Quick & Easy Sloppy Joes: My Family's Favorite Weeknight Meal!

Today we are making. Sloppy Joes. And who makes the best Sloppy Joes? Clearly I do. This is my cooking channel. I'm taking over now, so. Using my recipes. Anyway, these are beefy and saucy. One of my kids' favorite lunches, and they are so easy to make. And I'm craving Sloppy Joes, so let's get started. Yeah. Okay, we'll start with the sauce. Take it away. What's the tomato sauce like? It ran away. Yeah. Start with a can of tomato sauce, and this is the perfect base. That shot? Ooh, I'm crazy. Oh boy. Got the ketchup. He takes after me. No, then we got the Worcestershire. Worcestershire? Worcestershire. We got the mustard. Yellow mustard. Yes, I love the yellow mustard. That stuff's good. And we got the brown sugar. Yep. All we gotta do is whisk, whisk, whisk. Technically that's a spatula. So you're spatula, spatula, spatula-ing. Stick to the script. Just trust me. I know what I'm doing. There's no script. That's the problem. Okay, that's all there is to it. Now set that aside. You want that ready when you need it. And now we're gonna chop the veggies. Look alive. Ooh. I'm a professional. Okay, cut that in half. We only need one half, right? Yeah, just one half for this recipe. Take out the seeds. Reach in there, grab them out. Yep. Just yank them out. Yes, yank them out. Guts. Not wood. Okay, now slice that into strips and then finely chop it up. Thin strips make it easier to finely chop. Watch those fingers. When mom is in the kitchen. Why do I feel like I'm being watched by two eyes? And one of them's not dad's. Like the white ball on the side. Beautiful. There we go. Next, the onion. We make a good team. We make a great team. I feel like I'm gonna cry. I always take off the top layer because who has time to peel an onion? I know, right? It's so much easier. All right, assistant, you want to clean that up for me? I got you. Ooh, now I'm tearing. It's difficult times, it's difficult times. Difficult times. Ow! Just kidding. He didn't even flinch. I flinched, my heart stopped for a second. I'm sorry. You're easy to read, mom. You're easy to read. Yeah. See, because we hold the onion proper, we don't have, ouch. Okay, scoop, scoop, scoop. Now pass me the garlic, please. Thank you. Look at the easiest way to peel some garlic. Side of your knife. Boom. Slides right off. Dang, you're professional. I know. Oh my gosh. Is there a reason you're not just squeezing with the garlic press? She's too pristine to do that, dad. You expect her to steeve down to that level using a garlic press? She's a professional. Look at her go, look at her go. Oh, she's cooking, she's dancing with it. I'm cooking. Okay, prep done. Yup. Okay, while David gets that garlic, we're gonna hit the stove. Oh, I missed it. Got our ground beef. Let's go. We're gonna put this over a medium high heat. Once the skillet's warm, add your oil and your ground beef. Break it up like it's hot. Because it is. Literally. Now that the meat is cooked through, we're gonna season with some salt and some freshly cracked black pepper. Now we're gonna add the bell pepper and the diced onion. Mixy mixy for another five minutes or until the veggies are soft and the meat is browned. Okay, our veggies are soft and I'm starting to see some browning and browning is flavor. So let it brown a bit. Now we're gonna stir in the garlic. Mix that for just 30 to 60 seconds, just until it's fragrant. Oh, that's so good. Now we're gonna add the sauce that we made earlier. Add all of it in there and stir. You wanna scrape the bottom of the pan to get up any of those browned bits because again, flavor. Once you see that mixture boiling, we're gonna reduce the heat to a simmer and just let it putter away for about 10 to 15 minutes or until it's at your desired thickness, depending on how thick you like your sloppy joe mixture. While that's simmering down, we are gonna butter and toast our buns because I think it adds so much flavor. Are you totally craving a sloppy joe? Oh, you betcha. It's probably the best things ever. This is also the best way to rescue bread that's a little stale. Butter it up and toast it. Sometimes even better than fresh, especially when it's like sourdough. It just adds so much flavor and then that browning. Let's check. Gorgeous. Ooh, it's hot. It's hot, hot. So much more exciting than just plain buns. Let's check on that meat. Oh my goodness. Look at how saucy it is. It's like caramelized in flavor. Before we take it off the stove, we're gonna do a quick taste to see if it needs anything else. This is called the tasting spoon. Isn't that cute? Okay. It's perfect. Let's serve it up. I am totally craving this right now. Let's serve it up right away because I am so impatient. And these are usually served with some potato chips. So that's what we've got here. You don't have to have the potato chips, but you know, let's keep it classic. Also really good with some pickles or pickle chips. I like these from Trader Joe's. Like I find it so hard to find pickle chips that aren't the sweet bread and butter ones. I don't know why most grocery stores just have the sweet pickle chips. Yeah, like that tainy crisp. I don't get it. So these are good either inside the sandwiches or on the side. Yeah, it's just like that tangy, salty bite. Serve it up while it's warm. I know, look at that. Look at that. You see the steam coming off the top. And this makes five generous sandwiches. You could stretch it to six if you wanted to. These are both mine, right? Nice try. Let's try to keep it contained. Not too sloppy, right? I mean, they're called sloppy joes, so you can only hit a certain level. Top them off. Or you can put pickles inside. I like my pickles inside. I like mine on the side. You're gonna put chips on top too? No, but I guess you could. Okay, let's do this. Oh my gosh, this is scary. Yours is enormous. It's about to overflow. Yeah, be careful there. Okay, here we go. Ready? Together, let's do it together. Three, two, one. Oh, yours got sloppy. It's like all over my face too. No, I'm going in for another bite. So good. That's my sandwich is done. Oh my gosh, the pickle. It is so beefy and saucy. You got a little something right there and right there. It's a little bit more than just something. Oh my gosh. Oh boy. Oh boy, here comes another one. You want a sandwich? Okay, okay. I told you, these two love my sloppy joes. My sloppy joes. What do you think? Good. That's it? Just good? Good. Okay. It's a little better. Words cannot describe. You want some pickles with that? Like half of my sandwich has fallen. I need my pickles. I guess I get some chips. This is it. A clear winner. Make it and you'll make it over and over and seriously so easy. Also, wait, wait. If you haven't already gotten your hands on our cookbook, I will leave a link to it in the notes. This was all about easy, family-friendly dinners and has lots of our kids' favorites in here too. So I will leave a link in the description and let me know where you spotted Sharky in the video. First person to spot him in the live premiere gets a prize. Okay, we'll see you on the next episode of Natasha's Kitchen. If you guys have any requests for future recipes, let us know. Yep. Bye. Okay, I probably would be good with chips in there. Let's try it. Adds a little crunch, a little bit of excitement. Okay, I need a sandwich.