Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

Ingredients

• 3 lb Ground beef
• 2½ cups Sweet barbecue sauce
• 1 medium Yellow onion
• 1 tsp Ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp Hot sauce
• 1 Tbsp Brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp Garlic powder
• 28 oz Diced tomatoes
• 1 medium Red bell pepper
• 2 tsp Fresh thyme sprigs
• 2 tsp Fresh parsley

Method

1. Brown the ground beef in a wide skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it up, until no pink remains. Pour off the fat. The post starts with 3 lb of ground beef, browned and drained. The lean ratio is not in the post.
2. Chop the onion and the red pepper. Stir them into the beef with the barbecue sauce, the cumin, the hot sauce, the brown sugar, the garlic powder, the diced tomatoes, the thyme, and the parsley. The post uses 2½ cups of a sweet barbecue sauce, 1 medium onion, 1 tsp cumin, 1 Tbsp of a chili-garlic sauce, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, 1 Tbsp ground garlic, a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, 1 medium red pepper, and a couple sprigs of thyme and parsley. This version uses garlic powder for the ground garlic, and hot sauce for that spoon of chili-garlic sauce. The post named a barbecue-sauce brand. Any sweet barbecue sauce in the same 2½ cups is the sauce here. A couple of sprigs is counted as 2 tsp of thyme leaves and 2 tsp of parsley.
3. Scrape the skillet into the slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for 1 hour, or on low for 4 to 6 hours, until the pepper is soft and the beef is hot through. It was already browned, so the cooker is finishing the vegetables and the sauce. If the pepper is still crisp, give it more time.
4. Spoon it into 8 portions. The post did not give a yield, and it did not list bread. Eight servings of the filling is the cut used here. Soft rolls are for serving only. They are not in the count. Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for a few days. Reheat until the meat is hot in the center again.

Nutrition

Kitchen estimate only, not lab-verified. Counted as 1 of 8 servings of the filling: the ground beef, the sweet barbecue sauce, one medium yellow onion, the cumin, the hot sauce, the brown sugar, the garlic powder, the diced tomatoes, one medium red bell pepper, the thyme, and the parsley. The post did not give a yield and did not list bread. Eight servings of the filling is the cut used here. Soft rolls are not in the count. The post said 3 lb of ground beef, browned and drained, and did not name a lean ratio. USDA 85% lean is the row. A pound of this beef is 453.6 g, so 3 lb is 1360.8 g raw. Fat is poured off. Cooked weight is 912.3 g, from 1360.8 g raw times 18.59 g raw protein over 27.73 g pan-browned protein per 100 g. The barbecue sauce is 2½ cups. A cup of the generic barbecue sauce is 279 g, so 2½ cups is 697.5 g. The post named a brand. That brand is not the row. The onion is a USDA medium, 110 g, because the post said one medium onion. The red pepper is a USDA medium, 119 g. The cumin is 1 tsp. The USDA teaspoon of cumin seed is 2.1 g. The hot sauce is 1 Tbsp. A teaspoon of the pepper sauce is 4.7 g, so 1 Tbsp is 14.1 g. The post wrote a chili-garlic sauce. This count uses the pepper-sauce row. Brown sugar is 1 Tbsp packed. A packed teaspoon is 4.6 g, so 1 Tbsp is 13.8 g. Garlic powder is 9.7 g per tablespoon. The post wrote 1 Tbsp ground garlic. The tomatoes are 28 oz. An ounce is 28.35 g, so 28 oz is 793.8 g. The USDA can portion is 190 g and is not this can. The written weight is used, and the can is undrained. Thyme is 2 tsp of leaves, 0.8 g per teaspoon, so 1.6 g. The post said a couple of sprigs. Parsley is 2 tsp. A tablespoon of chopped parsley is 3.8 g, so 2 tsp is 2.5 g. Added sugars are omitted. The brown sugar is added, and the barbecue sauce sugars are not split. About 34 g of sugars per serving sit mostly in the sauce, with the rest in the tomatoes, the onion, the pepper, and the brown sugar. The sauce is the salty part. The post did not list salt.

Guest diet / allergy swaps

Short kitchen notes for guests. A fuller gluten-free or dairy-free ingredient list, when we have one, is in the panels below.

• Dairy-free

  The pot is beef, sweet barbecue sauce, onion, cumin, hot sauce, brown sugar, garlic powder, diced tomatoes, red pepper, thyme, and parsley. It has no milk and no butter. It is already dairy-free as written. Read the sauce bottles. This is a kitchen note, not a dairy-free certification.

  • United States: There is no milk or butter in the pot. It is already dairy-free as written. Read the sauce if a brand adds cheese.
  • United Kingdom: The same note. This filling does not call for dairy.

• Gluten-free style

  The beef, onion, pepper, tomatoes, sugar, cumin, garlic powder, thyme, and parsley do not call for wheat. Wheat, when it shows up, is in the barbecue sauce or the hot sauce. Use bottles that do not list wheat. Soft rolls are not in this count. If you serve the meat on bread, use rolls whose bag says gluten-free. This is a kitchen note, not a gluten-free certification.

  • United States: Barbecue sauce and hot sauce that do not list wheat. Rolls are not in the count. If you add bread, use rolls marked gluten-free.
  • United Kingdom: Sauces marked gluten free. The rolls, if you serve them, need a bag marked gluten free.

• No beef

  This pot is built on ground beef. It is not written for another meat. A different grind would be a different sandwich.

  • United States: This pot is ground beef. It is not written for another meat.
  • United Kingdom: The same note. This is a beef filling.