Cuban Sloppy Joes

This one’s based on Cubano sandwiches, something we don’t tend to eat enough of.

The first time we had them was at Folklorama, many, many years ago. The Cuban Pavilion was always LIT, and the food was amazing.

Then Porter had an unfortunate encounter with a tick while visiting Texas for a Ninja Turtles concert (How’s THAT for a sentence? LOL), and pork was off the table for more than a decade.

He seems to be recovering now, and pork is back on the menu ... sometimes, and in smallish quantities for now.

So, while slow cooking a big batch of Mojo pork isn’t something we’re doing quite yet, I designed this sloppy joes recipe to be (loosely!) Inspired by those Cubano sandwiches.

It’s just a bit more doable on a small scale, you know?

These Cubano sloppy joes have no tomato sauce or peppers, use ground pork - and chopped up ham - instead of ground beef, and the tangy sauce is made from mustard and mayonnaise.

Still, it’s a loose meat sandwich on a bun, so I’m calling it “close enough”.

On that front... yeah, we’re also veering pretty far away from Cuban sandwiches, for that matter.

Let’s just go ahead and consider this the halfway point between the two, and acknowledge that some liberties are being taken on both fronts, eh?

Anyway, we photographed this recipe on the shore behind our campsite at Meaford Memorial Park last year, which was a LOVELY place to enjoy our sandwiches.

Let’s take a look at the ingredients for this recipe...

Ingredients

This delicious sloppy joe recipe uses some pretty simple ingredients - you shouldn’t have much trouble finding everything you need, at pretty much any grocery store.

As always, I have some ingredient notes for you:

Lean Ground Pork

Ground pork takes the place of the pulled pork that is traditional for Cubano Sandwiches.

Sure, ground pork doesn’t have the same depth of flavour as Mojo Pork, but we’re going for “inspired by”... in a sloppy joe format.

Ground chicken or ground turkey work well as substitutes here, if you can’t find ground pork. Not perfect, but they’ll definitely do in a pinch.

I probably wouldn’t substitute lean ground beef, without adding more seasoning.

Smoked Ham

As with Cubano sandwiches, this recipe uses smoked ham slices.

For ease in eating it - and in keeping with the sloppy joes theme! - we chop it up and add it to the sloppy joe filling.

As far as substitutions go... Black Forest Ham is nice. Alternatively, you COULD use thicker sliced ham - like a ham steak - but you’ll want to finely chop it.

Hamburger Buns

It took us a while to decide which direction we wanted to go with the buns, when designing this recipe.

Brioche Hamburger Buns were what we decided on, but - on the trip we were photographing this post - Bolillo rolls were the best option available.

... and we loved them!

Really, hoagie rolls or Kaiser buns would work also.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Dill Pickle Slices
Swiss Cheese Slices
Ground Black Pepper
Yellow Mustard
Smoked Paprika
Dried Oregano
Mayonnaise
Olive Oil
Onion
Salt

... I just don’t have anything else to add, as far as these last few ingredients go. Pretty straightforward stuff!

How to Make Cuban Sloppy Joes

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:

Optional Food Prep

We like to make up freezer packets of prepped ingredients for our sloppy joes recipes, in advance of our camping trips. This is not only great for camping, but can be a great way to have easy weeknight dinners available, with little work.

For this one, we mix the spices in a small baggie, and vacuum seal them into a baggie with the chopped onions. A regular freezer baggie works fine though.

Label it and freeze until you’re ready to use it.

Cuban Sloppy Joes Filling

Get a medium campfire going, or get your charcoal on the go. (If you’re making this on a stove, use medium high heat and a nonstick pan.)

Add the chopped onion and olive oil to a large cast iron skillet - or a dutch oven, and set over the fire or hot coals. Cook until the onions are just starting to become tender, another 2-3 minutes.

Note: If using frozen onions, you can thaw them first, or just add them in frozen. They’ll take a bit longer to cook if frozen, but it works just fine!

Add the ground pork and chopped ham to the pan. Cook - breaking up the meat as it cooks - just until the ground pork is cooked though.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Assembly

Toast the buns, then divide the Cuban Joes meat mixture between the 4 bottom buns.

Top each with a slice of cheese and some pickle slices, before finishing off with the top bun.

Serve immediately, with your choice of side, and plenty of napkins!

Leftovers

Leftover Sloppy Joe mix can be cooled to room temperature, then stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat before serving.

More One-Pot Camping Recipes

Looking for more easy - but satisfying! - one pot meals to cook over your campfire? Here are some of my favourites!

Bacon Cheeseburger Soup
Beef & Root Vegetable Stew
Big Mac Sloppy Joes
Buffalo Chicken Sloppy Joes
Cabbage Roll in a Bowl
Cajun Chicken Sloppy Joes
Campfire Chicken Curry
Campfire Chili
Chicken Marbella
Dutch Oven Jambalaya
Easy Chicken Curry
Egg Roll in a Bowl
Hearty Campfire Beef Stew
Indian Sloppy Joes
Korean Beef Sloppy Joes
Mexican Sloppy Joes
Peanut Chicken Stir Fry
Philly Cheesesteak Sloppy Joes
Puttanesca Sloppy Joes
Shrimp Boil
Sloppy Giuseppes
Southwest Chicken Chili
Thankgiving Sloppy Joes
Traditional Sloppy Joes
Venison Chili
Venison Stew

Be sure to check out our other Camping Recipes, including Camping Desserts, Camping Snacks, Make-Ahead Camping Mix Recipes, and a ton of delicious Camping Main Dish Recipes.

Also, we had SO much fun designing gourmet jerky recipes for our camping trips, we started a whole new blog for them! Check out Dried & Tasty for all kinds of fun recipes to make in your food dehydrator!