Chicken Sloppy Joes Recipe

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Story and Photos by Rita Heikenfeld. Ground poultry makes darn tasty sloppy joes.

Sloppy Joes. The name alone transports a lot of folks back to their childhood. The aroma of meat cooking slowly in a seasoned tomato sauce made mouths water long before supper was served. When I was a kid, we walked to school, and hot lunches were all homemade. Back then, the cost was 25 cents and included a bottle of milk with a paper cap. (I know, I’m dating myself.) My absolute favorite was the homemade, cafeteria-style sloppy joe with a side of slaw. I always looked forward to the “sloppy” part — that small amount of filling that spilled over the bun.

Sloppy Joes are typically made with beef, but what we’re seeing now is a shift toward sloppy joes made with healthy, lean poultry. The recipes I’m sharing are no-fuss and yummy. And yes, just sloppy enough to escape a bit over the bun. After all, we’re talking tradition here! The first recipe is a nice one for those who like the traditional-tasting sloppy joes. Want a more complex flavor? Check out the second recipe with a base of spicy chili sauce. Because coleslaw and baked beans are a given at our house when I make sloppy joes, I’m sharing recipes for those, as well.

If you find yourself with a good amount of ground poultry, make a big batch and freeze some for later. It reheats easily and is nice to have for a quick meal after a day spent outside or running the kids around for events. And oh, don’t forget plenty of napkins!

Do you have a favorite sloppy joe recipe? If you do, I’ll bet there’s a story connected with it! We’d love to hear from you.

Traditional Chicken Sloppy Joes

Use white or dark meat or a combination. Dark gives a deeper flavor. Go to taste on the seasonings.

Serves 6.

Chicken Filling

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound ground chicken
• ¾ cup onion, finely diced
• ½ cup bell pepper, finely diced

Sauce

This can be made ahead.

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
• 1½ cups ketchup
• Brown sugar — start with 3 to 4 tablespoons and go from there
• Worcestershire sauce, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste

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Instructions for Chicken

1. Pour olive oil into large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add chicken, onion, and bell pepper, crumbling chicken with a spoon or
3. potato masher. Cook until chicken is done.

Instructions for Sloppy Joes Sauce

1. Whisk sauce ingredients together.
2. Pour sauce over cooked chicken mixture and stir.
3. Bring to a boil.
4. Lower to a simmer and cook 20 minutes or more, until thickened to your liking.

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Tips for Chicken Sloppy Joes

• Sub in shredded chicken for ground, or turkey for the chicken.
• Light or dark brown sugar works well. A brown sugar substitute can be used, too.
• By cooking in a large skillet, the chicken mixture cooks down quicker, making for saucy, not runny, sloppy joes.
• For extra kick, toward the end of cooking time, add a few shakes of your favorite hot sauce.

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Spicier Chicken Sloppy Joes

Serves 4.

This recipe uses bottled chili sauce, so it ups the flavor profile of the sloppy joes. Use white or dark meat or a combination. Dark gives a deeper
flavor. Go to taste on seasonings.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound ground chicken
• ¾ cup onion or more, finely diced
• ¼ cup bell pepper or more, finely diced
• 1 bottle chili sauce, 12 ounces or so
• Brown sugar to taste — start with 2 to 3 tablespoons
• Salt and pepper, to taste

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Instructions

• Pour olive oil into large skillet over medium heat.
• Add chicken, onion, and bell pepper, crumbling chicken with a spoon or
• potato masher. Cook until chicken is done.
• Add chili sauce and brown sugar.
• Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook 20 minutes or until mixture has thickened to your liking.
• Adjust seasonings to taste.

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Brown Sugar-Bacon Baked Beans

This is a “no recipe” recipe. Taste as you go along.

1. Pour a can of baked beans into a pan.
2. Stir in barbeque sauce, to taste — you won’t need a lot.
3. Stir in a little brown sugar, to taste.
4. Add 1 green onion, chopped, or a little bit of regular onion, diced.
5. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes or so, enough to dissolve the brown sugar and cook the onion.
6. Stir in a couple of pieces of fried, crumbled bacon.

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Aunt Becky’s Coleslaw

There is no real “Aunt Becky.” A local grocery store here was famous for its “Aunt Becky’s” coleslaw. After the store closed, a customer shared this recipe and said this was close in taste to the store’s delicatessen version.
Recipe can be cut in half.

Ingredients

• 6 to 8 cups cabbage, chopped fine or shredded (can use a combo of red and green)
• 2 medium carrots, shredded
• Minced onion, to taste — start with half of a small onion or several green onions, chopped
• ¼ cup each: milk and buttermilk
• ¼ cup sugar or to taste
• Lemon juice, to taste — start with a couple tablespoons
• 3 to 4 tablespoons vinegar
• ½ teaspoon celery seed
• Salt and pepper, to taste

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Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix cabbage, carrot, and onion together. Set aside.
2. Whisk together milk, buttermilk, sugar, lemon juice, and vinegar. Stir in celery seed. Add salt and pepper.
3. Pour over cabbage mixture and mix well.
4. Cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours before using.
5. Keeps up to a week, covered, in the refrigerator.

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RITA HEIKENFELD comes from a family of wise women in tune with nature. She is a certified modern herbalist, culinary educator, author, and national media personality. Most important, she is a wife, mom, and
randma. Rita lives on a little patch of heaven overlooking the East Fork
River in Clermont County, Ohio. She is a former adjunct professor at the
University of Cincinnati, where she developed a comprehensive herbal
course. rita@communitypress.com

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Originally published in the June/July 2023 issue of Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.