These Easy Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes are done in less than 30 minutes! Simply replace ribeye steak with ground beef, add plenty of gooey cheese and make the best Sloppy Joe Sauce that will make your mouth water! So very cheesy with all that delicious melted Provolone and Cheddar on top.
These homemade Sloppy Joes with a Philly Cheese Steak flair are something the whole family will love and enjoy. Beef tastes amazing in this family friendly meal thanks to tender pepper and onions, and gooey melted cheese! You will be surprised how easy these are to make at home!
Why do they call them Sloppy Joes?
The legend has it that a cook named Joe added tomato sauce to his “loose meat”“sandwiches in 1930 in Iowa. There must be a good reason why loose meat sandwiches continue to be a staple in Iowa and other parts of the Midwest to this day.
Another theory is that the original sandwich was born at the Sloppy Joe’s Bar in Key West, Florida.
Either theory might be true.
Flavors in Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
When I was reviewing various versions of Sloppy Joes, I read in BeefMagazine (yes, there is such a thing) that Worcestershire sauce and mushrooms are among the top flavors to pair with beef, so I thought perfect, let’s use both!
And if you are Japanese, you might even say that this recipe is rich in “umami”, which is a distinct taste of a good tasting beef with all accompanying flavors enhancing that taste.
How do you make homemade Sloppy Joe Sauce from scratch
Add ground beef and cook until no longer pink, about 6 minutes then add beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and dijon mustard. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until mixture has thickened, about 15 minutes. The resulting sauce is tangy, zesty and savory, with the perfect texture and consistency.
What kind of cheese to use in Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
I used both Provolone and Cheddar cheeses here to mix up even more flavor. You can use regular sliced provolone, available at any supermarket. But for a more intense flavor, look for spicy aged provolone. They even rate this cheese as Medium, Sharp, and Extra Sharp, just like Cheddar.
Cheddar cheese wise, I used sharp shredded Cheddar cheese, yellow in color.
So please choose your Provolone and Cheddar cheeses wisely!
What goes into the beef mixture of Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
As any traditional Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes, these are made with mushrooms and green bell peppers, cooked together with beef in a skillet, which takes only 10 minutes. If you are not a fan of mushrooms or bell peppers, believe me you might not even care if they are there at all, these are so tasty.
Pro Tips for making the best sloppy joes
- Make sure that your pan is hot enough before cooking ground beef. Basically you just need to turn the temperature up so the juices evaporate as they come out. That will ensure that your beef will not be watery.
- Even better, use a cast iron pan. It heats up quickly, retains the heat very well, which means good news for all that water – it will evaporate continuously! No watery beef in cast iron!
- Work in small batches, and do not overcrowd. If you’re dumping in enough that there’s just an edge to edge mat of meat, you’re going to steam and boil your meat!
- Choose lower fat meat! If you’re using say, 80/20 ground beef, 20% is fat. That’s one fifth. That fat will melt and turn liquid, and that is normal. In that case, drain it off into a can.
- Toast your buns. You can do it in the toaster or in pan by drizzling some olive oil. When the pan is hot, add the buns with the cut side down and toast away!
Now it’s cheese time!
Then the beef mixture is topped with Provolone and shredded Cheddar cheeses. Since most provolone cheeses are sold in sheets, make sure to slice your provolone, it will melt much more evenly.
Cheese should be added last, right when Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes are ready to serve, which means that if you are making them ahead of time, make sure to add cheese after reheating the beef.
Both of these cheeses melt quite nicely and evenly once you spread them on top of the hot beef. Serve them immediately, as the melted cheese has a tendency to disappear into this flavorful saucy mixture.
Once the cheeses are melted in the pan and the brioche hamburger buns are prepared, you can start adding big scoops of the beef/cheese mixture to the bun and serve them hot!
To sum it all up, these couldn’t have been easier and the results were delicious. We’ll be making these again for sure.
What sides go with sloppy joes?
Garlic Parmesan Sweet Potatoes
Cucumber Tomato Salad with Avocado
Hungry for more cheesy dishes?
How about these tasty recipes:
- Green Bean and Chicken Skillet with Gruyere Cheese and Bread Crumb Topping
- Brussels Sprouts and Bacon Gratin with Gruyere Cheese
- Cheddar, Thyme and Beer Potatoes Au Gratin
Easly Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
Beef and veggies:
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 yellow onion, (diced)
- 1 green bell pepper, (diced)
- 8 ounces mushrooms, (minced)
Sauce:
- 1 cup beef broth
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Seasoning:
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon sea salt, (more if desired)
Cheese:
- 6 ounces Provolone Cheese Slices, (chopped)
- ⅓ cup Cheddar cheese
Buns:
- 6 brioche hamburger buns, (or any other buns of your choice)
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the ground beef. Cook for about 7-8 minutes, until beef is no longer pink, breaking it apart and stirring as it cooks. Once cooked through, remove the beef from the pan.
- Keep beef fat in the skillet and add butter onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Cook them until tender, stirring occasionally.
- Now add beef back to the pan and reheat over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, stirring often.
- Sauce: In the small bowl whisk together beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and Dijon mustard. Add sea salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. Pour sauce ingredients into the skillet with beef and veggies, and stir until evenly coated.
- Keep the heat on until the sauce with beef starts bubbling up, about 2-3 minutes. Then add sliced Provolone cheese on top of the beef in the skillet. Next sprinkle with Cheddar cheese. This step needs to be done right when Sloppy Joes are ready to be served.
- To serve: Serve the sloppy joe mixture on buns of your choice.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy only. This information comes from online calculators. Although whatsinthepan.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.
Trying it tonight😋
Do you know,besides the bun…would these be gluten free?
Yes, it would be gluten free minus the bun.
Olga, I made this with 1 lb beef (as called for) and noticed how much liquid was overtaking the meat1 Could this be right cause your photos sure didn’t have a LARGE amount of broth mix in it.. Something is not adding up here, please help?? I looked over this 3 times and followed to the tee..
Was you sauce when you added it to the pan with beef, bubbling up as shown in the video? It should be liquidy but not in an excessive way. That liquid is necessary for cheese to melt into and thicken it.
We made it tonight and used 3lbs of beef so everything multiplied by 3 and we too had a lot of liquid left and yes we did wait till it bubbles and still liquid over took the pan….
Work in small batches, and do not overcrowd. If you’re dumping all 3 pounds in there, you’re going to steam and boil your meat! I just added another section to the post that addresses how to avoid liquid in your beef. Basically, don’t overcrowd the pan, make sure your pan is very hot, use cast iron if at all possible, and if your ground beef is not lean, fat will turn into liquid when cooking.
I can’t wait to try this recipe. One thing I always do with ground beef that makes it more flavorful is to actually brown it, not just cook until it’s not pink. I pour off any fat and water and keep cooking on high, stirring constantly until the beef is browned.
Very good tip, Rhonda.
Does the nutritional information included the buns too or just the recipe?
Buns too.
Scrumptious! I’ll definitely make these again
Thank you! I’m glad you liked them.
My kids asked me to make these a second time they loved them so much.
Super easy to throw together, cooks quickly- and so very yummy!
I know! How easy is this recipe, right?
Just made them. So yummy!
So happy you liked them!
I made this for dinner this evening. I used hamburger meat we had in the fridge for this. Great recipe!
Thank you! Way to use that hamburger meat!
I’m looking forward to trying this sloppy joe recipe tonight.
I hope you like it!