Pizza Sauce Sloppy Joes

These pizza sauce sloppy joes are a quick, easy and cheap weeknight meal idea. Ground beef, onion, carrots, and black beans are mixed with pizza sauce and spices. All on top of toasted hamburger buns with melted mozzarella. It’s an easy family favorite!

Serve these sloppy joes on their own or with a side like our garden salad with herb dressing or tomato pasta soup.

Why We Like This Recipe

• These pizza sloppy joes are easy, cheap and fast. There’s not a lot of fuss here. Just a few ingredients cooked in a frying pan and then broiled in the oven.
• This recipe is very family-friendly. The ingredients are simple and it’s something most people tend to enjoy, kids included.
• If you need a cheap meal, this is a great option! Ground beef is affordable. Hamburger buns and black beans make this recipe extra filling. If you want to cut back, even more, consider using ground pork instead which is even cheaper.
• I created this recipe as part of our 5 easy weeknight meals series. Inside that series, I share 5 delicious recipes, including a free meal plan and a video showing how to make them all.
• This recipe is part of our free MEAL PLAN series. Inside I share 5 delicious printable recipes, a free meal plan, grocery list, and cooking video showing how to make them all. Click here to see the free Meal Plan!
• We love pizza! For more pizza-inspired recipes try our easy homemade pizza pockets, a side dish of twisted pizza breadsticks, quick and healthy pizza chicken breasts, the easy kid’s pizza lunchables, or a family favorite pizza pasta bake.

Recipe Ingredients

Ingredients here are simple. When mixed together you get sloppy joes that are full of flavor! Here’s an overview of what you’ll need with variations:

• GROUND BEEF: For this recipe, you’ll need 1 lb of ground beef. You can also use ground pork, ground chicken or ground turkey.
• FILLING: Canned black beans, shredded carrots and chopped onions keep this recipe easy and simple.
• FLAVOR: Pizza sauce is mixed with Italian seasoning, garlic powder and oregano. I used parmesan cheese and shredded mozzarella to add extra flavor.
• BUNS: Any style of bun will work for this meal. I used white hamburger buns, but hot dog buns would also work. Bread slices that are toasted would be great too! To help save money, look for day-old bread or buns at bakeries which is usually 50% off. Or make your own quick bread (no yeast or kneading required)! Try our herb quick bread recipe or whole wheat zucchini bread.
• VARIATIONS: Ground beef can be substituted with any other ground meat. Pizza sauce can be substituted with spaghetti sauce. Any kind of shredded cheese can be used here too. You can also add mushrooms, canned pineapple, chopped bell pepper, or pepperoni slices. Instead of using buns, serve this on top of rice, quinoa, pasta, cauliflower rice or in lettuce wraps.

How To Make Pizza Sauce Sloppy Joes

It starts in the frying pan and then broiled in the oven. Here’s a quick overview of how to make it with full instructions in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

1. Cook onion and brown the ground beef in a frying pan. Sprinkle in flour.
2. Add beans, shredded carrots, pizza sauce, spices, and parmesan. Cook until thickened.
3. Toast the hamburger buns under the broiler. Top with sloppy joe mixture and shredded mozzarella cheese. Broil for a couple of minutes to melt the cheese. Serve and enjoy!

Store the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.

There will be some leftover sloppy joe mixture which is great to eat the next night with more hamburger buns. You can also serve it with rice or pasta instead of buns.

The sloppy joe mixture can also be frozen by itself without bread. Consider meal-prepping this recipe by cooking double the amount of the ground beef mixture and freezing the rest for a future meal.

Recipe Tips

• This recipe is easy to adapt. Any ground meat will work. You can use spaghetti sauce or pizza sauce: cheddar cheese or marble cheese instead of mozzarella. Black beans can be replaced with kidney beans, chickpeas or lentils. Basically, you can use this recipe as a guide but create your own unique variation.
• I prefer to cook on the middle rack when using my broiler. The top rack burns too easily in my oven.
• Watch the recipe carefully when using a broiler. Things can burn quickly, so it’s best to keep an eye on them. You only need a minute or two for toasting the hamburger buns. And another minute or two to melt the cheese.
• The ground beef mixture makes delicious leftovers! Just store it separately from the hamburger buns so that the bread doesn’t get soggy.
• You can spread mayonnaise or butter on the toasted buns before adding the ground beef mixture. You can also add hot sauce or ketchup for extra flavor.

More Cheap Meal Ideas

• Sweet and Sour Pineapple Fish is sweet and juicy with crunchy vegetables, served with rice.
• Beans and Franks is an easy family favorite.
• Pork and Squash Stew is quick and easy to put together.
• Meatloaf Muffins are perfect for busy weeknights.
• One Pot Spaghetti is made with ground beef and mushrooms.