Prepare these turkey Sloppy Joes in a Crock Pot or on the stovetop. The childhood classic just got a little bit healthier and a little bit more convenient!
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If you love Sloppy Joes, don’t miss this old fashioned Sloppy Joes recipe, a 4-ingredient crescent roll Sloppy Joe casserole, and this Sloppy Joe cornbread casserole, too!
This is an amazing recipe for turkey sloppy joes. We’ve gotten away from eating red meat so I have had to find new recipes for turkey and chicken. These sloppy joes will be in our monthly recipe rotation. This recipe is so much better than Manwich.
– Emily
Don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing wrong with using a can of Manwich sauce for quick Sloppy Joes. I was raised on the stuff, and my kids have become fond of it as well. But if I told you that I have a simple recipe for something even tastier, healthier, and easier, wouldn’t you want to give it a try? Best of all, you can prepare the ground turkey sloppy joes in a slow cooker or in a skillet on stovetop. Pick whichever method works best for you!
Ingredient Notes and Tips for Success
- I’ve shown ground turkey breast here, but you can sub with a mixture of ground white and dark meat turkey, or use ground beef, ground chicken, or ground pork.
- I like a sweet, thick barbecue sauce in this recipe, such as Sweet Baby Ray’s brand. For a zestier, more tangy flavor, we also like Stubbs Original.
- Have hamburger buns and toppings on hand for serving your turkey sloppy joes. We love adding American cheese or cheddar cheese, dill pickle slices or bread and butter pickles, a traditional coleslaw recipe, or lettuce, tomato, and red onion.
- Even although browning the turkey, onion, and garlic is an extra step before adding the ingredients to a Crock Pot, don’t skip it! This is important for flavor and for draining off the excess grease.
- Cooking just for two? Cut all of the ingredients in half. The rest of the instructions remain the same. You can also freeze any leftovers for another meal (those instructions are provided below).
How to Make Turkey Sloppy Joes
You’ll find both the slow cooker and stovetop directions in the recipe card below. We love the Crock Pot option for busy weeknights, Super Bowl parties, or other gatherings where folks are serving themselves at different times. You can keep the meat and sauce on the warm setting so that it’s ready when you need it!
- Start by browning the turkey meat in a skillet with onion and garlic. That’s the flavorful base for your sandwiches.
- While the turkey cooks, you have a few minutes to whisk together a simple sweet-and-sour sauce.
- Transfer the sauce and the cooked turkey mixture to your slow cooker, where they will come together and stay warm until you’re ready to serve your turkey sloppy joes! This sauce is full of sweet and savory spices, and after simmering for a few hours in your Crock Pot, the flavor gets that much better. The delicious sauce also keeps the lean turkey meat nice and moist.
Serving Suggestions
Ground turkey sloppy joes are delicious alongside potato chips or baked potato wedges, corn sticks, vinegar coleslaw, a house salad with candied pecans, garlic parmesan zucchini casserole, Duke’s homemade mac and cheese, Jiffy corn casserole, 3-ingredient sour cream muffins, cucumber dill salad, or this easy pasta salad.
Preparation and Storage Tips
- Make Ahead: Prepare the Sloppy Joe mixture in advance. Keep it covered on the WARM setting in your slow cooker for a few hours while your family and friends serve themselves. It’s perfect for a party!
- How to Store: Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- How to Reheat: Warm leftovers in a skillet on the stovetop over low heat, just until heated through. You can also reheat individual portions in the microwave for about 1 minute.
- There are so many ways to use up leftovers! Stuff the ground turkey Sloppy Joe meat inside baked potatoes and finish them off with shredded cheddar cheese. You can also use the meat in tacos, quesadillas, nachos, wraps, on toast, or on salads.
Delicious! And easy too!
– Lisa
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 lbs. ground turkey
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
HOMEMADE SLOPPY JOE SAUCE
- 1 cup ketchup
- ¾ cup barbecue sauce
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- Hamburger buns, for serving
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the turkey, onion, and garlic. Season with a little bit of salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring frequently and breaking up the meat, until the turkey is no longer pink. Drain off the excess grease. Transfer the meat mixture to a slow cooker.
- In a medium bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together the sauce ingredients.
- Pour the sauce over the meat mixture. Stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 3-4 hours. Give everything a good stir again.
- Spoon the meat onto sandwich buns and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Turkey Sloppy Joe Recipe Variations
- For a sweeter sauce, add a little bit of brown sugar to taste.
- If you want spicy sloppy joes, season the turkey and sauce with cayenne.
- Include diced bell pepper in the skillet with the turkey, onion, and garlic for a little bit of extra veggies in the dish.
More Sloppy Joe Recipes to Try
Slow Cooker Italian Sloppy Joes
4 hours hrs 15 minutes mins
Dump-and-Bake Sloppy Joe Casserole
50 minutes mins
Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole
55 minutes mins
Originally published in October, 2014, this post was updated in February, 2025.
great recipes and appreciate your sharing! We are trying to move away from prepared foods and sloppy joes will be great to make @ home and healthier with the turkey. I just love cooking with ground turkey, it picks up all the great flavors!
Thanks so much! I hope that you enjoy them! I love ground turkey as a tasty way to lighten up dinners, too. 🙂
I love any good slower cooker recipe and when you add turkey meat to it, my interest gets peaked. I will have to try these sloppy joes for sure! Thanks for sharing! Stopping in from the link up today 🙂
I’m with you, J! LOVE my slow cooker…especially when I can use turkey! 🙂
i have been scoping around looking for some new slow cooker recipes since i finally took mine out of summer hibernation! i am going to have to try these sloppy joes, they look so good..pinning these and may be making them this week since i have some turkey meat in the fridge!
That’s great, Amanda! Thanks so much for stopping by. You’ll love this easy dinner! 🙂
I grew up on the Manwich version too, but my kids have never had sloppy joes. I bet they would like these!
Hi, Michelle! Yes, this is SO kid-friendly! I’m actually using this meat to make baked taquitos for dinner tonight. Everyone will love them! It’s so versatile, which is an added bonus.
My kids like manwich, but I’m not a fan, so I’ll be trying your homemade version. Thanks for sharing it on Merry Monday. I always enjoy your recipes.
Hi, Erlene! Thanks for the parties and thanks for visiting. I hope that you get to try the sloppy joes! 🙂
I love being able to use ground turkey where I can, and this is the perfect idea! Thank you so much for linking up at Tasty Tuesday! Your recipe has been pinned to the Tasty Tuesday Pinterest board! Please join us again this week!
Thanks so much for stopping by, Stephanie!
I love that you are using ground turkey! And the sauce is from scratch too – I gotta try this out. Nothing against Manwhich, but from scratch is always better. Thanks for linking up at Show Me Saturday! Hope to you see there this week.
These look delicious. I love the healthy approach. A wonderful comfort food. Thanks for joining us at Foodie Fridays. Hope to see you again this week.
Blessings,
Shari
Thanks, Shari! 🙂
Delicious. Sloppy Joes are my favorite to make, and I always prefer completely from scratch. Thanks for sharing on Weekend Bites
Perfect for busy Fall nights! Thanks for linking up with SNF! Pinned to our party board!
Yep, they are the perfect busy weeknight dinner! Thanks for sharing, Jaren! 🙂
This looks delicious, I could eat one right now! Thanks for linking up to Sweet and Savoury Sunday, stop by and link up again. Have a great day!!
This is an amazing recipe for turkey sloppy joes. We’ve gotten away from eating red meat so I have had to find new recipes for turkey and chicken. These sloppy joes will be in our monthly recipe rotation. This recipe is so much better than manwich.
Thanks so much, Emily! I’m glad that you love them as much as we do! 🙂
I have been using Manwich sloppy joes as the base for my Shepard’s Pie for years. Make the Manwich and put into a baking dish. Dump a can of drained corn on top of meat mixture. Cover the top with mashed potatoes. Sometimes I make my own potatoes but an easy quick way is to use the already prepared mashed potatoes from the grocery store or Costco.
After reading your recipe, I will try your recipe for sloppy joes so don’t have to rely on always having a can of Manwich on hand. We also love sloppy joes on Martin’s Potato rolls. I use to buy only the Pepperidge Farm white sandwich bread. I would buy several loaves and freeze them since that bread freezes so well. But it seems the grocery stores are carrying very little of that bread, if they have it at all!! So I’ve started buying the Martin’s Potato bread ( the brand name available at all grocery stores, not just Martin’s grocery store) and it is delicious and freezes perfectly.
We love Manwich, too! I definitely use both — depends on how much time I have. When we eat sloppy joes for a quick lunch, I usually just pull out the canned stuff. 🙂 I’ll have to try your shepherd’s pie recipe — sounds delicious!
Potato rolls are great. Those Martin’s rolls and bread are slightly sweet, so I can imagine they’d go well with the sloppy joes. Can’t beat a classic!
I use vegetable soup instead of bbq sauce, everything else is the same.
Delicious! And easy too!
Thanks, Lisa!