Puttanesca Sloppy Joes

Homemade sloppy joe sauce is only SLIGHTLY more work than using store-bought sauce. At it’s core, it’s a tangy sauce made from some form of veggie, some form of ground meat, a little brown sugar, and some spices.

You can easily avoid things like the high fructose corn syrup found in a lot of canned sauce, and customize your sloppy joe filling to suit any picky eaters.

Trust me... homemade sauce made from real ingredients is WAY better than anything you’ll buy on a shelf!

Last year, we went on a wild sloppy Joes kick, coming up with every fun version of sloppy joe sandwiches we’d dream up.

We started out with a more Classic Sloppy Joes, then just started brainstorming up any delicious sloppy joe recipe ideas that came to mind.

Cajun Chicken Sloppy Joes, Indian Sloppy Joes, Mexican Sloppy Joes, Thankgiving Sloppy Joes ... even the Sloppy Giuseppes that ended up as a bit of a precursor for THIS homemade sloppy joes recipe.

See, we’d already designed and photographed that Italian-themed sloppy Joes recipe... but then I made a really unfortunate typo when writing about it.

I snickered about it (the H is right next to the J key), and then I had an epiphany - Puttanesca Sloppy Joes!

See, Pasta Puttanesca is literally “pasta as a whore would make it”. It’s loaded with robust flavours and was said to, uh... draw business into establishments.

So, after laughing about that typo, obviously I had to make a loose meat sandwich based around Puttanesca!

These saucy sandwiches have it all: anchovies, capers, olives, spices, cheese, garlic butter... probably stretching the definition of “sloppy Joes”, but DAMN - they are tasty! Possibly my best sloppy joe recipe yet!

We ended up photographing the recipe while staying at Kap-Kig-Iwan Provincial Park last year, and I’m glad to finally share it with you!

So, let’s look at what all you’ll need...

Ingredients

This recipe mostly uses fairly basic ingredients. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding what you need in most larger grocery stores... especially if you live in an area with a good sized Italian population, like we do!

As always, I have a few ingredient notes for you:

Lean Ground Beef

I called for lean ground beef, as it’s the lean meat I think of whenever I’m thinking Sloppy Joes.

That said, if you don’t want to use ground beef, feel free to use ground chicken or ground turkey - we do!

Ciabatta Rolls

We generally try to use ciabatta rolls - or at least Ciabatta style buns - to keep this on theme.

If you have larger ones, use one per serving, or 4 total. If you have the smaller ones - like we did for the batch pictured here - it’s better to have 2 per serving.

If you can’t find Ciabatta rolls, just use your favourite kind of hamburger buns.

Garlic Butter

Garlic Butter adds a GREAT flavour to the buns. Feel free to use store bought or homemade.

I usually just mash some minced garlic, garlic powder, and parsley flakes into some softened butter, then season with a bit of salt.

I like a LOT of garlic in mine, but never measure.

Anyway, you could always whirl the ingredients together in a mini food processor. I just can’t be bothered with the extra cleanup, when a small bowl works just fine!

Also: I’ll usually do this up ahead of time, wrap it in plastic wrap, and freeze it with my other ingredients.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Tomato Sauce
Sliced Black Olives
Anchovy Fillets
Capers
Small Onion
Olive Oil
Brown Sugar
Dried Parsley
Dried Basil
Dried Oregano
Garlic Powder
Red Pepper Flakes
Ground Black Pepper
Salt

... yeah, a long list, but I promise it’s worth it! I just don’t have anything to add, as far as these last few ingredients go.

Oh, one thing - I’ll pre-measure the spices into a little baggie and label it, prior to camping trips!

How to Make Puttanesca 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’ll do some of the prep in advance of our camping trips.

In this case, we’ll chop the onions, measure and mix the spices, and make some garlic butter, then package and freeze it all together.

This is great for camping, but also works well to make these sandwiches a SUPER quick and easy weeknight meal at home - and you can do up a bunch of these packages, assembly-line style!

Puttanesca 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 anchovies and olive oil to a large cast iron skillet - or a dutch oven. Use a fork to mash the anchovies into small pieces, then add the onions to the pan and set it over the fire or hot coals.

Cook until the onions start to soften, about 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 meat (ground chicken, in this case! - and cook - breaking up the meat as it cooks - until it’s browned and cooked though.

Add the remaining ingredients to the pan, stir well to combine. Allow to simmer for about 15 minutes, or until thickened to the texture you like.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Assembly:

Split your Ciabatta rolls, toast them to golden brown over your grill or campfire. Spread with the garlic butter, and arrange on your serving plates.

Divide the Puttanesca meat mixture between the 4 bottom buns, and top with some Parmesan cheese, before finishing off with the top bun.

Serve immediately, with 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
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
Mexican Sloppy Joes
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!