Homemade Sloppy Joes made quickly and easily in the Instant Pot – so good you’ll never turn to another recipe ever again! They’ll be a hit with family and friends!
When it comes to comfort foods, sloppy joes are probably at the top of the list. They are popular in the winter when the weather gets cold. But even in the summer, they are popular at picnics and potlucks. If anything, they are a kid favorite.
Relatively easy to put together, most sloppy joes involve a pound or two of ground turkey or beef, and a few cans of that “which” sauce. While it might be good, it’s just as easy to make your own and get away from the high fructose corn syrup that’s added to the can.
Almost everything you find in store has that same high fructose corn syrup. It’s a cheap way to sweeten almost all the food on grocery store shelves.
Thankfully you can make the sauce yourself with a few simple ingredients that you have in your cabinet. It’s even tastier, too..
Making your own sauce keeps it free of all the yucky stuff that comes in canned sauce – not to mention it’s SO stinkin’ easy to make – it literally takes just a few minutes!
Instant Pot Sloppy Joes
Sloppy Joes are easy to make on the stovetop. Brown the ground beef, add the chopped onions, and maybe even peppers, then add the ingredients for the sauce and give it a stir. Then let it simmer for a few 10-15 minutes until it’s thicker, with a rich tomato flavor.
Or, bust out the Instant Pot. It doesn’t necessarily save too much time, but if you are making enough for a crowd, it makes it fuss free.
Simply throw it all in a pot and not have to stand over the stove. Instead of using the typical tomato sauce, we used tomato paste for a richer, deeper flavor.
After just a few minutes in the Instant Pot, the sloppy joes are ready and should you have too much, you can use it in pasta sauce too.
Serve it up with a nice fluffy hamburger bun. Pile some pickles on the plate, with some homemade baked beans, and enjoy every bit of what was an incredibly easy, kid-friendly dinner.
Don’t have an Instant Pot? You can make this same recipe on the stove, too!
Homemade Instant Pot Sloppy Joes
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lb ground beef 85% lean or greater
- 1 bell pepper diced
- 1/2 C ketchup
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 6 oz water
- 3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp black pepper or more, to taste
- 1/2 tsp salt or more, to taste
Instructions
- In your Instant Pot using the saute feature, add the garlic, ground beef, and optional diced bell pepper.
- Season with onion, garlic powder, black pepper and salt.
- Saute until the meat is browned, then turn OFF the saute function.
- Add the brown sugar, tomato paste, water, and ketchup and give it a stir to combine.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and seal the valve.
- Set the timer for manual (high) for 4 minutes.
- Pot will take a few minutes to come to pressure. Once at pressure, it will count down from 4 minutes. At the completion of the 4 minutes, use a quick release, and add addditional seasonings as needed.
- Serve on top of hamburger buns.
Notes
Nutrition
Have you ever made Homemade Sloppy Joes in the Instant Pot?
If not, give them a try! Please leave a comment, rate the recipe and be sure to tag me on Facebook!
Smells great; sloppy joes. The only problem is it gave me a burn signal while coming up to pressure. Followed directions. What could have happened?