End-of-week comfort food that the whole family will love. Rich, savoury and packed with flavour, these Sloppy Joes are a brilliant alternative to burgers and a great way to sneak some extra vegetables onto the plate. Made with lean minced beef, they're hearty without being heavy — and even better the next day. Colm O' Gorman is a food writer and recipe developer who lives in North County Wexford. Colm grew up on a farmin Co. Wexford and has been cooking since he was seven years old, learning about food and cookery from his mother who was herself a brilliant cook and food innovator.
Ingredients
Serves 4 | Prep 15 mins | Cook 30 mins
- 250g lean minced beef
- 1 onions
- 1 cloves garlic
- ½ a red pepper
- 2 celery stalks
- 1 carrot
- 1 green chilli (optional)
- 200g chopped tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- Olive oil, salt and black pepper
To serve
- 4 burger buns
- Little gem lettuce
- 1 beef tomato
- Thinly sliced onion
- 100g vintage Cheddar
Method
- Roughly chop the onion, red pepper, celery. Deseed and roughly chop the chilli if you are using it.
- Blitz the chopped vegetables in a food processor until very finely chopped, you can chop them by hand, but the food processor is much easier and faster. Heat a heavy pan with a little olive oil and sauté the vegetables over medium heat for about 10 minutes until soft.
- Add the minced beef, breaking it up well, and cook until well browned. Stir in the tomato purée and cook for a few minutes, then blitz the tomatoes in a blender and add those along with the Worcestershire sauce. Season well, bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Remove the lid, taste and adjust seasoning as required. The mixture should be thick, like a rich bolognese. Simmer uncovered for a few more minutes to evaporate any excess sauce if needed.
- Shred the lettuce, slice the tomato and onion, grate the cheddar and lightly toast the buns.
- To assemble, add lettuce and tomato to each bun, spoon over a generous portion of Sloppy Joe mix, top with cheddar and onion, and serve immediately with chips or a side salad.
Cooks tip:
- To save time and effort, use your food processor to chop the vegetables. Simply peel the onions and carrots, wash the celery and roughly chop them, before popping them into a food processor and pulsing them until they are finely chopped.
- This recipe is perfect for batch cooking and freezes well. If you make a double quantity, you can make a Cottage Pie style dish the next day by popping the Sloppy Joe mixture into an ovenproof dish, topping it with some creamy mashed potato and then baking it in the oven for about 20 mins until the potato is golden brown.
