Grass-fed ground beef, healthy veggies, and a sweet and tangy sauce loaded into a sweet potato and topped with shredded cheese and fresh cilantro. No sugar added, Ready in 30 minutes!
Oh, friends, this recipe is everything I need right now in the world. Comfort food personified. Healthy comfort food. Hearty and satisfying, a childhood favorite reinvented. A quick weeknight dinner that requires one pan and some sweet potatoes.
Sloppy Joes are a Farmers Market tradition in my home town. Our local farmers market has a small prepared food stand where some of the farmers produce some authentic home cooking; pierogis drowning in brown onions and butter, potato pancakes perfectly fried w/ a dollop of applesauce and sour cream, and Sloppy Joes, but we call them “wimpies”. On chilly fall afternoons, while my Mom shopped for local produce we kids would settle into a little picnic table with paper plates bending with the weight of our Sloppy Joes. We would devour the sandwiches and wait patiently while mom finished shopping, knowing that our next treat was on its way… caramel apples.
My whole family still makes Sloppy Joes (classic recipe here), but my new twist is stuffing Sloppy Joe filling into a baked sweet potato. It's a revelation.
Let's get cooking!
INGREDIENTS YOU NEED TO MAKE SLOPPY JOE STUFFED SWEET POTATO
- Grass-fed ground beef – You can also use ground turkey or ground chicken
- Onion, Garlic, Green Pepper, Zucchini – Veggies!!
- Crushed tomato (or no sugar added ketchup like Primal Kitchen or Red Duck brand), apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, and maple syrup – to make the tangy sauce!
TOOLS YOU WILL USE
- A good knife
- Cutting board
- Large cast-iron skillet
- Wooden spoon
- Baking sheet
- Cheese grater
HEALTHY SLOPPY JOE TIPS
The method for making Sloppy Joe Stuffed Sweet Potato is quite simple:
- Brown your ground beef, remove excess fat from pan.
- Add in onion, garlic, and chopped veggies (I use small diced zucchini and green pepper), saute until tender.
- Sauce it up! Add tomato, vinegar, dijon mustard, and maple syrup or coconut palm sugar.
- Allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
- Stuff in a creamy baked sweet potato and top with shredded cheese. Yes please!!
Simple ways to increase the nutrition of a Sloppy Joe:
- Start with high-quality grass-fed ground beef or organic ground turkey or ground chicken
- Add veggies! Don't be afraid to add all different kinds of veggies, bell peppers, zucchini, or any greens work
- Make the sauce homemade – You can find canned Sloppy Joe sauce but it is full of creepy ingredients. Homemade is easy and best. The basic idea is to start with a tomato base (tomato paste, ketchup or crushed tomato), and then increase the tangy factor – add vinegar, and dijon mustard and make it a little sweet to balance – maple syrup, coconut palm sugar, or you can easily puree dates in a blender and add. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking.
- Sweet potato to the rescue! – Sometimes an old school Sloppy Joe on a bun is the right choice. These days, I actually prefer it all stuffed into a sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are a complex carbohydrate loaded with nutrients including B vitamins for energy. Yes please!
- Follow this simple tutorial for easy baked sweet potatoes!
EXPERT NUTRITION INFO🤓
Let's Talk About Ketchup
I LOVE ketchup, and I am very picky about the ketchup I allow in my house.
Traditional ketchup (Heinz) while delicious (truth) is quite high in sugar and traditional Heinz uses high fructose corn syrup (a 4 letter word in my house!). On average most kinds of ketchup contain 4 grams of sugar per tablespoon, it's quite easy to add 8-16 grams of added sugar to any meal with just this one little condiment.
I'd rather save my sugar for a piece of cake rather than consume it with a condiment.
There are healthier options now available that actually taste good! Red Duck is my favorite no sugar added ketchup, I also like the Primal Kitchen brand. Heinz now sells a no sugar added variety (I haven't tried it yet) and a no HFCS (high fructose syrup) variety.
DIETARY MODIFICATIONS FOR THIS RECIPE
This recipe is gluten-free and paleo-friendly.
- Paleo/Whole30 – Remove the cheese topping (which is totally optional anyway)
- Keto – You would technically have to remove the sweet potato which changes the recipe completely. You could make portobello mushroom “buns” for a very low carbohydrate version of this recipe
- Vegetarian/ Vegan – I think lentil Sloppy Joe's would be delicious if you try let me know! Obviously remove the cheese for vegan or use a vegan cheese alternative.
- Low Fodmap – Remove the onion and garlic, replace with scallion tops.
RECIPE MODIFICATIONS
- Any ground protein will work in place of ground beef
- You can replace the tomato in the recipe with ketchup
- Dry mustard can stand in for dijon mustard (just use less of it)
I hope you love this Sloppy Joe Stuffed Sweet Potato Recipe! If you make it sure to tag me @abrapappa on Instagram so I can share your photo!
Sloppy Joe Stuffed Sweet Potato
Ingredients
- 1 lb. grass fed ground beef
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 1 zucchini, diced diced
- 5 cloves garlic chopped
- 3/4 cup ketchup no sugar added
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 4 medium baked sweet potato
- 1/4 cup cheddar cheese shredded (optional)
- fresh cilantro (optional)
Instructions
- In a large saute pan over medium high heat, brown ground beef until no longer pink. If there is a lot of residual fat from browning the beef pour off all but 1 tbsp of fat.
- Add onion, bell pepper, zucchini, and garlic to pan. Saute together with beef for 4 minutes.
- Add ketchup, water, mustard, vinegar, maple syrup, salt and pepper, and stir well to combine. Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
- Sauce should be thickened, if too thick add a touch more water. Taste for seasoning.
- Slice sweet potatoes in half and arrange on a platter. Mash sweet potato flesh and create a pocket for filling. Stuff each sweet potato half with Sloppy Joe mixture, top with shredded cheese and fresh cilantro.
- Serve immediately. You can also store Sloppy Joe mixture and baked sweet potatoes sepearately, for quick easy meal prep.
- Serving size is one whole sweet potato with Sloppy Joe mixture + cheese.
Notes
DIETARY MODIFICATIONS FOR THIS RECIPE:
This recipe is gluten-free and paleo-friendly.- Paleo/Whole30 – Remove the cheese topping (which is totally optional anyway)
- Keto – You would technically have to remove the sweet potato which changes the recipe completely. You could make portobello mushroom “buns” for a very low carbohydrate version of this recipe
- Vegetarian/ Vegan – I think lentil Sloppy Joe's would be delicious if you try let me know! Obviously remove the cheese for vegan or use a vegan cheese alternative.
- Low Fodmap – Remove the onion and garlic, replace with scallion tops.
RECIPE MODIFICATIONS
- Any ground protein will work in place of ground beef
- You can replace the ketchup in the recipe with crushed tomato
- Dry mustard can stand in for dijon mustard (just use less of it)
HOW TO BAKE A SWEET POTATO
1. Scrub the spud! Using a vegetable scrub, under warm running water scrub the sweet potatoes to remove any dirt or debris. 2. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper Sweet potatoes get super juicy while baking and can ooze sugary deliciousness. For easy cleanup line your baking sheet with parchment paper. 3. Poke holes! Use a fork to poke several holes in your sweet potato. This provides steam vents to ensure the potato doesn't burst while cooking and also ensures even cooking. There are several methods that recommend not poking holes to produce a more caramelized sweet potato, I've tested this and do not prefer it, but feel free to try and see what you think! 4. Bake until tender Bake in a 400° oven for 40-60 minutes. They are ready when a knife can be easily inserted into the potato as if the knife is going through butter.Nutrition
MORE SWEET POTATO RECIPES YOU WILL LOVE
Kale and Tofu Stuffed Sweet Potato
Southwestern Stuffed Sweet Potato
Simple Baked Sweet Potato Recipe
