Buffalo Sloppy Joes for Secret Recipe Club

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I knew Buffalo would be the recipe. SRC is where each member is assigned another participant’s blog, selects a recipe, makes it, then blogs about it, with all entries posting on the same day, I was assigned Debbi Does Dinner. Debbi’s blog is full of dinner recipes that are not only delicious and filling but nutritious. I debated between the Buffalo chicken stuffed shells, the Buffalo chicken shepherd’s pie, Buffalo chickpea patties (how cool!), and sloppy Buffalo Joes. Are you sensing a theme here? She and I (and those we cook for) obviously share a love of hot and spicy! Being a Weight Watcher, I appreciate that Debbi focuses on easy, healthy recipes.

Buffalo Sloppy Joe

With it being 100+ degrees in St. Louis for nine consecutive days and counting, I finally decided on something simple for lunch and went with the sloppy Buffalo Joes. No matter how sophisticated your palate, sometimes nothing hits the spot like a sloppy Joe. Total comfort food. Even Garde Manger Chef Connor asked me to set some aside for him to have when he gets off work tonight. This was a good choice. Actually, a great choice. These have a nice amount of smoky spicy kick from Frank’s Wing Sauce, and next time I may add a bit more of it. Based on a Rachael Ray recipe, Debbi cautions the original directions result in a soupy mess, so I reduced the liquid (tomato sauce and omitted the chicken stock altogether) even further from Debbi’s recipe because we like our sloppy Joes thick thick. I used grass-fed ground beef (but ground chicken or turkey would work well too) and sure wished I had celery in the house to add to give it a bit more crunchy and authentic “Buffalo” style. I added the optional ingredients of diced homemade dill pickles and half a wedge of my new fave Laughing Cow blue cheese. I'm don't know if this was one of Rachel Ray's 30 minutes meals, but it qualifies. Very easy to pull together for a fast and dinner or lunch. Thanks, Debbi for such a tasty, healthy, and super simple sandwich!

The recipe below reflects my changes.

Sloppy Buffalo Joes

Makes 8 4-ounce sandwiches

2 pounds grass-fed ground beef (or ground chicken breast or ground turkey breast)

1 carrot, peeled and chopped or grated

1 yellow onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 T red wine vinegar

2 T brown sugar

1 T Worcestershire sauce

1/3 C hot sauce (recommended: Frank's Red Hot)

1/2 C tomato sauce

8 good quality burger rolls, split and toasted

1 wedge Laughing Cow cup blue cheese wedge per sandwich

Dill pickles, chopped

Heat a large skillet with extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Add meat and break it up with wooden spoon, cook 5 to 6 minutes. Add in carrots, onions, and garlic, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, cook 7 to 8 minutes more. In a bowl combine the vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire, hot sauce, and tomato sauce. Pour into the pan and stir to combine. Simmer a few minutes more.

Pile sloppy Buffalo filling onto buns and top with blue cheese and chopped pickles.

Print recipe.