I guess here in Germany not everyone is familiar with Sloppy Joe’s. To be honest, I haven’t seen any restaurant or street food truck yet that sells them here… and here in Berlin you can get basically every dish from all over the world ;P
Americans probably all know about these sandwiches. They created Sloppy Joe’s and basically every other weird burger/sandwich out there ;P
I had my first Sloppy Joe in the US, of course. I was so excited to try one of these sandwiches since I saw something similar on one of my favorite tv shows back in the 90s – Rosanne. All you Gen Z’s out there probably don’t even know what I am talking about here ;P
Rosanne had a diner in the show that sold “loose meat sandwiches”. Basically, Sloppy Joe’s with less sauce I guess ;) From the moment on I saw those sandwiches I wanted them. Unfortunately, my mom never made them even though I probably asked a hundred times ;P BTW – here on German TV they called them “Schnetzelfleisch Sandwich”. I guess the real name was a bit too weird to translate properly…
Anyway. The show was already off the air when I went to the USA but I still remembered the sandwiches and tried various Sloppy Joe’s here and there. Every single time it was a huge mess. That cooked ground beef does not want to stay between those burger buns – with or without sauce. Nonetheless pretty damn good and delicious ;)
My Sloppy Joe’s here are made with a delicious meat sauce, enhanced with cheddar and bacon between two toasted buns…. super yummy! Hold yourself back a bit and don’t overdo it with the meat sauce on that buns. The more meat sauce you add between those buns the messier it gets. If you don’t care – go for it! You might want to keep some paper towels close by just to be safe ;P
Note:
Instead of ground beef/pork, I used bratwurst for the meat sauce here. During the barbecue season, sausages for grilling are often on sale and thus often cheaper than regular minced meat. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter what kind of meat you use. You can create a tasty meat sauce with both.
INGREDIENTS / ZUTATEN
some oil for frying
1 large red onion, diced
1 medium carrot, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
14 oz. (400g) pork sausages, casings removed
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable broth
1/2 cup (120ml) bbq sauce
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. (hot) mustard
1 tsp. smoked paprika powder
chili flakes (optional)
salt, pepper
8 slices of bacon
4 brioche burger buns
3.5 oz. (100g) cheddar cheese, grated
etwas Öl zum Anbraten
1 große rote Zwiebel, gewürfelt
1 mittlere Karotte, fein gewürfelt
2 Knoblauchzehen, fein gewürfelt
400g Bratwürste (Schwein), Därme entfernt
2 EL Tomatenmark
120ml Gemüsebrühe
120ml BBQ Sauce
1 EL Worcestershire Sauce
2 TL Senf (scharf)
1 TL Smoked Paprika Pulver
Chiliflocken (optional)
Salz, Pfeffer
8 Scheiben Bacon
4 Brioche Burger Buns
100g Cheddar, gerieben
DIRECTIONS / ZUBEREITUNG
2. Heat up a large pot or dutch oven with some oil and sauté the onions until soft and translucent.
Add diced carrots and cook with the onion for several minutes until slightly softened. Add the garlic and sausage meat to the pot and cook/fry until the meat got some color. Mix in the tomato paste and let everything cook for 1-2 minutes while stirring often. Deglaze with veggie broth, add the bbq sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard, and mix to combine. Season with smoked paprika powder, some chili flakes (optional), salt, and pepper to your liking. Reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer until almost all of the liquid has cooked off. The sauce should be quite thick. You want the sauce to stick well to the meat. Took about 10 minutes for me.
3 While the meat sauce is simmering, fry the bacon in a large frying pan until crispy. In the same pan, toast the sliced burger buns so they warm up and get some color on the cut sides.
4. Place the bottom parts of the burger buns on plates and top with the thick meat sauce. Sprinkle some grated cheddar on top, add the fried bacon strips and close the sandwiches with the top part of the bun. Serve with some fries or potato chips. Be warned! The sandwiches have a great potential for making a huge (delicious) mess ;P
2. Etwas Öl in einem großen (gusseisernen) Topf erhitzen und dann die Zwiebeln glasig andünsten. Karottenwürfel dazugeben und einige Minuten mit anbraten, bis sie etwas weicher geworden sind. Knoblauch und Wurstbrät in den Topf dazugeben und das Fleisch krümelig anbraten, bis es etwas Farbe bekommen hat. Tomatenmark dazugeben, alles gut vermischen und unter ständigem Rühren für 1-2 Minuten mit anbraten. Mit der Gemüsebrühe ablöschen, BBQ Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce und Senf dazugeben und unterrühren. Mit Smoked Paprika Pulver, einigen Chiliflocken (optional), Salz und Pfeffer würzen. Die Fleischsoße so lange bei reduzierter Hitzezufuhr köcheln lassen, bis ein Großteil der Flüssigkeit verkocht ist. Die Sauce sollte recht dickflüssig sein, damit sie gut am Fleisch haftet – hat bei mir etwa 10 Minuten gedauert.
3. Während das Fleisch köchelt, den Bacon in einer großen Pfanne kross anbraten. In derselben Pfanne kann man die aufgeschnittenen Burger Buns kurz anrösten und erwärmen.
4. Die fertige Fleischsoße auf die unteren Burger Bunhälften verteilen, mit geriebenem Cheddar bestreuen, den angebratenen Bacon darauf geben und mit der oberen Bunhälfte toppen. Dazu schmecken Pommes oder einfach ein paar Kartoffelchips. Vorsicht: die Sandwiches haben großes Sauerei-Potential ;)
Craving more? Keep in touch on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest for new post updates and more. You can also contact me with any questions or inquiries!
Here is a version of the recipe you can print easily.
Print
Sloppy Joe’s with Bacon
- Prep Time: 00:25
- Cook Time: 00:20
- Total Time: 00:40
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Burger
- Cuisine: America
Description
If you love burgers or sandwiches you will probably love Sloppy Joe’s. Meat sauce meets cheddar & bacon in a burger bun. Super messer but also super delicious!
Ingredients
some oil for frying
1 large red onion, diced
1 medium carrot, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
14 oz. (400g) pork sausages, casings removed
2 tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 cup (120ml) vegetable broth
1/2 cup (120ml) bbq sauce
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. (hot) mustard
1 tsp. smoked paprika powder
chili flakes (optional)
salt, pepper
8 slices of bacon
4 brioche burger buns
3.5 oz. (100g) cheddar cheese, grated
Instructions
1. Peel the onion and garlic and dice finely. Clean the carrot and dice finely as well. Remove the casings from the sausages and crumble the sausage meat.
2. Heat up a large pot or dutch oven with some oil and sauté the onions until soft and translucent.
Add diced carrots and cook with the onion for several minutes until slightly softened. Add the garlic and sausage meat to the pot and cook/fry until the meat got some color. Mix in the tomato paste and let everything cook for 1-2 minutes while stirring often. Deglaze with veggie broth, add the bbq sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and mustard, and mix to combine. Season with smoked paprika powder, some chili flakes (optional), salt, and pepper to your liking. Reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer until almost all of the liquid has cooked off. The sauce should be quite thick. You want the sauce to stick well to the meat. Took about 10 minutes for me.
3 While the meat sauce is simmering, fry the bacon in a large frying pan until crispy. In the same pan, toast the sliced burger buns so they warm up and get some color on the cut sides.
4. Place the bottom parts of the burger buns on plates and top with the thick meat sauce. Sprinkle some grated cheddar on top, add the fried bacon strips and close the sandwiches with the top part of the bun. Serve with some fries or potato chips. Be warned! The sandwiches have a great potential for making a huge (delicious) mess ;P
Notes
Enjoy cooking!
Links marked with an asterisk (*) are affiliate links (advertising/Werbung) to Amazon Germany. If you click on one of those links and buy something via this link, I will get a commission for that sale. The price of whatever you buy is not affected in any way by this.
I love my job, but in between I love to bake and try new things in the kitchen. A lot of my friends and colleagues encourage me to bake - for a very simple reason: they get the leftovers - and it seems they like it most of the time ;) 
