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These Mississippi Sloppy Joes are a savory, flavorful sandwich filled with all the flavors we love from Mississippi pot roast! Made in just 15 minutes in one skillet!
We’re all about easy, family friendly, quick dinners in our house and here on this website!
I love a dinner that I can serve to picky kids and hungry adults that is equally loved by both – like these Mississippi Sloppy Joes!
It’s no surprise that kids love a good sloppy joe sandwich. Our traditional sloppy joe recipe is a big hit in my house, what with all that sweet tangy sauce!
But, as you may have noticed, I’m on a big “Mississippi” kick, with our Mississippi Meatballs and Mississippi Lil Smokies lately!
And that brings us to the most savory sandwich ever…these Mississippi Sloppy Joes!
What Are Mississippi Sloppy Joes?
The original recipe here is for Mississippi Pot Roast, which as you might have guessed, is said to have originated in Mississippi! It all started with a combination of Au Jus, ranch, and pepperoncini slow cooked with pot roast.
We are totally hooked on this combination of flavors, which has led to lots of similar recipes like Mississippi Chicken, Mississippi Pork Roast, and Crockpot Mississippi Beef and Noodles! And now we have Mississippi Sloppy Joes!
The combination of au jus and ranch adds a super savory, rich flavor to the beef and the juice from the pepperoncini peppers adds the perfect tang. This combo is hard to resist!
Ingredients Notes:
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Ground Beef – We’re using lean ground beef. This recipe would also work well with ground turkey or chicken.
Au Jus – You’ll need a packet of au jus seasoning. This is a savory, beefy mix with big flavor.
Ranch Seasoning – Be sure to use the dry ranch seasoning mix and not the ranch dip mix. The dip mix has a lot more sodium.
Pepperoncini – We’ll use both the peppers and the juice from the jar to give this recipe a little tang and a touch of heat. This dish is not overly spicy at all.
Butter – Melting a little butter over the meat adds richness to the dish.
Step By Step Instructions:
Beef: Brown the ground beef in a hot skillet and drain the beef.
Butter: Add the butter to the skillet and let it melt. This will add a richness to the sauce we’re making.
Season: Sprinkle the seasoning packets over the beef and stir well to combine.
Peppers: Add the pepper rings, pepperoncini juice, and water to the skillet and let it cook together for about 5 minutes.
Is this recipe saucy?
We’re making the ‘sauce’ from melted butter, pepperoncini juice, water, and seasonings. It won’t be thick or abundant like a traditional sloppy joe sauce made with tomato sauce or ketchup. Instead you’ll have well seasoned beef that has loads of flavor without much of a sauce at all. Not-so-sloppy sloppy joes!
Helpful Tip!
Is this recipe spicy?
The pepperoncini peppers do have a bit of a kick to them, so if you want to cut the spice down you have a couple of options:
- Serve the pepperoncini pepper rings on the side for those that like the spice and just use the juice of the peppers while cooking. Alternately, just pick around the pepper rings when serving to those who don’t like spice.
- Swap the pepperoncini peppers for mild banana pepper rings. They are more tangy than spicy and still add a great flavor without adding heat.
Recipe FAQs:
We prefer lean ground sirloin in our sloppy joe recipes, though any variety will work fine. You’ll drain off the fat either way.
It may seem silly to drain away the beef fat and then drop in butter, but we like the flavor and richness that the melted butter adds to the meat so we opt for it over leaving the grease in the skillet.
This recipe does contain 2 seasoning packets, both of which tend to have quite a bit of sodium. Our best trick for reducing that is to make sure you use the ranch seasoning mix rather than the ranch dip mix. You can also swap the au jus for a packet of brown gravy mix.
More Sloppy Joe Favorites:
- Sloppy Joe Casserole
- Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
- Keto Sloppy Joes
- Big Mac Sloppy Joes
- Sloppy Joe Dip
- Sloppy Joe Cornbread Casserole
Mississippi Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean ground beef
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 packet au jus gravy mix
- 1 packet ranch seasoning mix
- ½ cup pepperoncini pepper rings plus 1/4 cup juice from jar
- 8 hamburger buns
Instructions
- Add the ground beef to a large skillet over medium heat and brown, breaking up the meat as it cooks. Drain the fat from the beef.
- Add the butter to the skillet with the beef over low heat and let melt.
- Once melted, sprinkle the au jus and ranch seasoning over the top and stir well to coat.
- Stir in the pepper rings and juice plus 1/2 cup of water and let cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. These won't be very saucy, but the liquid will reduce down.
- Spoon the meat mixture over the sandwich buns and serve hot.
Trish Yates says
Great recipe! The only thing I did differently was adding a little shredded mozzarella cheese! It helped cut some of the heat from the peppers. I didn’t find it to be too salty.
Karly Campbell says
Yum! I’m sure the cheese was tasty!
Gaylon caputo says
Is there a ranch substitute, not a fan of ranch.
Karly Campbell says
Hi Gaylon! There isn’t a substitute that I’ve tried, but this really tastes nothing like ranch once it’s cooked. The seasoning packet is paired with other strong flavors so I don’t think you’ll get ‘ranch’ at all in the end. But you could try just adding extra onion powder, garlic powder, and herbs that you like. That’s basically all ranch mix is anyway.