Thanksgiving Sloppy Joes

We celebrate the right and proper one (LOL!) in October, then “Yanksgiving” in November.

Usually one will be a more formal, “Roasted Stuffed Turkey with a bunch of sides” thing, and the other will be more casual - Turkey Meatballs in a Cranberry Glaze, One-Pan Cranberry Chicken, Thanksgiving Turkey Meatloaf, etc.

Sometimes both will be more fancy meals, and sometimes - like this year - we just kinda mail it in for both.

For Canadian Thanksgiving this year, we did my Thanksgiving Turkey Burgers. Augh - SO good!

This is a loose meat sandwich that starts out with ground turkey, accented with a few veggies that I commonly use in Thanksgiving stuffing.

The *sauce* in these saucy sandwiches is gravy, and the seasonings are ones I also use in stuffing.

Then, it’s topped off with some cranberry sauce (homemade sauce or store-bought canned sauce), and some Brussels Spouts - which are optional.

All around, a great option when it comes to 30-minute meals in general... but ALSO fantastic for Thanksgiving camping trips!

Anyway, let’s look at what you’ll need for these sandwiches..

Ingredients

This recipe uses super simple ingredients - you’ll be able to find everything you need at pretty much any grocery store. You’re also likely to have most of it on hand during the Thanksgiving season.

As always, I have a few notes for you:

Ground Turkey

I use lean ground turkey to keep this sloppy joes recipe on the Thanksgiving dinner theme, but ground chicken will work just as well.

I wouldn’t swap in beef - it’ll overpower the other flavours - but lean ground pork would also taste great in this recipe... it just won’t be as on-theme!

Fresh Produce

For sloppy joe sandwiches, this recipe actually has an impressive amount of vegetables involved, both in the sloppy joe filling, and on the sandwiches themselves.

This is because - at least in our house - we eat a LOT of vegetables with our Thanksgiving meal!

The sauce itself has mushrooms, onions, and celery in it, as those are what I commonly put in my Thanksgiving stuffing. (Along with roasted chestnuts... that just seems a step too far for a homemade sloppy joes recipe!)

Anyway, we tend to use Baby Bella / Crimini mushrooms, but you can use white/button mushrooms, or whatever other kind of mushrooms you may associate with Thanksgiving dinner.

If you’re not into mushrooms, I’d just swap another couple celery stalks in for the mushrooms.

Then, I like to put shredded Brussels Spouts on top of the homemade sloppy joe sauce... because I can’t imagine Thanksgiving without Brussels Spouts!

If sprouts aren’t your thing, feel free to use shredded lettuce or spinach... or just skip the greens entirely. After all, classic sloppy joes don’t tend to have greens at all!

Poultry Seasoning

Unlike my Thanksgiving Turkey Burger Recipe - which is based more on MY stuffing flavours - I chose to use poultry seasoning in this delicious sloppy joe recipe, as a nod to how my gramma used to make her Thanksgiving stuffing.

If poultry seasoning isn’t your thing, feel free to swap in the herbs that make you think of Thanksgiving.

You can use the same amount of powdered rosemary, or 1 ½ teaspoon of Rubbed Sage. If Summer Savoury is your Thanksgiving herb of choice - as is mine! - I’d recommend using 1 ½-2 tsp.

On that note, the amount of dried herbs you’ll want for this recipe could vary, based on the gravy you use.

If you’re using a relatively neutral gravy - especially if store bought - I’d use the full amount in the recipe. I’d probably even have extra on hand when making the sauce, to season it to taste.

If you’re using a really flavourful gravy, you might want to consider cutting back the amount a bit.

As-is, this recipe was designed for a RELATIVELY neutral gravy, that did have a small amount of herbs in it.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Kaiser Buns - Or whatever buns you like.
Gravy - Homemade is best, but canned works.
Cranberry Sauce - Homemade or store bought.
Olive Oil
Garlic Powder
Ground Black Pepper
Salt

... but aside from the quick notes above, I don’t have anything else to add, as far as these last few ingredients go. Pretty simple stuff!

How to Make Thanksgiving Sloppy Joes

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post; here is my visual walk through, including the directions for prep work that can be done in advance:

Optional Food Prep

Pre-Trip Food Prep

Using a Sharpie, label a medium sized Ziploc Freezer with “Thanksgiving Sloppy Joes”, and as much of the instructions as you need or want. Set aside.

Peel and chop your onion, chop the mushrooms and celery. Add the veggies to the medium sized freezer baggie.

Measure the herbs, garlic powder, ground black pepper, and salt into a small, snack size baggie. Press out any excess air, seal the baggie, and add to the baggie of vegetables.

Press out all excess air, seal, and freeze until you’re almost ready to make your Thanksgiving Sloppy Joes.

Thanksgiving 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 ground turkey and a tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet - or a dutch oven, and set over the fire or hot coals.

Cook - breaking up the meat as it cooks - just until it’s cooked though.

Add the chopped mushroom, celery and onion, continue cooking until the veggies are tender.

Note: If using frozen vegetables, 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!

Allow meat sauce to simmer until thickened to the texture you like - this time will vary based on the gravy used and how thick you like your turkey sloppy joes

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Assembly

Toast the buns, spread the top buns with cranberry sauce.

Divide the Thanksgiving Joes meat mixture between the 4 bottoms of the toasted buns. Top sloppy joes mixture with brussels sprouts, before finishing off with the top bun.

Serve immediately, with your choice of sides - classic coleslaw, dill pickles, french fries, potato chips, potato salad, side salad, sweet potato chips - 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
Cajun Chicken Sloppy Joes
Campfire Chicken Curry
Campfire Chili
Dutch Oven Jambalaya
Easy Chicken Curry
Egg Roll in a Bowl
Hearty Campfire Beef Stew
Indian Sloppy Joes
Mexican Sloppy Joes
Sloppy Giuseppes
Traditional Sloppy Joes

Also 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!