The men in my house LOVE some sloppy joes. Okay, okay, I admit it…I love them too. Sloppy Joes are allergy-friendly (served with your choice of dairy-free or gluten-free bread, or even on top of a baked potato…yum!). And contrary to their bad rap, they can be healthy (er). Here’s how. This recipe is my own, and so good. We lick the pan, honest to goodness. I based my sauce off of America’s Test Kitchen BBQ sauce recipe, found in their Family Cookbook.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground turkey or grass-fed beef
- 1 onion, diced small
- 1 green pepper, diced small
- 1/2 c shredded carrots
- 1/2 cup of cooked lentils
- 1/2 cup organic ketchup
- 2T mustard
- 2T (heaping) brown sugar, stevia, or sucanat
- ground pepper
- splash of hot sauce, such as Tabasco
Instructions:
- Brown the meat, onions and peppers.
- When meat is fully cooked, add shredded carrots and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Mix together remaining ingredients in a bowl. Taste it…you may need more sugar or a titch more mustard. Ya know?
- When it tastes good, pour into meat and cook until heated. Enjoy over bread or baked potato, and lick the pan because it’s so good!
Follow "Smartter" Each Day on Facebook!
Follow Jessica on Instagram!
Want my "Favorite Things" newsletter?
I hate lots of annoying emails, so I won't send them! Just motherhood + life tips, a few times a month.
Follow
Sounds tasty. My only question is why this is healthier than usual?
Ha! Carrots? Peppers? Homemade BBQ sauce instead of canned with corn syrup? Or am I just making myself feel better? 🙂
Well, it is much healthier than the canned “Manwich” I grew up with! I am putting this on our menu plan for next week, but am going to try it with tomato sauce instead of ketchup.
Made this tonight and served it over baked potatoes. So delicious! Thanks for the easy peasy recipe, Jessica!
Did the tomato sauce workout?
made this tonight and my dairy/egg/nut/flaxseed-allergic toddler gobbled it up! Thank you so much for some fresh new recipes to try. I’m sure as you know, it’s a challenge to find things a toddler can eat… let alone one with multiple food allergies… and something everyone else wants to eat… and something that is “real food”, not all that preservative/chemical-laden crap out there.
So glad to hear that, Laura! Thanks for letting me know!