Sloppy Joes

By Sam Sifton

Rating: 4(2,382)
Notes: Read community notes

This is a no-recipe recipe, a recipe without an ingredients list or steps. It invites you to improvise in the kitchen. Put a Dutch oven over medium-high heat on your stove, then add a glug of olive oil and sauté in it a handful of chopped onions, a couple diced ribs of celery, a diced jalapeño and a small diced red pepper. When the mixture is supersoft, add a few cloves of minced garlic and cook for a couple more minutes, then dump a pound and a half of ground beef into the pot — ideally the sort that is 20 percent fat — and stir and sizzle until it is well browned, about 10 minutes. Bring the heat down a bit and add a lot of tomato paste — say 3 tablespoons, maybe 4 — and let it get a little toasty before adding a cup or more of puréed canned tomatoes. Cook that down for a few minutes, then add quite a few glugs of Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce to taste, and continue cooking until the mixture is quite thick, another 15 or 20 minutes. Season to taste and serve on toasted potato buns. I like steamed broccoli on the side, a walk for the dog and bed.

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2,382 user ratings

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Cooking Notes

John F.5 years ago

Hey Sam. Just wanted to make a moment to say I enjoy your writing as much as your recipes/non-recipes.

Dee K5 years ago

A recipe from my childhood (1960s) used ketchup instead of pureed tomatoes which imparts a sweeter flavor: 1.5 lbs of hamburger, one chopped sweet onion, 1 cup of ketchup (or more to your taste), 2 T. yellow mustard, 1 T. of Worcestershire sauce, 2 T. vinegar, 1 T. brown sugar, 1 T. celery seed. Brown meat and onion, drain fat, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer.

Ret5 years ago

You can also substitute lentils instead of ground beef

Michael Caruso5 years ago

I would cook the meat separately so I could drain the fat. Then add the already cooked vegetables, tomatoes and seasoning.

Tavis Dockwiller4 years ago

Thanks Sam. It’s my son Joe’s 17th birthday today. There is a pandemic. My larder is a bit slim. I’m trying to keep my business running from home. People are stressed. All I could think of was the comfort of my Mom’s sloppy joes, but I’m tired. You saved me. Sloppy joes, biscuits and a green salad. Voila! It’s beautiful. I could cry. Thank you.

Pat philipps5 years ago

I used ground turkey. Even though it’s ground from thigh and skin, there was almost no fat. I liked that the dish wasn’t too sweet and am glad Sam used Worcester sauce instead of ketchup. Also, we’re wimps, so I omitted all the hot stuff. Aren’t we lucky to have the NYTIMES?

William Wroblicka5 years ago

A dash of ketchup or bottled barbecue sauce wouldn't hurt, adding a bit more sweetness than the Worcestershire sauce alone can provide.

Bucky5 years ago

A favorite. I add a smoky kick with a generous spoon of dried chipotle, and add sweetness and depth with a pour of Port to boil off while it thickens.

Peggy5 years ago

I use ground turkey and while including some of the other items mentioned, I also add apple cider vinegar, brown sugar and honey! Yum!

Barbara Wheeler5 years ago

If you want a recipe, look at Marion Burros "healthy" sloppy joes on this site. She prescribes mustard and a touch of molasses along with tomatoes in various forms and Worcestershire. It's delicious and much like what you remember from childhood. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/4203-sloppy-joes

thinking5 years ago

Using the word "glug" repeatedly does not make it a no-recipe recipe.

Pam5 years ago

I often base what I will make for dinner on what I have on hand that I need to use—frozen ground beef and frozen pretzel buns, a half cup of homemade bbq sauce, with fig balsamic and Siracha replacing suggested Worcestershire and hot sauce. I cooked it twice as long as Sam suggested, so I would have time to fix anything that was off, and also to thicken it as I had no tomato paste. I made this tonight for March Madness and am sure it is why my team eked out a win. Fabulous.

Professor545 years ago

I like glug and knob. Perfect descriptions!

Mark5 years ago

Your mother must have gone to the same cooking school as mine. She never met a can of Campbell’s she couldn’t repurpose.

joyce5 years ago

I enjoy serving this on warmed corn tortillas and a sprinkling of grated cheddar.

Patricia R4 days ago

I add 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish. Don’t knock it until you have tried it.

TooManyCooks1 month ago

Very good, very comforting. Also forgiving, you can taste as you go and adjust, add, whatever. I used a generous amount of gochujang since I was low on tomato paste and would absolutely recommend.

mary pat1 month ago

I love this no-recipe method and result. Made many times with all the no recipe type variations you could imagine...whatever is handy. THANK YOU!!

TaiL1 month ago

2lbs lean ground turkey, chopped tomatoes and tomato sauce, over sourdough with a bit of grated cheddar. Absolutely great.

Christa1 month ago

I want to live in Sam Sifton's world. Made this tonight, easiest recipe ever. One exception was a red onion, it was the only one we had.

JT2 months ago

Holy smokes! What a great way to stretch your culinary skills by making this a “non-recipe”. I added this, I added that and before I knew it, BOOM! Sloppy Joe! The easiest dinner I’ve ever made and the family chowed down like I was trying to steal their food while they were eating. I’m never buying canned again.

Jessica4 months ago

I gotta tell y'all. A Sloppy Joe recipe without brown sugar and ketchup is just not going to be a Sloppy Joe. I found the pureed tomatoes plus the tomato paste to be too tomato forward, and I am tomatically inclined. I love a no recipe recipe, but this is not the flavor that I was looking for.

Mike K5 months ago

Thank you for the sides note about broccoli - great vegetable balance! Made this last night for the Taylor Bowl, really enjoyed it. Glad this was not a recipe, as that means that when I dumped the hamburger in after the tomatoes it still worked out; the meat broke up gratefully easily.

Peggy5 months ago

I will make any recipe that calls for "quite a few glugs." Of anything.

Lynn5 months ago

Chili sauce instead of canned tomatoes/and/or ketchup Added about a teaspoon of garlic chili sauce instead of jalapeño and hot sauce

Rebecca5 months ago

I like a recipe that is not a recipe, because this is how I cook most of the time. I used 2lbs of meat, and one 14 oz can of tomato sauce, and it was just the right amount of sloppy. Also added about a tablespoon of brown sugar. Great stuff!

NDN6 months ago

Glug for glug this recipe beats hands down any other dinner idea I could have come up with on my own after a long week of travel. I used a puréed can of original rotel in place of “tomatoes”, and a glug of baby rays bbq because sugary bbq sauce solves a lot of problems in my house. I added celery leaves with the meat because this non-recipe didn’t have instructions I forgot about red peppers with my adhd until after I started cooking but didn’t have any anyway. A-total-win-4-me-2-day :)

andrwgrcia7 months ago

Cooked today. Went on the family’s repeat list. Only substitution was canned diced tomatoes rather than puréed. Just a what we had in the pantry decision. See the comments about cooking meat separately and then adding to the already prepared vegetables, think it could help with draining off excess fat and liquids, but given the results this evening not sure worth adding an additional pot to clean. This is a great one dish option.

Betsy8 months ago

Added tbsp dark brown sugar 3-4 tbsp Worcestershire

Good starter9 months ago

Add brown sugar for sweetness, a little salt, and definitely double (at least) the tomato paste and puree. I added Sriracha which gave it a nice boost of flavor and spiciness level.

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