Keto Sloppy Joes
Posted: 04/20/21
Updated: 12/11/24
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These keto sloppy Joes are a spot-on, low-carb take on a classic family-favorite. With lots of flavor and only 3g net carbs per serving, this is a perfect, easy meal to add to your dinner rotation.
What Makes This Recipe So Good
- This recipe has all the flavor of traditional sloppy Joes without any of the added sugar or high fructose corn syrup that’s in the canned versions. Seriously, it’s so spot-on that even non-keto eaters will love it. They probably wouldn’t even know it was keto unless you told them!
- They’re really easy to make! The actual cook time is next-to-nothing, so you’ll be ready to eat in less than 30 minutes.
- You can easily double the recipe for large groups, or just to prep some make-ahead meals. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days, or freeze them up to 3 months!
Key Ingredients
Ground Beef – We used ground beef with a 85% lean, 15% fat ratio this time around, but you could go with an 80/20 ground beef if you’d like a little more fat in your keto sloppy Joes! 85/15 has a tendency to dry out if you overcook it. Keep that in mind while it’s on the stove.
Tomato Paste – A lot of canned tomato products have unnecessary added sugars, so be sure to read the label! The very, very small amount of sugar you’ll actually consume should come from the tomatoes, not any added sugars or any sugar substitutes that aren’t keto-friendly.
Ketchup – Like with tomato paste, you’ll want to choose the lowest carb, lowest sugar ketchup you can find. For store-bought, Primal Kitchen makes a great keto-certified ketchup with no added sugar (or sugar substitutes) and only 2g of carbs per tablespoon. If you’d like to make your own, check out this keto ketchup recipe from 40 Aprons.
Chef’s Tips
- Classic sloppy Joes are served on hamburger buns, but traditional buns don’t fit in a keto way of eating. Instead, use keto-friendly hamburger buns, like Sola Golden Wheat buns or Thin Slim Foods Zero Net Carb buns. You could also skip the buns and serve your keto sloppy Joes in hollowed-out green bell peppers, in lettuce cups, or on mashed cauliflower.
- We didn’t use any this time, but cheese is a great addition to keto sloppy Joes! Top them with some shredded cheese or a little keto cheddar cheese sauce.
- You can make your keto sloppy Joes in the Crockpot if you’d prefer a more hands-off method! You’ll still start out on the stove – melt the butter in a skillet, then add the ground beef. Break it up and brown it, then add the onion. Cook the ground beef and onion for 3-5 minutes, then transfer that mixture and all your sauce ingredients to the slow cooker. Cook everything on HIGH for 3 hours or LOW for 6 hours.
Other Keto Recipes You’ll Love
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Keto Sloppy Joes
These keto sloppy Joes are a spot-on, low-carb take on a classic family-favorite. With lots of flavor and only 3g net carbs per serving, this is a perfect, easy meal to add to your dinner rotation.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ of one yellow onion see Notes
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tablespoon no-sugar-added tomato paste
- ½ cup sugar-free ketchup
- ⅓ cup beef broth
- 1 tablespoon Brown Swerve Sweetener optional
- ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire see Notes
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Equipment
- Large skillet with lid
- Wooden spoon
- Bowl
Instructions
- Melt butter in large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Add ground beef and crumble into pieces with back of wooden spoon. Cook until brown, approximately 5 to 6 minutes.
- Remove ground beef from skillet. Do not drain. Add onions and garlic to skillet and cook until fragrant, approximately 1 to 2 minutes.
- Return ground beef to skillet. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. If mixture seems dry, add more beef broth, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Stir and remove from heat. Divide into portions. Serve hot.
Notes
- Onion is recommended, but some keto-eaters try to avoid them. If you’d like to save a carb, you can skip them.
- Be sure to use a tomato paste and a ketchup with no added sugar.
- There’s usually a little sugar in Worcestershire, but we’re only using 1 teaspoon of the sauce here so it shouldn’t be enough to cause concern. Check the label, though, and choose a brand with the fewest carbs and sugars. You could also use soy sauce or tamari, though the flavor will be a little different.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1sloppy Joe | Calories: 298kcal | Protein: 22g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 1g | Total Carbs: 7g | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Erythritol: 3g | Net Carbs: 3g | Vitamin C: 2mg | Cholesterol: 85mg | Sodium: 759mg | Potassium: 413mg | Calcium: 27mg | Iron: 3mg
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.
The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because of the brown sugar. While it wasn’t a big amount it was enough to make the mixture too sweet for us. Next time I’ll make some adjustments, maybe add more chili powder!
This is a keto recipe, so you’ll want to use a brown sugar substitute (we recommend Brown Swerve) instead of brown sugar! If you used traditional brown sugar, that may have been why it was too sweet for you.
Please let us know if you try it again!
Made this for dinner last night and it was delicious! This will definitely be in our meal rotation now.
Love hearing that! So glad you enjoyed! Thanks so much for the review, Kirsten!