These Instant Pot BBQ Sloppy Joes give the class sammie a healthy and delicious Manwich-free reboot! Gluten-free, 21 Day Fix approved and Weight Watchers personal points included!
This was originally posted September 8th, 2015 but I've updated it today with a couple of tweaks to the sauce and Instant Pot directions for basically the quickest, easiest kid-friendly meal ever!
Aside from the ubiquitous Mac and Cheese, is there any better kid-pleaser than the sloppy joe? It's messy, it's tasty and parents like it because it's EASY! Are you wondering how much longer these will take you to make than say, opening a can and pouring? Well, I didn't test this out (I should have though!) but the process of making this yummy sauce took all of five minutes and it pretty much rocks, people. Seriously.
Instead of using fatty ground beef and canned sauce (likely loaded with plenty of sodium, high fructose corn syrup and preservatives), I'm using my DELICIOUS, homemade, clean-eating bbq sauce and lean ground turkey! You really can't beat it.
I figured this would be a great meal for this time of year when we're all looking for "quick" what with school starting and all. Though I guess we're always happy to have something quick and easy in our back pockets aren't we? This also freezes really well and would be a great thing to make on prep day, divide into reds and toss in the freezer for whenever. **Word to the wise, if you happen to have a batch of my 21 Day Fix Barbecue Sauce already made, don't throw it in here. For some reason, it just tastes way too sweet in this (to me anyway), so this is a modified version of that recipe with less sugar and more spices. YUM!
I hope you guys had a great Labor Day weekend, but if you're feeling like you fell off the wagon food-wise, just jump back on right now and don't you give it another thought! You can't have your eyes on the prize if they're looking to the past. It's done, today is a new day, you got this 🙂
By the way, if you've signed up for The Foodie and The Fix newsletter, it'll be in your inbox this coming weekend due to the holiday weekend. If you haven't, sign up today (on the right side of the page) and never miss a post!
Just FYI - these Instant Pot BBQ Sloppy Joes have only been tested in the Instant Pot 6 quart duo (affiliate link) - If you have an 8 qt, you may need to add more liquid.
If you make these 21 Day Fix sloppy joes be sure to snap a pic and tag me @thefoodieandthefix on Instagram so I can check it out! It makes me ridiculously happy to see what you guys are making 🙂
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📖 Recipe
Instant Pot BBQ Sloppy Joes {21 Day Fix | Includes Stove Top Directions}
Ingredients
For the BBQ Sauce:
- 1 - 6 oz can of tomato paste
- ⅔ cup water (only use ½ cup if you're making this in the Instant Pot)
- 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
- 4 teaspoon pure maple syrup (or raw sugar)
- 2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrins brand if you're GF!)
- 1 Tbs garlic powder
- 1 Tbs onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- Optional: like it spicy? A little chipotle powder is GREAT in this!
For the Turkey Joes:
- 1 lb ground turkey (93% lean)
- 1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
- 1 cup red onion, chopped
- salt & pepper, to season
- 8 whole wheat buns, Sandwich Thins, ½ pitas or lettuce leaves (not included in calorie or container counts as they will be different depending on what you choose to use)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the sauce ingredients, set aside.
Instant Pot Directions:
- Spray the bottom of your Instant Pot with olive oil cooking spray. Turn on saute function and add the peppers, onions and ground turkey. Season with a little salt and pepper. Use a spatula to break up the meat.
- Once the meat is broken up (it doesn't have to be cooked at all, it'll cook while under pressure), stir in all of the barbecue sauce, lock the lid in place and set to manual for 2 minutes. When it's finished, quick release the pressure and give it a stir. If it's too liquid-y, turn saute function back on and let the liquid cook out a bit (I didn't have to do this, but letting you know just in case!) and serve on whatever you like!
Stove Top Directions:
- Heat a large non-stick skillet to medium heat, then add the peppers, onions and ground turkey. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Break up the ground turkey and continue to cook until turkey is cooked through. Stir in the sauce and heat through, check seasoning and add a little salt and/or pepper if necessary (I like a lot of pepper in mine!).
- Serve with sandwich thins, buns, bread, ½ pitas or lettuce leaves - whatever floats your boat!
Notes
21 Day Fix Container Equivalents: 1 RED, ½ Green 1 teaspoon sweetener
Weight Watchers Personal Points Link: BBQ Sloppy Joes
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 5 Serving Size: ¾ cup of meat mixture per servingAmount Per Serving: Calories: 225Total Fat: 7.7g
Alana says
Any chance I can get more nutritional information. Like carb protein I use gr turkey. Thanks. My fav foe years!!!
Stephanie says
Hi! I'm so glad you love this one, it's a fave of ours, too!! Sorry, I don't have that info!
Katie says
This is one of my favourite sloppy joes recipes ever. We make it regularly in our home. I always make it on the stovetop and I often use ground beef instead of turkey. The bbq flavour of the sauce is so good! We love it.
Stephanie says
Ah! That makes me so happy!!
Justin says
I recently made this recipe for my family of four as they have been asking for sloppy Joe's. We have been looking for healthier options for all of our favorites and are generally easy to please.
However... this recipe was BAD. Like, my family refused to eat this. We ended up with cheese crisps for dinner after this.
I hated to waste this much food so I packed it up and put it in the fridge.
Later that night, after several shots with some friends I decided to go for this again... after all, the taste buds will rave over anything after a night of heavy drinking. Even then, this recipe proved to be a disappointment.
SmoQ says
Instant Pot BBQ Sloppy Joes is great! I just finished it last night and the result was unexpected, my wife and daughter both liked it, which made me happy. Thanks for your recipe
Stephanie says
I'm so glad!!
Allie says
Made this for the second time tonight. Both times I’ve made it, I’ve gotten the burn notice on my IP. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. Next time I guess I will add more than 1/2c water to see if that helps. It’s delicious though! Love that we can eat sloppy joes and know that all the ingredients are good, wholesome ingredients
Stephanie says
So glad you liked the recipe! And yes, adding some water should help! I'm curious, are you using a 6 quart or an 8 quart IP?
Allie says
It’s a 6 quart 🙁 how much extra water would you recommend adding? I don’t want it to be too soupy, I follow everything in the recipe to a T lol
Stephanie says
Ok, gotcha. Here are a couple of things you can try... You can add an extra 1/4 cup of water to the mixture, and then if it's too liquidy at the end, put it on saute and let it cook down for a few minutes until it's thickened. The other thing you can try is cooking it pot-in-pot. If you have a ceramic casserole dish that will fit in your IP, you can brown the meat and veggies as instructed, then put that mixture into the casserole dish with the barbecue sauce and stir it together. Put a cup of water in the bottom of the pot, add the trivet to the bottom of the pot and then your dish on top of that. A lot of times cooking PIP takes a little longer, so I would probably set this for 7 minutes. I haven't tested this PIP, but that's what I would do if I were trying it out. I'm so sorry you['re having these issues, btw! I've definitely found that some pots are more finicky than others. Hope one of these works out for you!
Allie says
Awesome! Thank you so much for the recommendations. I will definitely try these because this recipe is delicious and we love it!
Allie says
Do you think this could be made on the stove? Nothing worse than having a dinner burn 🙁 Currently don’t have a dish that would fit inside my crockpot and am thinking of making this again this week. Would I be able to brown my meat sauté the veggies and then add everything to one pan and let simmer until it thickens up? If not I’ll try to add more water but hate that pesky burn notice! Lol
Stephanie says
Yes, definitely doable on the stove top! Exactly as you said 🙂
Allie says
Thank you! And I just realized you have stove top directions🤦🏻♀️ Ignore me. It’s been one of those days 🤣
Justin says
Was not impressed.
Tasted nothing like a sloppy joe. While the flavor wasn’t awful and inedible, I won’t be making this again.
Stephanie says
Aww, sorry it wasn't a hit for you. It's not meant to be a classic sloppy joe, but more of a barbecue-sauce flavored one. I need to get a more classic version on the blog! Thanks for your comment 🙂
Varun Sharma says
This was a big hit with my kids! They ate all of it.
Stephanie says
I'm so glad!!
Anje Klinkhamer says
Love this recipe! I make it often and freeze into small containers. I warm up and eat like dip with low sodium wheat thins. I add 1/4 cup sriracha to give it a little kick and I leave out the salt. Yum!
Stephanie says
Ah! So glad you like it!! I eat it like a dip sometimes, too (occasionally I'll even just eat it with a spoon)!
Serena says
Is there a substitute for liquid smoke?
Amber Smith says
Have you freezed this? It's just me, and it makes so many servings.
Stephanie says
Yes!! This is actually one of my favorite proteins to freeze! I put them in individual servings (in snack sized bags) then I put those in a freezer bag, worked perfectly!
Amber says
I finally got to make it. And oh my snickers!! It was delicious, and such a huge serving I had to double check and make sure I measured out my portions right. This will for sure be put on my keeper list.
Stephanie says
Yay!! I'm so happy to hear that, Amber!! Also, if you start seeing "oh my snickers" pop up in future blog posts, know that they're dedicated to you, that's a great phrase! 🙂
christal says
the container equivalents just don't seem correct; with all the sauce and also the bun..
Stephanie says
Hey Christal, the bun isn't in the counts because I gave several options for what to eat them with and they all had different counts (such as sandwich thins or lettuce leaves), so also include whatever you eat them with when you're counting. As far as the sauce is concerned, all of the ingredients are free items except for the tomato paste (which didn't end up being enough to count once divided by 5 servings) and the maple syrup which is in the counts as 1 tsp of sweetener per serving. Hope this clears things up!
Jane says
Wow. My kids and husband will love this recipe for sure. Gonna try this out for sure. Will be back with my reviews.
Stephanie says
Hope you guys love it, Jane!
Hank says
This is cool. I love your recipe.
I will try this out at weekend. My friends and husband surely love it. I will be back with feedback. Yummy!
Stephanie says
Thank you! Hope you all love it!
JJ Parker says
Fyi, I added almost a full cup of water on top of the sauce and still got the food burn after doubling the recipe in an 8qt. Guess it needs a little more water not to burn
Paul says
Thanks for the response. I have an 8qt. I forgot to say that despite the problem, the results were delicious and I'm making it again today.
Paul says
I got the dreaded burn signal. I did double the recipe with 2 lbs ground turkey and doubling all other ingredients, if that's a factor. I love the instant pot, too, but the burn signal has been a drawback more than once. Will try again with more water.
Stephanie says
Oh man! Do you have an 8 qt or a 6? I've heard that being a real issue with the 8 because you need more liquid than what most recipes call for. So sorry this happened! I'm sure with a little more water it'll work out!
Samantha says
Any chance you have the original bbq sauce recipe on hand? Haven’t made this in awhile but loved the original & would prefer to use molasses over maple syrup.
Stephanie says
Hey Samantha, I believe I just used 2 tsp molasses and 2 tsp raw sugar instead of the 4 tsp of maple syrup 😊
Valerie says
Wouldn't this include 2 yellows for the buns?
Stephanie says
Hi Valerie! It would be 2 yellows if you had it with a whole wheat bun. Since I gave a variety of options to choose from to eat the turkey joe's with (which had different container counts), I didn't include that in the container counts I listed, they are only for the BBQ Turkey Joe mixture itself. I hope you give them a try! 🙂
Jessie says
What did you do for a side??? A veggie? Sorry new to the 21 day fix:)
Stephanie says
I usually just roast whatever veggies I have on hand. The other night I made some simple roasted broccoli with a little bit of salt and pepper and a sprinkle of romano cheese, so good and easy!
Kendrick says
Great recipe Stephanie,
It looks so delicious and so easy to make.
I am going to try and make it tomorrow.
Thank You!
Stephanie says
Thanks, Kendrick, I hope you like it!
Samantha says
Hello! I'm just curious how you came to the conclusion of the container breakdown for the 21 day fix. I'm trying to figure out what makes it 1 orange container & wondering why it doesn't take up at least 1/2 a purple container for the tomato paste. Thanks!
Stephanie says
Hi Samantha! I know, this is kind of a weird one, right?! I had the debate on how to count this as well (whether to go with an orange as a sauce/dressing or to go with the breakdown of ingredients). In this case I decided to go with counting it as an orange because I couldn't really say how much tomato paste should count as a purple anyway. If you'd rather count it that way that's perfectly fine. Honestly, either way the count will be slightly off due to the ingredients and measurements.
kara says
I don't have molasses, can I use honey or maple syrup?
Stephanie says
Either one will do in a pinch, but the molasses helps to give it that barbecue-y flavor 🙂
Nicole says
What is liquid smoke?
Stephanie says
The bottle I have is Colgin brand and I believe it's kept by the barbecue sauces in the grocery store. It's a liquid that adds smoky barbecue flavor to unbarbecued food. It’s made from water that has captured the flavor of smoke. 🙂
Cari says
Just tried these tonight - delicious! Even husband approved! Just discovered your site and can't wait to try several of your recipes.
Stephanie says
Thanks, Cari! I'm so glad you both enjoyed them!