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Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
  • Prep 15 min
  • Total 45 min
  • Servings 6
Two delightfully messy sandwich faves combined into one all-out-delicious sandwich! We start with a simple, easy homemade sloppy Joes recipe, and take it to the next level with—what else?—cheese.
By Macheesmo
Created January 18, 2017

Ingredients

  • 1 lb lean ground beef
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 cup diced green pepper
  • 1/2 cup diced carrot
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 can (15 oz) Muir Glen™ organic tomato sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • Salt and pepper
  • 8 oz cheddar cheese, cubed
  • 12 slices sandwich bread
  • Butter, for bread

Steps

  • 1
    To make the sloppy Joe mixture, start by heating olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add ground beef and cook, breaking up beef as it browns, until cooked through, about 5-6 minutes.
  • 2
    Add green peppers and carrots to the beef mixture and cook for another few minutes until veggies start to soften. Then add garlic powder, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir together and simmer for about 5 minutes so mixture can thicken. If the sloppy Joe mixture seems dry, add 1/4 cup water.
  • 3
    Heat a non-stick skillet over low heat. Lightly butter two slices of sandwich bread.
  • 4
    Cut cheddar cheese into 1/4-inch cubes. Take about 1/2 cup of the sloppy Joe mixture and stir in 1-2 oz cheddar cheese cubes, depending on how cheesy you’d like your sandwich to be.
  • 5
    Add one slice of bread, buttered side down, to the hot skillet. Top with the cheese and sloppy Joe mixture. Add the second piece of bread, buttered side up. Cook over low heat for 3-4 minutes per side until bread is nicely browned and cheese is melted.
  • 6
    Repeat with remaining ingredients and serve immediately. Yields 6 sandwiches.

Expert Tips

  • I think cooking at home should be fun. If you’re not having fun while doing it, then you’re doing something wrong. That said, there isn’t much that’s more fun than stacking delicious sloppy Joe mix in a grilled cheese sandwich! It’s messy, delicious and easy to make. You are going to LOVE this sandwich. I have no idea who Joe was and why he liked his sandwiches so sloppy, but I’m glad he did. I’d venture to guess that this sloppy Joe grilled cheese is even sloppier than the original! You’ll need lots of napkins for this guy, but it’s worth it for sure! Making a good sloppy Joe mix is the first step to this recipe. I keep my version pretty simple. Brown some beef in a skillet and add some green peppers and carrots. Then add tomato sauce, garlic powder, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. If the mixture seems very dry, you can add 1/4 cup of water to it to loosen the sauce a bit. Once the sloppy Joe mixture simmers for five minutes, it’s ready to go. Obviously, you could just slap it on bread and make sloppy Joes. Nothing wrong with that! But, if you want to take it to the next level, let’s make grilled cheese sandwiches with it! There are two tricks to making this sandwich perfect. First, cube your cheese. Don’t shred it. By cubing the cheese and adding it to the sloppy Joe mixture, you end up with pockets of delicious melted cheese, which leads to a much better finished product. The second trick is to make sure to cook the sandwich on low heat. Butter your bread and cook in a nonstick skillet. The low heat will mean the cheese has time to melt and the bread won’t overcook. You’ll be left with a perfectly cheesy and delicious sandwich! If you wanted, you could make the sloppy Joe mix in advance. It stores great in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.
  • Be sure to taste your sloppy Joe mixture and adjust it to your liking before adding it to sandwiches. Some people like their sloppy Joes on the sweet side; others might want more garlic powder or Worcestershire sauce. You could even add a little BBQ sauce for a more savory sloppy Joe mix.

Nutrition Information

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving
Calories
580
Calories from Fat
300
Total Fat
33g
51%
Saturated Fat
16g
80%
Trans Fat
1g
Cholesterol
105mg
35%
Sodium
1120mg
47%
Potassium
330mg
10%
Total Carbohydrate
43g
14%
Dietary Fiber
3g
12%
Sugars
15g
Protein
27g
% Daily Value*:
Vitamin A
60%
60%
Vitamin C
10%
10%
Calcium
35%
35%
Iron
20%
20%
Exchanges:
2 Starch; 0 Fruit; 1 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Skim Milk; 0 Low-Fat Milk; 0 Milk; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Very Lean Meat; 3 Lean Meat; 0 High-Fat Meat; 4 1/2 Fat;
Carbohydrate Choice
3
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

More About This Recipe

  • I think cooking at home should be fun. If you’re not having fun while doing it, then you’re doing something wrong. That said, there isn’t much that’s more fun than stacking delicious sloppy Joe mix in a grilled cheese sandwich! It’s messy, delicious and easy to make. You are going to LOVE this sandwich.

    I have no idea who Joe was and why he liked his sandwiches so sloppy, but I’m glad he did. I’d venture to guess that this sloppy Joe grilled cheese is even sloppier than the original! You’ll need lots of napkins for this guy, but it’s worth it for sure!

    Making a good sloppy Joe mix is the first step to this recipe. I keep my version pretty simple. Brown some beef in a skillet and add some green peppers and carrots. Then add tomato sauce, garlic powder, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. If the mixture seems very dry, you can add 1/4 cup of water to it to loosen the sauce a bit.

    Once the sloppy Joe mixture simmers for five minutes, it’s ready to go. Obviously, you could just slap it on bread and make sloppy Joes. Nothing wrong with that! But, if you want to take it to the next level, let’s make grilled cheese sandwiches with it!

    There are two tricks to making this sandwich perfect. First, cube your cheese. Don’t shred it. By cubing the cheese and adding it to the sloppy Joe mixture, you end up with pockets of delicious melted cheese, which leads to a much better finished product.

    The second trick is to make sure to cook the sandwich on low heat. Butter your bread and cook in a nonstick skillet. The low heat will mean the cheese has time to melt and the bread won’t overcook. You’ll be left with a perfectly cheesy and delicious sandwich!

    If you wanted, you could make the sloppy Joe mix in advance. It stores great in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.
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