Sloppy Joe Sliders are made with ground turkey that's been simmered in a homemade sloppy joe sauce, then baked until cheesy and golden. This family favorite is perfect for hosting!
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🌟Why You'll Love this Recipe
- Sliders are perfect for serving a large crowd: These sloppy joe sliders can easily feed 8 or be doubled or tripled to feed your crowd.
- Ready in less than an hour. Skip the Manwich or White Castle and make your sloppy joe filling from scratch tonight. All you'll need is a few key ingredients and less than 1 hour total. It's an easy weeknight dinner the whole family will love.
- Ultimate comfort meal. If you're craving something hearty and satisfying, nothing's better than sloppy joe sliders. Feel free to serve as an appetizer with Warm Crab and Spinach Dip or as a main alongside your favorite sides, including my Air Fryer Steak Fries.
🥘Ingredients and Substitutions
- Ground turkey - Sloppy joes are traditionally made with ground beef, but I opted for ground turkey for a lighter, leaner protein (some people call these sloppy Janes!). If desired, feel free to use lean ground beef or even ground chicken.
- Mustard - I prefer to use dijon mustard for a sharper, tangy sauce, but yellow mustard works well, too.
- Ketchup - Tomato is a key ingredient in making sloppy joes homemade sauce. Some people prefer to make their sloppy joe's with either ketchup or tomato paste, but I find a combination of both to bring the best sweetness and depth of flavor. If you only have barbecue sauce on hand, give my BBQ Pulled Pork sliders a try!
- Brown sugar - For the boldest, robust-tasting sliders, use dark brown sugar. For a more mild sweetness, use light brown sugar.
- Apple cider vinegar - I always have apple cider vinegar stocked in my pantry to make things like homemade salad dressings and sauces, but white vinegar will work well as an alternative.
See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and quantities.
🔪Instructions
- Begin browning the turkey, onion and peppers. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and brown while crumbling for about 5 minutes. Add in the diced onions and green pepper and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, salt and black pepper.
- Make the sauce. Whisk the mustard, ketchup, tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, smoked paprika, and water together in a bowl or large measuring cup.
- Add the sauce to the ground turkey. Pour the homemade sloppy joe sauce into the turkey mixture, stir and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Build the sliders. In a large prepared baking dish or on a sheet pan, place the bottom buns of the slider rolls in the bottom of the dish. Top each roll with some of the turkey mixture followed by a layer of mozzarella cheese or cheddar cheese.
- Add the top buns. Brush the top of the buns with melted butter and Italian seasoning, or as desired.
- Bake. Bake the sloppy joe sliders for 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the rolls are golden.
- Serve. Allow the sliders to cool for a few minutes, then serve and enjoy while warm!
💭Recipe FAQs
Sloppy joe sauce is typically tomato based and both sweet and tangy. I'd say BBQ sliders are on the sweeter side, but sloppy joes are similar!
The sloppy joes filling is naturally gluten-free, but if you are gluten intolerant, make sure to use gluten-free slider buns. They can be harder to find, but brands like Udi's are a popular store-bought choice for gluten-free hamburger buns. Gluten-free dinner rolls will also work in a pinch!
I did not find this to be necessary, but if you find your slider buns are browning too quickly, feel free to tent the baking dish to prevent over-browning.
If you are hosting guests and would like to prep ahead, you can make the ground turkey mixture ahead of time and store it separately in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 48 hours in advance.
Then, when ready to bake the sliders, warm the turkey in a skillet again and resume the recipe as usual. Making the full recipe in advance is not an ideal option - the bottom layer of buns is very likely to get soggy.
Similar to prepping in advance, I would not recommend freezing the meat on the sliders as this will likely make the bread soggy. Instead, freeze the sloppy joe meat mixture separately and thaw in the refrigerator until ready to use (1-2 days).
👩🏻🍳Chef Tips
- Shred your own mozzarella cheese. Store-bought mozzarella cheese shreds are coated with an anti-caking agent to prevent the shreds from sticking together on grocery store shelves. Although these shreds are perfectly safe to eat and use, mozzarella shredded at home will melt much better and faster and make for more appetizing-looking sliders. If serving sloppy joe sliders to guests, this is a great extra step to take.
- Try it on Hawaiian buns! A great twist for those who love sweet sloppy joe sliders.
🥗Serving
These sliders can be served on game day or at potlucks as an easy appetizer or as a main dish. Here are a few of my favorite dishes to serve with sliders to give you some inspiration. Or, check out my recommendations for What to Serve with Pulled Pork Sandwiches. Many of those recommendations apply here, too!
Appetizers
- Air Fryer Dry Rub Wings
- Air Fryer Buffalo Chicken Drumsticks
- Air Fryer Pizza Rolls
- Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled Pork Sliders
- Cast Iron Buffalo Chicken Dip (No Ranch)
Side Dishes
- Air Fryer Sweet Potatoes
- Air Fryer Frozen Green Beans
- Roasted Garlic Air Fryer Carrots
- Air Fryer Frozen Brussels Sprouts
- Air Fryer Frozen Seasoned Fries
- Potato Salad without Eggs and Mayo
More Easy Dinner Recipes You May Like
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating & comment below to let me know how it came out. Thanks for visiting!
🍳Recipe
Sloppy Joe Sliders
Equipment
- Cutting board
- Large Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
Sauce
- 1 tablespoon mustard, (Dijon or yellow)
- ½ cup ketchup
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ cup water
Sliders
- slider rolls
- ¾ cup shredded mozzarella
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and brown while crumbling for about 5 minutes.
- Add in the onion and bell pepper and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic, salt and black pepper.
Sauce
- Whisk the sauce ingredients together in a bowl or large measuring cup. Pour into the turkey mix, stir and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Sliders
- In a large baking dish or sheet pan, add the bottoms of the slider rolls. Top each roll with some of the turkey mixture and mozzarella cheese. Add the top buns and brush them with melted butter and Italian seasoning.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and the rolls are golden. Let cool for a few minutes, serve and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Shred your own mozzarella cheese. Store-bought mozzarella cheese shreds are coated with an anti-caking agent to prevent the shreds from sticking together on grocery store shelves. Although these shreds are perfectly safe to eat and use, mozzarella shredded at home will melt much better and faster and make for more appetizing-looking sliders. If serving sloppy joe sliders to guests, this is a great extra step to take.
- Try it on Hawaiian buns! A great twist for those who love sweet sloppy joe sliders.
- Make ahead: You can make the ground turkey mixture ahead of time and store it separately in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 48 hours in advance.
Then, when ready to bake the sliders, warm the turkey in a skillet again and resume the recipe as usual. Making the full recipe in advance is not an ideal option - the bottom layer of buns is very likely to get soggy. - Freezing: I would not recommend freezing the meat on the sliders as this will likely make the bread soggy. Instead, freeze the sloppy joe meat mixture separately and thaw in the refrigerator until ready to use (1-2 days).
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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