I’ll be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of Sloppy Joe’s growing up. I think I had a bad lunchroom experience. Â Speaking of 80s/90s lunches, does anyone remember those potato straws? They were crunchy sticks of potatoes–I always would get those in the lunch line. For some crazy reason I’ve been craving them lately and actually found them at Aldi. So didn’t live up to the hype. Whomp whomp.
When I make comfort food like Sloppy Joe’s, I pack them full of veggies. You don’t even notice them, but they bulk up the meal with vitamins and fiber. Win-win! Â Ground turkey is our household’s go-to, but if you want to try a lean ground beef, that works too. You can add whatever shredded veggies you have on hand–this version uses shredded carrots and chopped green peppers. Instead of a regular bun, try a sandwich thin or toasted ciabatta roll. My girls love some havarti cheese melted too!
- 1.25 pounds Jennie-O Lean Ground Turkey
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
- 1 Green Bell Pepper
- 2 Carrots , shredded
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons Montreal Steak seasoning
- Salt & Pepper , to taste
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cups no salt tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons low-sodium tomato paste
- Splash of apple cider vinegar , optional
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Chop and shred all veggies.
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Over medium heat, add oil to a large skillet. Add onion and green peppers. Saute for 3-4 minutes.
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Add ground turkey and crumble with a flat spatula or spoon. When almost cooked through, add carrots.
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Season with Montreal Steak seasoning and Worcestershire sauce. Once cooked through, add brown sugar and heat until syrupy.
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Add tomato paste and stir until combined. Slowly pour in tomato sauce. If desired, add apple cider vinegar.
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Stir and cook until sauce has thickened up.
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Serve over cibatta rolls or sandwich thins.
You can make this with lean ground beef too! My kids love to top their sandwiches with cheese, too. We like to serve with roasted potatoes, a veggie and pickles!
This meal is perfect for those busy weeknights. I like to add this to our menu at least once a month. To switch it up, you can add Sriracha ketchup instead of tomato sauce OR Mexican spices instead of Montreal Steak, served with avocados. Possibilities are endless.
What’s on your menu this week?
These look really good. I never thought about doing turkey ones. I will definitely have to try these out with my family. They look easy to make too. Thanks for posting this.
Yes, nice and easy–the meal is done in less than 30 minutes!
This look wonderful. I think my daughters would love it. They are not the biggest fans of traditional sloppy joes but they love Turkey. Thank you for sharing!
No problem! Let me know if you try them!
I’m always looking for ways to get more vegetables into my son. This recipe looks really good!
Yeah, I like to shred them whenever I can! Carrots and zucchini are my favorites to add.
Oh man it’s my dream to recreate those potato straws for the blog one day!!! I too am a late lover of sloppy joes! So easy and these look so good!
After seeing the potato straws at Better Made yesterday, I neeeeeed to find some good ones!
We just had sloppy joe’s on Monday! I wish I would have seen this before, these look awesome! I will definitely use this recipe next time!
Awesome! Let me know what you think if you try it!
Turkey is better for us! I will have to try this recipe. Thanks!
I usually do goulash, which we make the same as sloppy joes but with noodles lol, but anything that ups the veggie intake is a win in my book 🙂
Yum, I love goulash! I need to make some soon–Rachael Ray has a great recipe for it.
Yummy! I love cooking with ground turkey.
So do we! It’s great to have in the freezer for weeknight meals.
I hadn’t thought of using turkey meat duh! I love sloppy joes and that is such a healthier option than hamburger. I had a bison sloppy joe this summer but it wasn’t that good – too dry. Thanks for sharing the recipe we’ll have to try this out!
Yeah, bison is hard to cook with. Great for burgers though! We tend to turn to turkey instead of beef–it goes on sale quite a bit!