These sloppy joe sliders are one of my favorite slider recipes. With a tangy sauce on a slightly sweet buns, you're going to love this tasty meal for your weeknight dinners and game day parties. A recipe the whole family will love!

Sloppy Joe Sliders Recipe
When I'm planning a football get-together, I'm always looking for easy recipes that can be prepared ahead of time. That's when I came up with the idea for one of my favorite classic dishes, but with a game day twist.
Sloppy joe sliders are perfect for eating while watching football, especially since they can be prepared ahead of time with a simple kitchen hack!
These little sandwiches are perfect for an easy weeknight dinner too. Just pair it with a tasty side of roasted rosemary potatoes and dinner is ready to go.
You can plan on making this sloppy joe sliders recipe the morning of by throwing everything into your slow cooker and plate them just before dinner or the game.
Classic sloppy joes are already a popular meal choice, but turning them into individual sliders makes them the best easy dinner and family favorite. Not to mention, Hawaiian roll sliders are always a crowd favorite as game day food.
Why You'll Love this Recipe
Making this simple recipe means you'll be spending less time preparing food and more time enjoying your family dinner around the table or watching that nail biter of a game!
The slow cooker is a fabulous hack that will make your life so much easier when hosting a large crowd or just cooking dinner for the family, because...
- The sloppy joe mixture stores and reheats well, making it perfect for meal prep.
- This slow cooker recipe makes clean up super easy, sending it right to the top of my list of favorites. Any meal that will save me some time washing dishes is a winner in my book.
- You can easily double or triple this recipe to make as much food you need for any size crowd.
Ingredients
These are the key ingredients to making this easy dinner and game day recipe:
- ground beef
- Manwich
- Rotel chili fixin's
- sweet Hawaiian rolls
- optional: sliced fresh jalapeños
- optional: shredded lettuce
Substitutions and Variations
You can use dinner rolls instead of sweet Hawaiian rolls if you prefer. Slider burger buns will also work great!
If you can't find Rotel chili fixins, a regular can of rotel or diced tomatoes with green chiles is all you need. And if you want the homemade sloppy joe sauce to have a little more liquid, add some tomato sauce or ketchup into the mix.
Add some spices and fresh herbs to give this recipe extra flavor. Red pepper flakes, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, minced garlic and fresh cilantro would all be tasty.
Save some calories and fat content by swapping the ground beef for ground turkey or chicken.
Though this recipe doesn't call for any veggies, diced onion or a green bell pepper would be a fabulous addition to sloppy joe beef mixture.
Serve each sandwich with sliced cheddar cheese or American cheese to make cheesy sloppy joe sliders. Condiments like dijon mustard, yellow mustard, and barbecue sauce are good additions to a slider too.
How to Make Sloppy Joe Sliders
Spray the liner of your slow cooker with non stick cooking spray before adding any ingredients.
Then place ground beef, Manwich and Rotel into the crock pot and use a wooden spoon to stir together all of the ingredients. Be sure to break up the meat well so that it is evenly distributed throughout the beef mixture.
Cook the sloppy joe meat mixture on low for 6 hours until all meat is completely cooked.
When you are ready to serve, assemble each sandwich by cutting the sweet rolls in half and adding meat. Top with lettuce and sliced jalapeños if desired and enjoy!
How to Store Leftover Sloppy Joe Sliders
Store leftover buns and sloppy joe mixture separately. Place meat into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can also freeze leftovers for up to 3 months.
Leftover Hawaiian sweet rolls will last longer if they are transferred to an airtight container. Store at room temperature for 2-3 days or keep them in the fridge to extend their life a bit. You can also freeze them for up to 2 months! Place in a zip top freezer bag and squeeze out all the air before freezing.
What to Serve with Sloppy Joe Sliders
While you're picking up the simple ingredients for this recipe, you can grab a few bags of potato chips or some frozen french fries if you want a super easy side to serve with sliders.
But if you want to serve a little something more, make a tasty green salad with strawberries or some potato salad. A simple pasta salad is always a good idea!
Serving sloppy joe sliders as an appetizer? Throw together some fresh guacamole or buffalo chicken meatballs to eat alongside them.
And if dips are your thing on game day, then you've gotta try out skillet sausage dip and jalapeño popper dip.
Tips for Success
- Around the half way mark, take the lid off your crock pot and give the beef mixture a good stir to incorporate all the ingredients and make sure nothing is sticking.
- Melt some butter and add garlic powder to it. Then brush a bit of the butter over the top of the rolls to make them extra tasty!
- Use lean ground beef so that you sloppy joes are not too greasy and fatty after being cooked.
FAQ
The best way to avoid a soggy slider is to assemble them one at a time and eat right away. However, if you need to pre-assemble some and place them in a baking dish or serving tray for transport then try toasting the inside of the rolls first. This will help keep them from getting soggy too quickly.
Though the two classic food dishes are quite similar, sloppy joes and chili are not the same. Both things chili and sloppy joes have a ground beef and tomato bas. However, sloppy joes tend to be much sweeter and are consistently a thick mixture so that it can be eaten on a bun. Chili can vary in consistency, often contains beans, and is going to be much more spicy than sloppy joes.
More Slow Cooker Recipes
- Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Pulled Pork
- Slow Cooker Refined Sugar Free Pulled Pork
- Slow Cooker Bacon Jalapeño Creamed Corn
- Salsa Verde Chicken
If you make and love this recipe, please leave a ★★★★★ review below! It means so much to me when you try my recipes, and I'd love to know how it goes. Please leave a comment below if you have any questions.
Slow Cooker Sloppy Joe Sliders
These easy slow cooker sloppy joe sliders can be served as a quick weeknight dinner or the most tasty appetizer for your parties!
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 can Manwich
- 1 can Rotel Chili Fixin's
- 1 package sweet Hawaiian rolls, cut in half horizontally
- 2-3 fresh jalapeños, sliced ⅛" thick
- Shredded lettuce or cabbage for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Spray slow cooker with non stick cooking spray before adding ingredients
- Place ground beef, Manwich and Rotel in slow cooker.
- Use wooden spoon to stir ingredients and break up meat.
- Cook on low for 6 hours, or until meat is completely cooked
- Stir to combine ingredients, if necessary
- Assembly sandwiches by taking sliced roll, adding meat, topping with lettuce/cabbage and jalapeños
- Serve immediately
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1 sliderAmount Per Serving: Calories: 164Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 249mgCarbohydrates: 5gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 14g
Amber says
This was quick, easy, and delicious with a spicy twist! It was perfect for one nights dinner.
Agnes says
This sloppy Joe slider was so delicious. The sauce really complements the whole dish. Plus, my kids also loved it, so I would definitely be making it again!
Grace says
I made these tonight for the grandkids and they were a huge hit! So easy, thank you.
Lucy says
I loved how easy this recipe was with the slow cooker on hand. I used pickled jalapeños and onions and the flavour combo was awesome with the sweet ground beef.
Alex says
I love these because they're so much easier to make for a crowd than lots of individual burger patties. And I think they're tastier, too! Love them with jalapenos but it's so easy to leave them off for folks who don't like spicy.
Hayley says
These look so good! I can't wait for our Superbowl party!
Jenna Owens (@aSavoryFeast) says
Mmmm! The slow cooker is such a smart way to get everything done on time for a party. Sliders are always so fun, too!
Amy says
sister friend!
these look so delicious (and yu-yesss to adding jalapenos!)
p.s. i agree with @accordingtolaurajean:disqus your pictures are stunning in this!
Elise Laney says
Yum! It's 7 am in California and now I'm hungry and craving sloppy joes. Lol
Christine Everyday says
These sound SO delicious!
Laura Jean Gilleland says
Your photos are awesome! I love the way you styled this post. And jalape?os on sloppy joes? I had never thought of that. Brilliant!