Bacon Cheeseburger Inspired Homemade Sloppy Joe Recipe (2024)

This delicious bacon cheeseburger inspired Homemade Sloppy Joe Recipe was sponsored by my good friends, the farmer owners at Cabot Creamery Co-operative. They make my all-time favourite cheeses, so it is a pleasure to partner with them to bring this pantry-friendly family recipe to you.

When I have my periodic freezer purges and find a couple of pounds of ground beef that needs to be used, one of my family’s favourite go-tos is sloppy joes. Oddly, though, my husband doesn’t like the “standard” sloppy joe recipe, so I usually play a little fast and loose with the concept for a churched up homemade sloppy joe recipe like these slow cooker sloppy joes or taco joes.

The result of one of those sessions was this delicious bacon cheeseburger homemade sloppy joe recipe that everyone in my family loves. They are an easy sloppy joe recipe that’s every bit as simple as opening a can of the usual brand, but they taste worlds better.

Imagine, if you will, a sloppy joe in a rich tomato gravy that has loads of incredible melted Cabot cheese and crispy chopped bacon in it on a toasted bun with tangy dill pickles. They taste just like bacon cheeseburgers with a super high comfort food factor thrown in for good measure.

What Kind of Meat Do I Use for Sloppy Joes?

My personal preference for this homemade sloppy joe recipe is the classic 80/20 ground beef. This requires you to brown the beef and drain off the fat before adding other ingredients, but the flavour that you get from cooking it in the fat is incredible.

That said, you can use just about any ground meat you have on hand or in your freezer. I’ve also made it with 90% or 95% lean ground beef, lean ground turkey, ground chicken, and ground lamb. All of them are delicious, just brown it up, drain off excess fat if there is some, and carry on!

Homemade Sloppy Joe Sauce

Wondering how to make sloppy joe sauce? This one is super easy. While the traditional sloppy joe sauce requires a variety of vegetables, this one relies almost entirely on these classic pantry ingredients; ketchup, mustard, pickle juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, beef broth or bouillon, and cornstarch.

And mercifully, it comes together in a flash in the same pan that you used to brown your ground meat. While the meat browns, whisk together your sauce ingredients.

After you’ve drained your browned meat, return it to the pan and pour the sauce into the pan, stirring to coat the meat. Bring the mixture to a boil, and voila! It’s sauce!

You’re going to make this sauce just that much better by adding a generous amount of grated cheese and letting it melt into the sauce. What kind of cheese? I’m glad you asked!

What Kind of Cheese Do I Need for This Easy Sloppy Joe Recipe?

I have a couple of favourites for this recipe, and they’re likely to be ones you already have on hand. My personal preference is to use half Cabot Pepper Jack and half Cabot Sharp Cheddar, but you can use whichever combination of flavourful, good-melting cheeses you have on hand.

If that means you have some good Cabot cheddar and a half-bag of shredded mozzarella, or all cheddar, go for it! Nothing but pepper jack? It’ll be delicious!

The basic rule here is that you can use whatever cheese you’d like on a cheeseburger. Just use the same amount by weight or approximate it.

What Kind of Rolls Should I Use for Sloppy Joes?

Homemade hamburger buns or the Most Perfect Soft Pretzel Rolls will always get my vote. They’re just plain delicious. Homemade rolls are equally good toasted or not-toasted.

If you have store bought buns, just be sure to butter them and toast them gently before serving your homemade sloppy joe recipe on them. It will help make them a little sturdier and more flavourful.

Are you looking for more delicious and economical ground beef recipes? Try out our Ground Beef Fried Rice a.k.a. Cheeseburger Fried Rice as well as our 15 Minute Korean Style Beef and Cheater Sesame Beef.

Homemade Sloppy Joe Recipe

Add the sliced bacon to a dutch oven or large skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring, until the bacon is crisp. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate.

Drain off all but about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat and return the pan to the burner over medium heat. Add the chopped onions and stir to coat.

Fry the onions in the bacon fat, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes, or until the onions are crisp tender and fragrant.

Add the ground beef to the pan over the onions, pressing it out with a spoon so that you have a patty of beef. Let the beef cook, undisturbed, for 4 minutes before beginning to break it up with a spoon or a “chop and stir“.

Continue cooking and stirring the beef until it is well-browned. Drain off any excess fat and return the beef to the pan over medium heat.

Whisk together all of the sauce ingredients and pour over the beef, stirring well. Raise the heat to medium high and bring the sauce to a boil, then drop the heat to medium low and simmer for 2 minutes, or until thickened.

Remove from the heat. Stir the cheese into the hot sauce and continue stirring gently until the cheese is fully melted and incorporated into the sauce. Stir in 2/3 of the crispy bacon, reserving 1/3 for garnish.

Serve over toasted rolls with reserved bacon, lettuce, tomato, slices of onion, and pickles if desired!