Kettle chips – you could also serve this recipe with fries.
How to make sloppy joes in the Instant Pot
- Sauté the beef, celery, onion and garlic.
- Add the rest of the ingredients in order.
- Cook on high pressure for 2 minutes.
- Serve on buns with your choice of sides!
What is a sloppy joe?
These loose meat sandwiches are most often made with ground beef or pork, onions, tomato sauce or ketchup, and other seasonings and spices.
All of the ingredients are mixed together, simmered and served on a toasted hamburger bun.
“Loose meat” sandwiches were popular during and after the Great Depression as a cheap and filling meal. They were most often found at lunch-counter restaurants and were known for being sloppy and messy to eat.
Frequently Asked Questions
The sloppy joe sauce for this recipe is so easy and way healthier than the store-bought stuff. It’s made with Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, salt, pepper and jarred tomato sauce. You can use any regular marinara or tomato sauce of your choice.
Manwich is the store-bought sauce you can buy at the grocery store to make sloppy joes – but this homemade version is so much better. It uses pantry staples and whole ingredients, so you don’t have to worry about any added preservatives.
Just about everything pairs well with these sloppy joe sandwiches! Grab a bag of your favorite potato chips or serve these sandwiches with fries, macaroni, potato salad, raw or roasted veggies, coleslaw, baked beans or corn on the cob.
The name ‘sloppy joes’ appears to come from a diner in Sioux City, Iowa in the 1930s. Joe, a cook there, was the first to use tomato sauce in the recipe, and the name has stuck ever since.
Storing and reheating
To prevent the buns and vegetables from becoming soggy, it’s best to store the sandwich components separately. That way, you can enjoy the entire meal again without any complaints. 😉 Transfer any leftover filling to an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator for 4 to 5 days.
Reheat one portion at a time in the microwave until warmed through. Or, add the meat filling to a skillet and simmer over medium heat for a few minutes. Assemble your sandwich fresh, serve with your fave sides and dig in!
Can you freeze sloppy joes?
You can’t freeze sloppy joes whole, but you can freeze the filling to use later! First, allow the filling to cool completely. To do this, transfer it to a bowl or container, cover it with foil and place the bowl in the refrigerator. For food safety purposes, it’s best to cool the meat in the refrigerator rather than at room temperature.
After the filling has cooled, spoon the mixture into a freezer-safe container or Ziploc bag and keep it in the freezer for 4 to 6 months. For easy meal prep, I suggest storing individual serving sizes in Ziploc bags. Squeeze out the air, lay the bags on a sheet pan and freeze until solid. Place each individual Ziploc bag into one larger Ziploc bag and you’re all set!
To thaw, let the filling defrost in the fridge overnight and reheat as normal.
More Instant Pot beef recipes
Meal prep tools for this recipe
- Grab some glass meal prep bowls if you plan on storing the leftovers.
- I get all my grass-fed ground beef from Butcher Box, conveniently delivered to me frozen.
Easiest Instant Pot Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 lb extra-lean ground beef
- 3 celery stalks, diced
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp each salt & pepper
- 1 (680mL) jar tomato sauce
To serve
- 4 hamburger buns
- coleslaw mix
- kettle chips, fries or side of choice
Instructions
- Set Instant Pot to saute mode and wait for it to heat up. Once hot, add olive oil, ground beef, celery, onion, green pepper and garlic, sauteeing for 5 minutes until browned.
- Add worcestershire, soy sauce, brown sugar, salt & pepper and tomato sauce, then turn off saute mode. Place lid on Instant Pot and make sure valve is set to seal. Press the pressure cook button and set to high, then pressure cook for 2 minutes.
- The Instant Pot will take about 5-10 minutes to come to pressure, then notify you it's done by beeping. Press the Cancel button then do a quick release of the pressure on the Instant Pot by flicking the switch at the top with a spoon. Open the lid when pressure gauge has dropped and the lid opens easily.
- Stir meat mixture then serve overtop of hamburger buns, adding the coleslaw mix in between the meat and the top bun if desired. Serve with kettle chips or choice of side and enjoy!