Instant Pot’s neglected joes are easy protein-packed meals that even your kids will love. If you’re looking for pressure cooker ground beef recipes, this is #1.
Ninja Foodi Sloppy Joes
I like the easy ground beef recipes around here. They’re cheap and everyone in my family loves them. You can make this on your Crockpot Express, Ninja Foodi or any other brand of pressure cooker you have.
I made this easy and careless Joe recipe for years on the stove. Now it was time to use my new favorite kitchen appliance!
InstaPot Sloppy Joe
I adjusted it a bit by adding peppers and some other ingredients. Figuring out the timing was another step. After a few batches, we determined which one was absolutely perfect so we could share it with you. Sometimes I have to prepare a meal more than once to make sure it’s correct.
I would hate to share something with all of you that might have a problem, it has to be perfect. Now, if you like spicy, you can adjust it for that very easily. My favorite way to add heat would be some dried Sriracha or red pepper flakes that also work.
It’s always best to use fresh or thawed meat, but if you need to know how to cook frozen ground beef to get started, try one of these methods. Then you can proceed with the other steps to add all that deep flavor.
You
could use any type of ground beef you wanted, or a combination of two of them. Chicken or turkey would be the lowest in fat, while sausages offer plenty of flavor and can make them spicy. Serve with small buns like sloppy sliders or larger sandwiches.
- Lean ground beef
- or ground turkey if desired
- Peppers Onion
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Salt and pepper
- Worcestershire sauce I’ve
- used soy sauce as a substitute sometimes Tomato paste
- Brown sugar
- Mustard
- Chili powder can add a little heat
- Hamburger
Tomato sauce
buns
How do careless joes thicken?
You always want it nice and thick with the sauce. I didn’t find the need to make anything extra for this one, but if you wanted a different texture, you could add more tomato paste and a little less sauce.
Careless joes in pressure cooker
I use a wooden spoon almost always so as not to scratch my nonstick pot. This recipe is really great because it’s super easy and there are tons of flavor when it’s ready.
This is how I start cooking almost all of my
Instant Pot ground beef recipes:
- You need to add olive oil to your pot and put it to sauté
- I add my ground beef and onions now. If you’re including bell peppers, now is a good time to add them as well.
- You want your vegetables to soften and for them to no longer be pink. It doesn’t need to be fully cooked, just browned on the outside.
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Stir occasionally along this step and turn off your pressure cooker once this stage is complete
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Drain the meat for careless joes?
This is totally up to you. Sloppy joes are a favorite of Americans prepared with ground beef, ketchup, tomato sauce and some other common ingredients.
These delicious sandwiches are loose in their consistency and are not meant to take shape like a regular burger
.
- I personally don’t drain fat. I feel like it gives it a little more flavor to put it down and I use lean meats, so usually there’s not much anyway.
Now you are going to add all your other ingredients and cook them under pressure all together. Lock the lid and close the steam valve for this step.
- The cooking time for this stage is only 5 minutes at high pressure followed by a quick release
- Once you remove the lid, stir and you can serve from here!
- I always unplug my pot when I’m done because even though it finishes cooking, it stays hot and can start burning the bottom if you don’t.
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Why are sloppy joes called sloppy joes?
According to the stories, a cook named Joe at Floyd Angell’s café in Sioux City, Iowa, added tomato sauce to his loose meat sandwiches and created the term sloppy joe sandwich. The rest, as they say, is history
!
- Today there are tons of varieties and ways to make these popular sandwiches.
- You can add almost anything to them really!
How do you make the sloppy joe’s thicker?
You can thicken careless joes with simple ingredients like a suspension of cornstarch and water. You can usually have this meal ready in about 30 minutes total.
- In a small bowl, simply beat a few tablespoons of cornstarch and water. Put your pot to sauté and add the mixture of cornstarch and water. Stir, let bubble and it will become thicker.
- As it settles in the pot and cools, it will also thicken more.
Serving careless joes is typically served on hamburger buns. However, use your imagination! We love this recipe that incorporates noodles we also call Instant Pot sloppy joe casserole, totally fun dish. You could even serve it over fries and call them sloppy joe nachos! Other pressure cooker recipes you’ll love:
- You can go further to add a cornbread topping to this with our Jiffy sloppy joe casserole recipe
- Instant Pot lasagna soup is easy to make and a family
favorite.
This is just one of our favorite Instant Pot recipes for kids. You can find much more in that post to enjoy with your family.
Instant Pot Sloppy Joes Turkey
You can use any type of ground beef you want. There are chicken and turkey that are lower in fat, and spicy sausage is another favorite. I like half meat, half spicy Jimmy dean if I can find it and they are for sale. Add a ton of flavor, a little heat, and even kids prefer this mixture.
Super easy and cheap food that we all love and costs less than twenty dollars to feed us all. That’s my goal, so win, win.
How to save Sloppy Joes leftovers
If you have leftovers, they save pretty well. Wait until the mixture cools completely and then transfer it to a plastic container or freezer bag. Seal the container or bag tightly so that as little air as possible is trapped inside.
Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. When you reheated it, it would go ahead and use your microwave for about 1 minute. Stir halfway and you can even add some grated cheese to the top for the last 15 seconds to melt. Serve this over rice rather than inside a bun to change things, or just alone.
