Remember Sloppy Joes? If you’re my age you either remember eating them at home as a quick weeknight dinner (Manwich, anybody?) when mom needed to get something on the table in a nanosecond. Or you remember eating them in the school cafeteria, perhaps served alongside tater tots. Whatever the case, these are not those Sloppy Joes. Dare I say, they’re even better!
Jump to Recipe
Nothing Easier Than Sloppy Joes
We were feeling nostalgic when we cobbled together our own interpretation of this childhood classic…Sloppy Kirks. I don’t think that name will stick, but we’re all about self promotion and a cheap laugh.
It’s basically ground beef, our Red Chile BBQ Rub, and our Duke City Sweet Sauce. Once we added the sauce we cooked it for a bit letting the meat juices, fat, rub and Duke City Sweet flavors meld together to create a cohesive sauce in the pan. We added splashes of water to keep everything the desired consistency and prevent the sugars in the sauce from burning.
We served these on my favorite homemade buttermilk buns, toasted of course. And topped them with thick slices of onion and scratch-made pickles. On the side, rather than tater tots, I made crispy roasted potatoes, tossing them in a sour cream & onion seasoning mix I made from buttermilk powder, Casa Seasoning, onion powder, dried parsley, and a pinch of citric acid. I wanted these to replicate the school cafeteria tater tots of my youth with the flavor of a Lays Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chip. These turned out great and I’ll be making these again so I can add the recipe to the blog in a future post.
This is less of a recipe and more of a nostalgic trip back in time. I may not remember much of what I learned in school, but I do remember school lunches. Who knows, maybe we’ll tackle recreating that weird pizza rectangle in a future post.
AlbuKirky Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef (80/20)
- AlbuKirky Seasonings Red Chile BBQ Rub (to taste)
- AlbuKirky Seasonings Duke City Sweet BBQ Sauce (start with 1/2 bottle, then add more to taste)
Instructions
- Brown 2 lbs of ground beef in a large, lightly oiled, skillet over medium heat.
- As the beef browns, add a few generous shakes of AlbuKirky Seasonings Red Chile BBQ Rub and stir to combine. As the beef cooks, give it a taste and add more seasoning as necessary.
- Deglaze the pan with a splash of water (2 or 3 tablespoons) and scrape the fond from the sides and bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
- Stir in approximately 1/2 bottle of AlbuKirky Seasonings Duke City Sweet BBQ Sauce. Reduce slightly then follow with a splash of water, approximately 1/4 cup.
- Let everything cook together for a few minutes. The juice and fat from the meat will meld together with the rub and the sauce to create a wonderful sweet and tangy sauce in the pan. Add more BBQ sauce, rub and water to get the flavors and consistency right where you want them. We ended up using about 2/3 of a bottle of the Duke City Sweet Sauce in total.
Notes
- Feeling fancy and have a few extra minutes? Dice up 1/2 an onion and a bell pepper. Sauté it in the pan with a splash of olive oil before browning the meat.
Go Back in Time
Take a quick trip down Memory Lane and make Sloppy Joes at home! They’re easy and taste so much better than what you remember.
Stock up on our rubs and sauces at AlbuKirkySeasonings.com and keep up with what we’re cooking on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Be sure to follow us there and tag us when you use our products! Thank you for being a part of our online community! See you next time!
