Healthy Sloppy Joes [30 Minutes!]

Healthy Sloppy Joes are easy to make in only 30 minutes! Packed with protein from turkey, loaded with veggies and made with no brown sugar! These are great for a quick weeknight dinner your whole family will love!

Healthy sloppy joes sandwich with sweet potato fries on the plate.

These hearty Healthy Sloppy Joes are saucy, slightly sweet, and full of the classic sloppy joe flavor that your whole family will love.

We elevated this family friendly meal by loading up the veggies, using lean turkey for protein, and skipping the refined sugar for the perfect secretly healthy 30-minute meal.

Liz’s Tips for the Best Healthy Sloppy Joe

Keep sodium content in mind. The ketchup and tomato sauce I used weren’t particularly salty, so ½ teaspoon of sea salt was perfect. If you are using saltier ingredients, you may want to reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon.
Finely dice all vegetables to improve the texture and bite, make the sloppy joe a little less sloppy, and to help the veggies cook well in a shorter amount of time. You can even use a food processor to save time!
When cooking the turkey, be sure to break it up well. This allows the turkey to be fully coated in the flavorful sauce. We love this meat chopper tool.
The liquid will cook down forming a thick sauce. You can adjust the ratio of broth to make the sloppy joes more or less saucy.

Ingredients:

Using a meat chopper tool is helpful for breaking up the ground turkey. We love this nonstick skillet for our one pot meals!

Substitutions

Olive Oil: You can substitute avocado oil, butter, or ghee.

Sweet Onion: I like using sweet onion in sloppy joes to highlight the slight sweetness of the recipe, but white onion, or yellow onion can also be used.

Green Bell Pepper: Any color of bell pepper will work.

Ground Turkey: You can substitute ground turkey with ground beef or ground turkey. Use lean beef between 90-95% lean meat.

Tomato Sauce: I recommend canned tomato sauce because it is cheaper and made from simple ingredients making it easier to season the recipe to your own preferences. Jarred or homemade tomato sauce will work but keep in mind that it will likely be sweeter and more heavily seasoned.

Ketchup: I used Primal Kitchen unsweetened ketchup, but you can use whatever type of ketchup you like or even barbeque sauce for a sweeter, slightly smokey sloppy joe.

Broth: You can use any broth or stock interchangeably. Beef Broth, Chicken Broth, or vegetable broth all work interchangeably. I always use low or no salt broth.

Coconut Sugar: If needed, adjust the amount of sweetener used based on how sweet you want the sloppy joes and how sweet your ketchup and tomato sauce are. You can substitute brown sugar, maple syrup, or honey for the coconut sugar.

Worcestershire Sauce: If you don’t have Worcestershire sauce you can use soy sauce or coconut aminos.

Red Wine Vinegar: Apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar can be used.

How to Make Turkey Sloppy Joes

Chopped veggies and ground meat in a skillet.

Saute onion, carrots, celery, and bell pepper in olive oil for 7-8 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Move to the side and add ground turkey, cooking and slowly mixing in veggies. Stir in spices.

Ingredients for healthy sloppy joe mixture in a skillet before fully cooking.

Stir in tomato sauce, ketchup, broth, coconut sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar to the pan. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Healthy Sloppy Joes mixture in a skillet with a wooden spoon in the mixture.

Once finished, add meat to buns, top with cheese if desired, and enjoy!

What to Serve with Sloppy Joe’s

Sloppy joes can be served with or without cheese. I personally prefer them without but sliced cheddar, pepperjack, or provolone are common additions.

Generally, sloppy joes are served on buns. You can use whole wheat buns for a healthier option or serve the sloppy joes on a base of rice, roasted sweet potatoes, oven baked fries, or sweet potato fries as pictured here.

Try this broccoli salad or this apple walnut salad for an easy, delicious way to add more veggies to your plate.

This simple fruit salad and this lemon parmesan roasted asparagus will also make delicious pairings.

An overhead shot of healthy sloppy joe sandwiches on two plates with sweet potato fries on the plate.

Storage

Storing: Store leftover sloppy joe meat in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop until warmed.

Freezing: Transfer the meat mixture to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. We like these containers for freezing! Thaw overnight in the fridge before use.

If you need more freezer friendly recipes check out our Fill Your Freezer Ebook with 22 easy freezer meals!

Reheating: You can reheat this recipe in the microwave or on the stove.