Description
Switch up your sloppy joe night with these Easy Slow Cooker Italian Sloppy Joes! They are full of flavor and take just 20 minutes to prep!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 large white onions (about 2 cups chopped)
- 1 red pepper (about 1 1/2 cups chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 16 oz. ground beef (85% lean)
- 16 oz. ground Italian sausage
- 6 oz. tomato paste
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp. salt + more for serving
- 16 slices bread
- 6 Tbsp. soft butter
- garlic powder
- 1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
- 5–10 oz. washed salad greens
- favorite bottled dressing
Instructions
- Prepare vegetables: chop onions and pepper and mince garlic cloves.
- Heat large pan over medium high heat (about 6-7). When pan is hot, add meat and onions, breaking up with the back of a wooden spoon or spatula. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 7-8 minutes, or until meat has browned. Season meat with 1/2 tsp. salt and transfer meat to slow cooker.
- Add garlic, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, and black pepper to slow cooker and stir together. Cook on high for 4 hours.
- 15 minutes before it’s time to eat, preheat the broiler for 5 minutes.
- Spread bread with butter (about 1/2 Tbsp. per slice or to your preference) and sprinkle with some garlic powder (a thin sprinkle over the bread should be plenty). Broil for 1-2 minutes, until golden brown. Watch very carefully as it cooks quickly!
- Serve meat over toast, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve salad on the side.
Notes
- Get your kids involved! They can: stir meat mixture together in the slow cooker, butter the bread slices, and sprinkle sloppy joes with parsley.
- Italian sausage: you want raw sausage here, and ideally it’s not in casings. If you can only find it with the casings on, just carefully slit the casing and remove the sausage, discarding the casings.
- Nutrition facts do not include salad and salad dressing.