Creole Sloppy Joes

This post is sponsored by my friends at Tony Chachere’s, but all opinions expressed are my own – just as always.  Thanks for supporting the brands that support me and my family.  

Many of us grew up having sloppy joes as a quick and affordable meal on busy weeknights. Mom would open up that can of sauce and stir it into some cooked ground beef and supper was ready. It was easy and pretty dang delicious.

Now, while the canned stuff appeared on the market in the 60s, folks had been making sloppy joes for nearly 30 years prior, according to some historians. As the story goes, sloppy joes were born when a cook named Joe at a Sioux City, Iowa cafe added tomato sauce to his loose meat sandwich recipe. 

Now, I’ve probably eaten umpteen helpings of the canned stuff, but I like my sauce to be a little tangier. So, I’ve been making them from scratch for quite some time. I even like to use the filling to make Sloppy Joe Stuffed Peppers. So it’s fair to say that I love me a good sloppy joe. 

That’s why it made perfect sense to me to give my traditional recipe a twist and create these Creole Sloppy Joes. 

This recipe builds on my standard recipe but adds in some petite diced tomatoes – which add some great texture and flavor – and a healthy dose of Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning – to give them tons of flavor and a little kick.

And since the little ones love the joes but don’t normally love the heat, I didn’t make these super spicy.  That said, you can certainly add more creole seasoning if you wish. 

My recipe calls for just ground beef, but I typically like to use ground chuck. Even though it creates a little more grease to have to drain away, I feel like the fat content helps to keep these moist.  That said, leaner ground beef, ground chicken, and ground turkey will also work. The great thing about this recipe is that you can tailor it to suit your taste.  If you like a bit more bite, add some more Tony’s. Want it tangier? Add some more apple cider vinegar. More brown sugar will make them sweeter.  Every family is a little different and making these from scratch means you can change them up to make the mouths you feed even happier.