In my house, my kids are I am very picky about certain things in my food.
First lettuce never, ever is allowed to touch a sandwich.
Second, celery is not even allowed in my kitchen.
Third, I like onion flavor but I hate onions.
I’m a 40 year old child with texture issues. But I’m ok with it.
The onion thing has really been tricky for us. Onion powder usually does not replace onions in a recipe – ever. It just does not taste the same. But if I SEE an onion in my food I will pick around it, and for sloppy joes, it is messy enough.
The recipe below was adapted and improvised from 2 different recipes I discovered, neither of which would fly in my house because of the chunks of onion and peppers (I noted 3 examples above – just know that those are just a sampling of my pickyness).
It’s easy to make plus it’s kid friendly and picky adult friendly.
And it tastes great too!
I used my homemade taco seasoning mixture for this recipe which is very versatile and can be used with tacos, chili, sloppy joes and more!
I was not overly optimistic that these would taste that great because I didn’t use real onions but they were really, really good. I went with the 1/2 cup ketchup and they were quite crumbly so if you want them more sticky, I would definitely increase it.
Kid Friendly Sloppy Joes Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 to 2/3 cup ketchup
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp homemade taco seasoning link provided below
- 6 hamburger buns we used Rudy's Organic
Instructions
- Brown ground beef in a skillet.
- Add onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper during browning.
- Remove from heat.
- Drain.
- Add water, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes and taco seasoning to beef mixture and stir.
- Cook until boiling, stirring constantly.
- Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
Online Gym says
Being from a health and fitness background i could only feed this to my kid at a birthday party. This could not be eaten on a regular basis. However it does look yummy. Anyway if it was mixed with greens or carrots instead of paste I’d give it 2 thumbs up
Courtney says
I’m definitely going to try this. Hubby loves Sloppy Joe’s, but I refuse to use a can! Thanks Kim!!
SCM (SocialCafe Magazine) says
We hear you about the onion LOL Love this recipe so simple and yummy looking 🙂
Dee says
My mom would disguise onions in food by pureeing them in a blender. When I make homemade sloppy joes I add onion and green pepper but follow my mom’s guideline and puree them in a blender first.
leah- diaries of a domestic goddess says
great recipe!! Will definitely be trying this!
Paula @ Frosted Fingers says
Sounds awesome! Totally going to try these. I’m picky, too, although I’m getting hugely better!