Name: “Sloppy Joes” From Scratch
Yield: Makes 4 Servings
Ingredients: 1 large red or yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded (Bell Pepper Basics), and chopped, or use 1 small pepper of each color; 1½ pounds ground round or other lean ground beef; ¾ cup bottled chili sauce; 1 cup beer (not light beer); Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; ¼ teaspoon hot pepper sauce, or more to taste; 2 medium red onions, chopped; 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, or to taste; 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, or as needed; 3 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion greens; 4 lengths of French or Italian bread (4 to 6 inches), split lengthwise, or 4 seeded rolls, split; ½ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or a pinch of dried; 3 large garlic cloves, minced

Preparation info

Makes
4
Servings

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Get in There and Cook

By Richard Sax

Published 1997

About

Depending on where you grew up, “Sloppy Joes” can refer either to a savory ground beef mixture served on hamburger buns or to multilayered deli sandwiches served at catered parties (usually delivered wrapped in yellow cellophane). The version here is ground beef. More often than not, the mixture is actually made from a canned or powdered mix—almost never from scratch. I remember tasting Sloppy Joes when the commercial product was introduced at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

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