Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes are saucy, savory-sweet sandwiches for a weeknight when you want dinner from the stovetop. The turkey filling has tender bits of vegetables, with mustard giving the tomato sauce a tangy edge.
How to make ground turkey sloppy joes: Cook the turkey and vegetables over medium heat, stir in the sauce ingredients, then simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Spoon the filling onto buns when you’re ready to eat.
Why You’ll Love It
- One pot for the filling: You cook the meat, vegetables, and sauce in the same stockpot.
- Pantry-friendly sauce: Tomato soup, ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard make a sweet-tangy coating without a separate sauce to prepare.
- Vegetables in every spoonful: Diced onion, celery, and green pepper cook right alongside the turkey.
- Easy to save: You can refrigerate or freeze leftover filling and put it on fresh buns later.
Ingredient Notes
Ground turkey: Buy ground turkey for a loose, spoonable sandwich filling. Break it up as you cook so it mixes with the diced vegetables rather than sitting in large pieces. I like using a stockpot here: it leaves room to stir the sauce without chasing it over the side.
Onion, celery, and green pepper: Dice these before you start cooking; they all go into the pot with the turkey. The recipe calls for a small onion and only a little green pepper, so you’ll still taste the tomato and mustard in the finished sandwich.
Tomato soup: Use it undiluted. It goes into the pot with the ketchup to form the tomato base, rather than being prepared as a bowl of soup first. If you’re shopping from a list, check the soup amount before you leave the store; the recipe calls for 10.75 ounces.
Ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard: Measure all three before the turkey finishes cooking so you can add them together. The ketchup and brown sugar bring sweetness, while the mustard makes the sauce tangy. I stick with the stated amounts before deciding whether the filling needs anything at the table.
Pepper, cooking oil, and buns: Use ground pepper in the sauce and enough cooking oil to coat the pot. Cooking spray works in place of oil. Choose buns you enjoy eating as a sandwich; you’ll spoon the hot filling onto them after it leaves the heat.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 sticks celery, diced
- 1/4 cup green pepper, diced
- Cooking oil, to coat the pot
- 10.75 ounces tomato soup, undiluted
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- Buns, for serving
How to Make Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes
1. Coat the pot. Coat a medium stockpot with cooking oil or cooking spray. Set out your diced vegetables and sauce ingredients so they’re ready when you need them.
2. Cook the turkey and vegetables. Add the ground turkey, onion, celery, and green pepper. Cook over medium heat, breaking up the turkey, until the onion is translucent and a food thermometer reads 165°F in the ground turkey. Drain any grease before you add the sauce.
3. Add the sauce. Stir in the undiluted tomato soup, ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and ground pepper. Keep stirring until the ingredients are combined, then bring the mixture to a simmer. The filling will look looser now than it will when you serve it.
4. Simmer uncovered. Let the sauce simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring often and reaching your spoon across the bottom of the pot so the sweet sauce does not burn there. You’re looking for a cohesive, spoonable filling rather than separate meat and tomato sauce.
5. Serve. Turn off the heat and spoon the filling onto buns. I wait until the filling is ready before putting it on the bread, so I can serve each sandwich as soon as it’s assembled.
When Is the Turkey Done and the Sauce Ready?
Check the turkey before the tomato soup and other sauce ingredients go in. Ground poultry needs to reach 165°F on a food thermometer; its color alone is not the check. Take a reading in the meat, then drain any grease and move on to the sauce.
Once you’ve stirred in the soup, ketchup, sugar, and mustard, leave the pot uncovered for the 15-minute simmer. The sauce starts out loose and finishes as a thicker coating around the turkey and vegetables. Stir often, making sure your spoon reaches the bottom where the sweet sauce can burn.
I’d rather keep the pot at a steady simmer and stir it than let the sauce sit untouched while I prepare the buns. When you lift a spoonful, you want the meat and vegetables held together by sauce, not floating apart in a pool of it. That gives you a saucy sandwich you can spoon onto bread.
Tips for Success
Why does my filling look oily?
You may see grease collecting around the cooked turkey before the sauce goes in. Drain any grease at that stage instead of stirring it into the tomato mixture. It’s easier to see what needs draining while the meat and vegetables are still separate from the sauce.
Why are the vegetables still firm?
If the onion still looks opaque when the turkey is ready, give the meat and vegetables more time together in the pot before adding the sauce. The onion should be translucent at the end of that cooking stage. Keep the mixture moving as it cooks.
Why are my buns getting too soft?
If you’re assembling sandwiches well before everyone eats, try keeping the filling in the pot and letting people spoon it onto their buns when they’re ready. You can also toast the buns before filling them. I prefer serving the bread and filling separately if dinner isn’t happening right away.
Variations
- Ground chicken: Use it in place of ground turkey if that’s the ground meat you have. Cook ground poultry to the thermometer reading given in the instructions.
- Ground beef: Swap it for the turkey when you want a beef sloppy joe. Cook the meat and vegetables first, then continue with the tomato-based sauce.
Storage & Reheating
Keep leftover filling separate from the buns. USDA FSIS says to refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours in shallow, covered containers; keep them in the fridge for 3 to 4 days or freeze them for 3 to 4 months. Thaw frozen filling in the refrigerator, cold water, or microwave—not on the counter—and reheat leftovers to 165°F, checking with a thermometer.
What to Serve With It
These sandwiches can be the center of a casual dinner. If you’re planning another ground-meat meal, try ground beef stroganoff or Mongolian ground beef noodles. For another sandwich night, save slow cooker beef sloppy joes and Philly cheese steak sloppy joes. If you’re after a bake or a slow-cooker dinner instead, there’s ground beef and potato bake or ground beef noodle casserole.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ground turkey good for sloppy joes?
Yes. It cooks into a loose, spoonable filling that soaks up the sweet-tangy sauce. Choose regular ground turkey rather than ground turkey breast.
What makes sloppy joes taste better?
Balance and a proper simmer. Here the mustard cuts the sweetness of the ketchup, brown sugar and tomato soup, and 15 minutes uncovered thickens the sauce so it clings to the turkey instead of running off the bun.
Can I make the turkey filling ahead of time?
Yes—prepare the filling and store it in a covered container, keeping the buns separate. Reheat the filling before you spoon it onto the bread so you can assemble the sandwiches when it’s time to eat.
Final Notes
Set the buns out while you finish at the stove, so the filling can go straight from the pot to the sandwiches. If you have a question or make these sloppy joes, tell me how they turned out in the comments.
Ground Turkey Sloppy Joes
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Ingredients
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 onion small, diced
- 2 sticks celery diced
- 1/4 cup green pepper diced
- cooking oil to coat the pot; cooking spray may be used instead
- 10.75 ounces tomato soup undiluted
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper ground
- buns for serving
Instructions
- Coat a medium stockpot with cooking oil or cooking spray.
- Add the ground turkey, diced onion, celery and green pepper. Cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent and the ground turkey reaches 165°F on a food thermometer. Drain any grease.
- Stir in the undiluted tomato soup, ketchup, brown sugar, mustard and ground pepper. Bring to a simmer.
- Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring often so the sweet sauce does not burn on the bottom of the pot.
- Turn off the heat and spoon the filling onto buns.
