Jalapeno Sloppy Joe Sliders

These Jalapeño Sloppy Joe Sliders are comforting, rich and hearty with the perfect balance of smoky and spicy flavor.

OMGosh you guysssss, you all are going to lovvvvve this easy Jalapeno Sloppy Joe Sliders recipe. It’s the all kind of right with what is smoky, spicy, rich and hearty. Comfort food at its best! In itty bitty slider form. 🙂

And, it’s a good thing that I had this amazing comfort food to “comfort” me, because just that morning, I was a hot mess and had gotten quite the scare! Eeeeek!

So get this – there I was, writing a post for all of you, and behind me I hear some minor “bonk, bonk”. It was faint, but it was there.  So, I turned around to see Jamaica (remember my cat, Jamaica?) who was sitting in my round wicker garbage can, and he had gotten his head stuck in one of those square (empty) Kleenex boxes. Gahhhhhhh! 

You can imagine how this scene now plays out – I’m yelling “OMG!!! OMG!!! My babyyyyyyy!!!” It was a supersonic kind of panic, as I scrambled to free him from that terrible cardboard prison. Luckily he was right beside me, so I just reached down and plucked it from his little Siamese head. 🙂

Ok Kristi….., you can breathe now. Gulp.

Ok, back to these amazing sliders. I was lucky enough to find these Jalapeno slider buns by Kings Hawaiian buns. What a score! I love the Original Hawaiian Sweet dinner rolls – but a jalapeno version?  Hello? Do you know me? 🙂 And now, these little babies are my favorite go-to slider buns.

Many recipes for Sloppy Joes call for a sweet ingredient such as sugar, molasses or brown sugar. But, you know my preference for savory foods over sweet – so I omitted any kind of sweet element. The result is an amazing, grown-up, spicy, smoky Sloppy Joe that made me re-think what I initially thought of this classic dish.

In the recipe below, you’ll see that I’ve used two kinds of peppers – two jalapenos, and 2/3 cup of diced red pepper. This not only gives it great flavor, but beautiful color too! When you’re shopping for jalapenos, look for ones that are firm with unblemished skin.

How do you all feel about Sloppy Joes? Love ’em or hate ’em?

If you’d asked me 20 years ago, I’d have said “heck no to the Sloppy Joe” 🙂 but after we both tasted these, I was in Sloppy Joe Slider heaven. Want to join me?

Please note that the crushed red pepper flakes are totally optional, but if you love spicy, it’s an absolute must have in these Sloppy Joes, and it makes them over-the-top fantastic. And, those jalapenos with the crushed red pepper flakes? Well, they leave a nice slow burn for just a few minutes in the back of your throat. Yum!

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Jalapeño Sloppy Joe Sliders

Jalapeño Sloppy Joe Sliders Author: Kristi

Course: Main

Author: Kristi

Ingredients

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 28-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes, puréed
• 8 garlic cloves
• 2 jalapeño peppers diced
• 2/3 cup red bell pepper diced
• 1 medium yellow onion diced
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoon ground dry mustard
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire

Instructions

• Add fire roasted tomatoes and garlic cloves to a blender and puree until smooth.
• Add hamburger, onions, red pepper and jalapeños to a large skillet and heat over medium high heat until ground beef is done. Remove from heat and drain fat.
• Return skillet to heat and add spices and puréed tomatoes.

Notes

*One medium onion diced up comes to roughly 2 cups.

Jalapeño Sloppy Joe Sliders