Everyone loves Sloppy Joes—messy, saucy, and packed with flavor. Put a healthy spin on the meal with ground chicken Sloppy Joes. With a simple homemade sauce and minimal prep, it’s an easy, budget-friendly meal that’s perfect for your weeknight lineup.
Key Ingredients
Sloppy Joes are one of those classic childhood comfort meals you just keep coming back to. If you’re after an easy, no-fuss Sloppy Joe recipe made with pantry staples, this one’s for you. Here’s what you’ll need to get started.
- Ground Chicken: Prepare the Sloppy Joe filling with dark ground chicken from chicken thighs (80-90% lean) for the best flavor. You can use ground chicken breast, but I prefer more fat and flavor.
- Onion: Slightly sweeten the ground chicken mixture with white or yellow onions.
- Garlic: Four fresh garlic cloves make all the difference.
- Tomato Paste: Deepen the color and flavor of Sloppy Joe sauce with a spoonful of tomato paste.
- Tomato Sauce: Stir in one small can of tomato sauce or puree 3-4 small Roma tomatoes in a food processor or small blender beforehand. You can even replace the tomato sauce with ketchup.
- Mustard: Include a small amount of tangy yellow mustard.
- Soy Sauce: Add depth and umami with soy sauce, or swap it out for Marmite or a splash of Worcestershire sauce.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: Brighten the filling with apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or fresh lemon juice.
- Honey: A spoonful or two of honey to balance the acidity.
- Spices: Season with kosher salt, coarse black pepper, garlic powder, paprika, ground cumin, and cayenne pepper for some heat.
- Brioche Buns: I enjoy the look and taste of a good brioche bun, but you can use sandwich bread, hamburger buns, slider buns, or garlic bread to make the sandwiches.
Additions and Substitutions
- Get your veggies in. Include green bell pepper, jalapeño peppers, grated carrots, mushrooms, spinach leaves, or diced celery.
- Experiment with mix-ins. Prepare the sandwich filling with quinoa, black beans, or lentils to make it even more filling.
- Spice it up. Replace the suggested seasoning with your favorite spice blend—curry powder, Jamaican jerk seasoning, or a copycat Slap Ya Mama Seasoning recipe.
- Enhance the sauce. Try gochujang, A1 sauce, chipotle sauce, Sriracha, hot sauce, Buffalo sauce, or barbecue sauce instead of tomato sauce. I recommend Cheerwine BBQ Sauce, raspberry chipotle BBQ sauce, or Carolina gold BBQ sauce.
- Swap the sweetener. Replace the honey with molasses, brown sugar, pure maple syrup, or a sugar-free option like golden monk fruit.
How to Make Ground Chicken Sloppy Joes
The full recipe with measurements is in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Warm a large skillet or saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the ground chicken and break it up with a meat chopper. Cook until brown and heated through.
Step 2: Lower the heat and add the tomato paste, onions, and garlic. Sauté until the onions soften.
Step 3: Stir in the tomato sauce, yellow mustard, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, honey, and spices. Simmer on medium heat for 20-25 minutes until the sauce thickens.
Step 4: Meanwhile, spread butter onto the buns and warm a small skillet over medium heat. Work in batches to toast the buns for one minute or until they are golden brown.
Step 5: Once toasted, spoon some of the Sloppy Joe mixture onto the buns and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Caramelize the chicken. The key to incredible flavor is browning the ground chicken until it caramelizes. It may release some liquid as it cooks, but continue cooking until the ground meat reabsorbs all that flavor. If you want to keep it light, just drain the excess grease.
- Simmer the sauce. Slowly simmer the chicken mixture to deepen the flavor and thicken the sauce.
- Toast the buns. Spread butter or drizzle olive oil onto the brioche buns and toast them in a small skillet for a few minutes. Toasting the buns makes them sturdy enough to hold all the homemade Sloppy Joe sauce, creating a barrier to keep the bread from getting too soggy too fast.
If you enjoy ground chicken Sloppy Joes, try more sandwich recipes!
What to Serve with Sloppy Joes
It takes about half an hour to cook ground chicken with Sloppy Joe sauce to serve as an appetizer or an easy weeknight meal.
Pair your Sloppy Joe sandwich piping hot with classic sides like crispy potato chips, vinegar coleslaw, fruit salad, homemade french fries, Dutch oven mac and cheese, tater tots, corn on the cob, or a simple salad with ranch dressing.
Check out these ideas for what to serve with Sloppy Joes!
What To Do With Leftovers
- Refrigerate: Store the leftover Sloppy Joe filling in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
- Freeze: Let the dish cool and transfer it to a freezer-safe container or bag. Ground chicken Sloppy Joes will freeze for 4-6 months.
- Reheat: Warm the leftovers on the stovetop or microwave and toast some buns.
- Repurpose: Use leftover meat to make more ground chicken Sloppy Joes or whip up some Sloppy Joe sliders.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are they called Sloppy Joe’s?
Sloppy Joe’s are believed to be named after a cook named Joe in Sioux City, Iowa, who, in the 1930s, added tomato sauce to loose meat sandwiches. The name “Sloppy Joe” stuck because the sandwich is, well, pretty messy to eat.
Some trace the name back to Sloppy Joe’s Bar in Key West, known for serving loose meat sandwiches.
More Chicken Recipes:
Ground Chicken Sloppy Joes
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper
- 6 brioche buns
- 1 tablespoon salted butter, for toasting the buns
- Warm a large skillet or saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the ground chicken and break it up with a meat chopper. Cook until brown and heated through.
- Lower the heat and add the tomato paste, onions, and garlic. Sauté until the onions soften.
- Stir in the tomato sauce, yellow mustard, soy sauce, apple cider vinegar, honey, and spices. Simmer on medium heat for 20-25 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- Meanwhile, spread butter onto the buns and warm a small skillet over medium heat. Work in batches to toast the buns for one minute or until they are golden brown.
- Once toasted, spoon some of the Sloppy Joe mixture onto the buns and enjoy!
- Caramelize the chicken. The key to incredible flavor is browning the ground chicken until it caramelizes. It may release some liquid as it cooks, but continue cooking until the ground meat reabsorbs all that flavor. If you want to keep it light, just drain the excess grease.
- Simmer the sauce. Slowly simmer the chicken mixture to deepen the flavor and thicken the sauce.
- Toast the buns. Spread butter or drizzle olive oil onto the brioche buns and toast them in a small skillet for a few minutes. Toasting the buns makes them sturdy enough to hold all the homemade Sloppy Joe sauce, creating a barrier to keep the bread from getting too soggy too fast.