You Won’t Believe They’re Meatless Sloppy Joes
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Completely meatless sloppy joes that are loaded with all that flavor and are made filling with a special ingredient! These sloppy joes are hearty and delicious!
Today’s post is sponsored by California Walnuts! These meatless sloppy joes are hearty and filling because we’re using walnuts as one of the ingredients in our meatless filling!
You read that right COMPLETELY MEATLESS SLOPPY JOES!
But before I tell you all about this vegan sloppy joe recipe, let me tell you about whats going on in my neck of the woods!
I’m writing this post on Friday morning because the weatherman tells me the likelihood that I’ll have electricity on Monday is slim to none. On the off chance, we do have power; I’ll be sure to do a little update to this post. But for right now, we’ve got a category 2 hurricane (which will most likely become a cat. 3 at any moment now) heading our way. We live just a little north of Houston, so I am so thankful we most likely won’t be affected by the 110 mph winds that these type of hurricanes bring, but flooding and power outages are genuine possibilities.
Besides, I really didn’t want to keep this meatless sloppy joes recipe from you!
Total honesty: I am completely not ready for this storm. I was headed to Austin this weekend for a friends bachelorette weekend, but after reports of Austin having the same forecasts as Houston, we put a stopper on the plans. Total bummer!
After our plans came to crashing halt, I got up super early to see if I could find a few water bottles at the grocery store now that we’d be riding out the storm at home. The general vibe? Polite panic. I have to admit; I expected the worst. To my pleasant surprise, it was completely the opposite. Holding each others place in line, hushed whispers of where employees were unloading water bottles, patience, and friendly conversation while we all waited in long lines for the checkout was what actually happened. It’s such an amazing feeling to see how quickly the community comes together when something like this happens. I hear there are Facebook pages set up for hurricane victims that are stranded. Just submit your location, and someone will find you. How amazing is that?
Faith in humanity, restored. ❤️
But enough about all this hurricane stuff, let’s get into these meatless sloppy joes! As much as I love a meaty, hearty sloppy joe (how old am I, like 10?) sometimes you want a powerhouse of good-for-you ingredients packed between a pillowy brioche bun. And this vegetarian-friendly sloppy joe is totally in the zone! My version comes loaded with tons of peppers, onions, garlic, meaty portobello mushrooms, and the star of this recipe — WALNUTS!
Pro tip: pulse the walnuts in the food processor along with the mushrooms so that they develop that proper texture for sloppy joes. And for proof, just look at that picture ??
Coulda fooled me ??♀️
This recipe is my go-to sloppy joes recipe. I’ve been making it for years, and though most of the time it’s with actual ground beef, it’s nice to also have a meatless option that delivers on the flavor, texture, and fills you up too! For me, sloppy joes have to have that perfect balance of sweet, spicy, and tomatoey tang. One secret ingredient I always like to use – apple cider vinegar. Just one tablespoon takes this recipe way over the top and really gives it that depth of flavor. Naturally, with that amount of acid, this recipe is best if consumed the day you prepare it. I don’t suggest making this ahead of time.
I totally cannot get enough of these meatless sloppy joes! Toast your buns, top them with good-for-you meatless sloppy mix and just sit back and take in all that robust flavah!
Get these on the dinner table!
Update: I report with mixed feelings that my family and I are okay but much, much of Houston has been affected by Hurricane Harvey. We’ve had record amounts of flooding due to the heavy rains and meteorologists are reporting the rains are to continue at least until Wednesday. Please keep all the people of Houston and its surrounding areas in your prayers! If you’d like to help in other ways, there are a few different charities you can donate to. Remember, no amount is too small 🙂
You Won't Believe They're Meatless Sloppy Joes
Completely meatless sloppy joes that are loaded with all that flavor and are made filling with a special ingredient! These sloppy joes are hearty and delicious!
Ingredients
- 1 pound portobello mushrooms (gills+stems removed)
- 3/4 cup California Walnuts
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cups ketchup
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon EACH: dry mustard AND cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (or vegan Worcestershire)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- buns for serving
Instructions
- make the 'meat': Pulse the mushrooms and walnuts in a food processor in batches until it breaks down into a ground beef texture.
- cook: heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions, bell pepper and minced garlic, and let cook for 5 minutes or until the veggies soften. Add the prepared mushroom mix to the skillet, stir so everything is well combined and let cook for 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients: ketchup, brown sugar, dry mustard, cayenne, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, and apple cider vinegar. Stir everything together and let simmer for 5 minutes. Adjust with additional salt to taste.
- assemble: Serve the prepared sloppy joe mix on top of toasted buns. Best when served the day it's prepared. I find the sloppy joes mixture looses that texture on day two.
Notes
Thank you to our friends over at California Walnuts for sponsoring this post! We truly love partnering with companies that promote wholesome, quality ingredients!
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6 Comments on “You Won’t Believe They’re Meatless Sloppy Joes”
OMG! SO GOOD! TWO THUMBS UP!?
Hi Marzia,
I’ve just discovered your site and I’m obsessed! Everything looks fantastic. I’m wondering if you plan on including nutritional information with your recipes to help with dietary needs? Thank you!
Hi Stephanie! So glad you found LSJ! Some of our older recipes do include nutritional information, however, we aren’t including them with the recipes at this time. If you’d like to get nutritional content for any of the recipes on the blog you can simply paste the URL of the page into myfitnesspal.com and it will automatically calculate it for you! Also, you can customize it with the brand of products you use for more accuracy. Hope that helps!
Recipe sounds great. Cannot eat mushrooms, is there a substitute?
Unfortunately I’m not too sure as I’ve only tested them with mushrooms. Cooked quinoa or lentils may work but the quantities of each of those ingredients may vary.
This was the veggie option for sandwich and cocktail Saturday. It was easy to make and delicious. I think next time I might leave he brown sugar out altogether, as ketchup is pretty sweet already. Served it with citrus slaw, and it was a great dinner. Be careful not to overprocess the walnuts and mushrooms. Thanks for a good recipe!
Thank you for sharing the recipe! It looks super delicious, I’ll definitely give it a try!