Turkey Veggie Sloppy Joes

Are there recipes in your file that take you back to your childhood? My mom and nanny made sloppy joes a lot when I was growing up. But we didn’t call it sloppy joes, we called it barbecue. I find that the word barbecue means different things to different regions. In my neck of the woods, barbecue and sloppy joes were the same thing.

Anyway…my nanny’s recipe is very good, but I changed it a bit, by replacing the ketchup with a can of tomatoes. Her recipe also called for two onions, but I used one onion and one red pepper and I added garlic. The biggest change however is the use of lean ground turkey instead of ground beef. We don’t eat beef, so I replace all recipes that call for ground beef with lean ground turkey. The result was hopefully a little healthier, yet still very tasty. My kids loved it.

This recipe doesn’t taste like my nanny’s, but hopefully, I am creating my own tradition.

Turkey Veggie Sloppy Joes

adapted from my Nanny’s recipe

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1-2 cloves garlic – chopped or crushed
• 1 medium chopped red onion
• 1 red pepper – or green, whatever you have
• 1 – 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 T. vinegar – I used white balsamic because that was in my cupboard. My nanny probably used apple cider vinegar.
• 1 1/2 tsp mustard
• 2 T. Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and add the garlic; saute for about 30 seconds.
2. Add the turkey, onion, and pepper and cook until the turkey is browned. Break up the turkey into tiny pieces as it cooks.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until most of the liquid had evaporated. There might still be some though. Stir frequently and make sure to scrape the brown bits that might be stuck to the pan. I use a slotted spoon to put the sloppy joes onto the rolls.

Serve Sloppy Joes with:

• Hasselback Potatoes
• Purple Cabbage and Broccoli Slaw
• Homemade Sugar Free Applesauce

Print recipe for Turkey Veggie Sloppy Joes.