These smoked sloppy joes start out with smoked beef patties that get seared on the griddle. Add the simple ingredients for the best homemade sloppy joe sauce, and cook everything down on the Blackstone griddle for awesome sloppy joe sandwiches!
Sloppy Joes get such a bad rap… Probably because most people equate the messy ground beef sandwich to a can of Manwich or their middle school cafeteria.
But what happens when you smoke some ground beef patties on the pellet smoker or charcoal grill, then you sear the patties on the griddle to get a nice crust, and then you add in your Sloppy Joe sauce? Pure sloppy perfection!
These smoked Sloppy Joe sandwiches are anything but boring, and they may even have you craving the simple flavors of the messy, saucy beef sandwiches… now if only the cafeteria ladies had a smoker and a Blackstone griddle…
Ingredients for Homemade Sloppy Joes
The Sloppy Joe Sauce
This sloppy joe recipe has a nice bold, not-too-sweet flavor thanks to the Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, and fresh jalapeños. Here’s what you need for the homemade sloppy joes sauce:
- ground beef – I recommend 85/15 ground beef for sloppy joes on the griddle because it is a bit leaner, and you won’t be draining the fat like you would if you prepared this recipe on the stovetop.
- diced onion
- diced green bell pepper
- diced fresh jalapeno – For spicier sandwiches, you can leave the seeds in the pepper, or remove the seeds for a more mild flavor.
- ketchup
- mustard
- Worcestershire sauce
- brown sugar
- apple cider vinegar
- minced garlic
- tomato paste
- salt and pepper
Toppings for Sloppy Joes
When it comes to traditional sloppy joes, most people don’t think about adding toppings… it’s just the bun and the sloppy joe meat mixture. But these sandwiches are great with toppings that compliment the sweetness of the meat. Here are some suggestions for sloppy joe toppings to really amp up the flavor of your sandwiches:
- thinly sliced raw onion
- dill pickle chips
- pickled banana peppers
How to Make Smoked Sloppy Joes
These sloppy joes are easy to make, and they’re the perfect griddle recipe to feed a crowd or to save for leftovers throughout the week. Here’s how to make everyone’s favorite sloppy sandwich:
Step 1: Smoke the ground beef patties on the smoker or charcoal grill.
Start by forming the ground beef into medium-thick patties. The patties don’t have to be perfectly round-shaped, because you’re just going to sear and chop them on the griddle later. And you don’t want the patties to be too thick, because then they won’t pick up as much smoke flavor.
Once the patties are formed, just put them on the smoker for about 45 minutes at 225 degrees F. Since I have a smoke tube (which is great for adding extra smoke to whatever you are cooking), I actually turned the smoker off after 45 minutes and left the patties on the smoker with the smoke tube for an additional 15 minutes to pick up extra flavor.
*If you don’t have a smoker, you can follow this easy tutorial for how to set up your charcoal grill like a smoker. I used this method for years before I actually got my first pellet smoker grill.
Step 2: Saute diced peppers and onions on the griddle.
When your burger patties are almost done cooking on the smoker, go ahead and heat your griddle to about 400-425 degrees F. Then, start sautéing the diced peppers, onions, and jalapeños on the griddle like this:
Continue to cook the vegetables down until they’re tender, while you move on to the next step.
Step 3: Sear and chop the smoked beef patties on the griddle.
After about 45 minutes to 1 hour on the grill, your smoked beef patties should look something like this with a nice red color from the smoker:
Just add the smoked beef patties to the hot surface to sear. Allow the patties to get a nice crust (about 3-5 minutes), and then flip them to the second side.
After a few minutes, use your bench scraper to start chopping the smoked patties into smaller crumbles. The beef should be the same consistency as regular sloppy joes that you would cook in a skillet on the stovetop. Here’s the consistency that you’re looking for:
And notice the dark seared crust on the patties? All of that is extra flavor that you don’t get when you cook canned sloppy joe in a skillet.
Step 4: Add the Sloppy Joe sauce ingredients to the chopped smoked meat.
Once the smoked beef is finely chopped, add the sautéed vegetables to the meat and toss everything together so that it’s well-mixed like this:
Next, it’s time to add the ingredients to make the sloppy joe sauce.
Start by creating a small open hole (or “well”) in the middle of the meat. You’ll probably have some leftover grease from the ground beef that pools in the middle, and that’s a perfect spot to start cooking the minced garlic.
Add the garlic to the “well” first so that it can become fragrant from the heat of the griddle surface. Then, add the other sloppy joe sauce ingredients to the well, and mix everything together.
You can also add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of water to help loosen the tomato paste and other ingredients to create more of a sauce. Don’t worry, the sauce will reduce and the flavor will become more concentrated, but just a bit of water helps to create steam and meld all of the flavors together.
Step 5: Cook the smoked sloppy joes on the griddle until the sauce has thickened.
Continue to cook the smoked sloppy joe on the griddle, stirring occasionally, until the sauce has thickened to your liking. The meat mixture should look something like this… See all of those darker bits of meat? All of that is FLAVOR from the smoked then seared beef patties, and it’s delicious!
CHEF’S TIP – You don’t want to cook the sloppy joe mixture over high heat, because it will reduce too quickly, so be sure that you’re using the correct “zone” on the griddle. It’s important to be able to control your sauce. If you notice that the sauce is taking too long to thicken, then you can move it to the hotter zone on your griddle. If you want the sauce to be able to stew and cook more slowly, move it to the cooler area.
It will probably take about 10 minutes for the sauce to come together on the griddle. Then, just transfer the smoked sloppy joe mixture to a serving bowl to serve your sandwiches.
We served our Smoked Sloppy Joes with dill pickle chips and a quick homemade sauce made with prepared horseradish, mayo, a bit of A-1 and a dash of hot sauce. Those spicy, brine-y flavors help to balance out the sweetness from the meat mixture.
These sandwiches were so good that even my carb-conscious wife downed a whole one by herself… and she even asked for seconds.
Smoked Sloppy Joes Recipe
Here’s the recipe if you want to try these flavorful and easy Smoked Sloppy Joes for your own family:
Homemade Sloppy Joes – Smoker to Griddle
Ingredients
- 2 lbs 80/20 ground beef
- 1 cup diced green bell pepper
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1-2 jalapeños seeded and diced
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- ¾ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp mustard
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
- hamburger buns *brioche buns are recommended
- dill pickles, thinly sliced raw onion, mayo, etc for topping
Instructions
- Preheat a smoker grill to 225 degrees F. While the smoker is heating up, form the ground beef into 6 equally sized, medium-thick patties. Place the beef patties on the smoker grates, and smoke for about 45 minutes.
- When the beef patties are almost done smoking, heat the griddle to about 425 degrees F. Saute the diced bell peppers, onions, and fresh jalapeños on the griddle, stirring often.
- While the vegetables continue to cook, transfer the smoked beef patties to the hot zone on the griddle, and sear on the first side for about 3-5 minutes or until a nice crust develops. Then, flip the burger patties to the second side and cook an additional 2-3 minutes. Using your bench scraper, chop the smoked patties into small crumbles.
- Add the sautéed vegetables to the chopped beef and mix to combine. Saute the beef and vegetable mixture together for about 3-4 minutes.
- Make a well in the center of the meat and vegetable mixture on the griddle. Add the minced garlic and allow it to become fragrant for about 1 minute. Then, add ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Add about ½ cup of water to the meat, and mix all ingredients together on the griddle.
- Move the sloppy joe mixture to the cool zone on the griddle so that it can stew and reduce slowly. Continue to cook on the griddle, stirring frequently, until the sauce has thickened, about 5-7 minutes. *You can move the meat to the hotter zone if the sauce is taking too long to thicken, or move it to the cooler zone to slow down the cooking process.
- Transfer the sloppy joe mixture to a serving bowl. Serve sloppy joes warm with hamburger buns and your favorite sloppy joe toppings.
Notes
- For spicier Sloppy Joes, keep the seeds in the jalapenos or add more jalapenos or red pepper flakes.
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Comments & Reviews
Joe Jenkins says
Looks yummy