Instant Pot Sloppy Joes – seriously delicious! Hands down THE BEST Sloppy Joes we’ve ever eaten! Ground beef, garlic, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, cider vinegar, brown sugar, dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, and onion powder. So simple to make in the electric pressure cooker. Serve on slider buns with pickles, cheese, and mustard. Everyone raved about these sandwiches. Even our Sloppy Joe haters cleaned their plate! YUM!
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Pin This RecipeBest Instant Pot Sloppy Joes Recipe
These Instant Pot Sloppy Joes are hands down THE BEST Sloppy Joes I’ve ever eaten. OMG! I’m not really a Sloppy Joe fan, but this recipe changed my mind. I really, really LOVED all the flavors in this recipe! Ground beef with BBQ sauce, garlic, tomato sauce, cider vinegar, brown sugar, and chili powder. SO much flavor! This recipe is a million times better than a can of Manwich sloppy joe sauce. Add this recipe to your menu ASAP! The whole family is sure to enjoy this!
What is an Instant Pot?
Instant Pot is a name brand of an electric pressure cooker. Depending on the model, the Instant Pot can also be used as a slow cooker, rice cooker, and yogurt maker.
What is a pressure cooker? A pressure cooker is a sealed pot with a lot of steam inside that builds up high pressure and helps food cook in a fraction of the time of the oven or stovetop.
- The high pressure helps force liquid and moisture into the food quickly.
- Food cooks faster under high pressure.
- The extra liquid and moisture that the pressure adds help tough cuts of meat get very tender very quickly.
How to Make Sloppy Joe’s in the Instant Pot
This recipe is super simple to make with just a handful of ingredients. Turn the Instant Pot on the saute setting. Add lean ground beef to the pot and cook until no longer pink. Add fresh minced garlic and cook for an additional minute. Drain excess grease. Turn off the pressure cooker. While Instant Pot is still hot, add tomato sauce and scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom of the pot. Add tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, and onion powder to the pot. Stir to combine. Lock the lid in place and seal. Cook on manual high pressure for 10 minutes. Turn off the pressure cooker and quick release pressure. Remove the lid. Set the pot to sauté function. In a small bowl, stir together corn starch and hot water. Add to beef mixture and cook for 2 minutes, until slightly thickened.
- The key to making these sandwiches is after browning the meat to add a little liquid to the pressure cooker insert and scrape up all the bits on the bottom of the insert with a wooden spoon. That will keep you from getting the dreaded BURN notice.
- I used ground beef in this recipe, but you can swap it for some ground turkey. or ground chicken.
- Feel free to toss in some chopped onion, green pepper, or red bell pepper when browning the meat.
- Sometimes I add a splash of soy sauce, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, or liquid smoke to the beef mixture.
- My favorite BBQ sauces are G. Hughes, Sweet Baby Rays, Stubbs, and Williamson Brothers.
- For low-carb/keto-friendly Sloppy Joes omit the sugar and use a sugar-free BBQ sauce.
- Store leftover sloppy joes in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
What to Serve with Loose Meat Sandwiches
We serv the Sloppy Joes on hamburger buns or brioche buns with some pickles and mustard. They would also be delicious with a slice of cheese on top of the sloppy joe meat. YUM! I can’t stop thinking about how great these sandwiches were. They are definitely going on the menu again soon. Give these a try. I promise, even if you aren’t a Sloppy Joe fan, you will LOVE these sandwiches! One bite and you’ll never use canned sauce again.
Here are a few of our favorite side dish recipes from the blog that go great with this easy dinner recipe:
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Instant Pot Sloppy Joes
Equipment:
Ingredients:
- 1½ lb ground beef
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce
- ½ cup bbq sauce
- 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 Tbsp cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 Tbsp corn starch
- 1 Tbsp hot water
Instructions:
- Turn Instant Pot on Sauté. Cook ground beef until no longer pink. Add garlic and cook an additional minute. Turn off Instant Pot. Drain fat.
- While Instant Pot is still hot, add tomato sauce and scrape up all the cooking bits from the bottom of the insert.
- Add BBQ sauce, dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, cider vinegar, brown sugar, chili powder, and onion powder. Stir to combine.
- Cover Instant Pot, lock lid and seal valve. Cook on Manual or High Pressure for 10 minutes. Turn off pot and quick release steam.
- Remove lid. Set the pot to sauté. Stir together corn starch and hot water. Add to pot and cook for 2 minutes, until slightly thickened.
Notes:
My favorite BBQ sauces are G. Hughes, Sweet Baby Rays, Stubbs, and Williamson Brothers.
For low-carb/keto-friendly Sloppy Joes omit the sugar and use a sugar-free BBQ sauce.Steph
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This sloppy joe recipe is SO good! I did tweak it a little:
For 2 pounds of ground beef, add an extra 8 oz can of tomato sauce.
I diced up onion and celery and sauteed it before the meat.
Served on buns with american cheese and pickles/onions/mustard.
So quick and delicious!
This was a wonderful and easy recipe and I’ll definitely make it again! I used one of the Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauces, hot chili powder, and I did add in some yellow onion in step 1 as you suggested as an option. Great recipe!
SO glad you enjoyed it!
so easy and delicious! kids loved it!
I am trying to make this recipe cause my kids will love it. The pot keeps saying burn. Fingers crossed!
Make sure to add liquid to the hot pot after cooking the meat to get up any browned bits. You can’t skip that step.
How much water? Mine was saying “water” after maybe a minute of pressure cooking. Should I have added some water with all of the other ingredients? A Ninja Foodi usually needs 1/2 to a cup of liquid, so I was wondering if I should add some to begin with – before the corn starch/water mixture at the end. 🙂
My foodi does the same thing. I just have to remember to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water before pressure cooking. It’s a family favorite recipe here! And perfect for weeknights.
I haven’t broken down and bought an Instant Pot yet! 😬 Can you send directions for making on stovetop, please. Thank You!! 😘
Sorry, I haven’t made this particular recipe on the stovetop. I’m sure it can be done. You will just have to play with it.
We’ve made these several times. They’re so good! Making them tonight. I always make them as directed; there’s no reason to change them.
Delicious. Didn't have tomato sauce, so I used ketchup. Worked fab. I have a recipe I like (yay, butter) but it is stove top and takes longer. Great option for a hurry up night!
Yum! I've been on the fence with the Instant Pot, but I definitely need to get on it. I can't believe there are Sloppy Joe haters out there! What's not to love?? 🙂