Sweet Potato BBQ Pork Sloppy Joes Recipe | Homemade Comfort

BBQ Pork Sloppy Joes Recipe – There’s something deeply satisfying about a meal that requires you to embrace the chaos. I’m talking about the kind of dinner where you need to lean forward over your plate, where napkins are non-negotiable, and where, inevitably, something delicious will drip down your wrist. Sloppy Joes are the poster child for this dining experience, and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

BBQ Pork Sloppy Joes

Lumina Liu

Enjoy tasty, homemade BBQ Pork Sloppy Joes with a side of sweet potato wedges. This beloved American favorite includes flavorful ground pork smothered in a zesty BBQ sauce, finished off with tangy quick-pickled red onions, and tucked into warm, toasted buns.

4.9 from 127 votes

Prep Time 15 Minutes

Cook Time 30 Minutes

Total Time 45 Minutes

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 2 servings

Calories 580 calories kcal

Ingredients

 

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 red onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 lime
• 2 buns
• 1 lb ground pork
• BBQ sauce
• Hot sauce
• Tomato ketchup
• Sugar
• Vegetable oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• Butter

Instructions

 

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash and dry all produce. Cut sweet potatoes into ½-inch-thick wedges. Toss on a baking sheet with a drizzle of oil, salt, and pepper. Roast until browned and tender, 20-25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, halve and peel onion. Slice as thinly as possible until you have ¼ cup (½ cup for 4 servings); finely chop remaining onion. Peel and finely chop garlic. Halve lime; squeeze juice into a small bowl. Halve buns. Add 1 TBSP butter (2 TBSP for 4) to a separate small microwave-safe bowl; microwave until melted, 30 seconds. Brush onto cut sides of buns.
3. To bowl with lime juice, add sliced onion, ¼ tsp sugar (½ tsp for 4 servings), and a pinch of salt. Stir to combine; set aside to quick-pickle.
4. Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until softened, 4-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds more. Add pork and season with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until browned and cooked through, 4-6 minutes.
5. While pork cooks, in a third small bowl, combine BBQ sauce, pickling liquid from onion, 3 TBSP ketchup (6 TBSP for 4 servings), ½ tsp sugar (1 tsp for 4), and ¼ cup water (⅓ cup for 4). Once pork is cooked through, add BBQ sauce mixture to pan. Cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened, 2-3 minutes. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
6. Meanwhile, toast buns in oven or toaster oven until golden, 3-5 minutes. Divide toasted buns between plates and fill with as much BBQ pork as you'd like. Top with pickled onion and hot sauce. Serve with sweet potato wedges on the side.

Nutrition

Calories: 580.00 caloriesFat: 22.00 gCarbohydrates: 65.00 gCholesterol: 90.00 mgFiber: 6.00 gProtein: 32.00 gSaturated Fat: 8.00 g

Keyword BBQ Pork Sloppy Joes, Pork Sandwich, American Comfort Food, Easy Dinner Recipe, Sweet Potato Wedges

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For years, I avoided making Sloppy Joes because they reminded me of cafeteria lunches—mysterious meat swimming in too-sweet sauce on soggy buns.

Then last week, while staring down a package of ground pork that was threatening to reach its use-by date, I decided it was time to reclaim this American classic.

Not with a can of sauce (sorry, childhood), but with a homemade BBQ mixture that hits all the right notes: tangy, slightly sweet, with just enough complexity to make you wonder, “Why don’t I make these more often?”

The Humble Sloppy Joe, Reimagined

The Sloppy Joe has a contested history—some credit a cook named Joe in Sioux City, Iowa, while others trace it back to Havana, Cuba’s “Sloppy Joe’s Bar.”

Regardless of origin, this sandwich has become embedded in American comfort food culture, often relegated to cafeteria lines and quick weeknight dinners made with pre-packaged mixes.

But here’s the thing about comfort food classics: they usually become classics for good reason, and they typically deserve better than what convenience packaging offers.

This version pairs BBQ-infused pork with crispy sweet potato wedges for a dinner that feels nostalgic yet fresh—the culinary equivalent of running into an old friend who’s somehow gotten even cooler over the years.

The sweet potatoes aren’t just a side here; they’re the perfect vehicle for scooping up any escaped filling (and there will be escapees—it’s a Sloppy Joe, after all).

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Their slight sweetness complements the tangy BBQ sauce in a way that makes plain old fries seem like a missed opportunity.

The Method Behind the Messiness

I’m not going to pretend this is a neat and tidy meal. It’s called “sloppy” for a reason.

But there’s a method to achieving the perfect balance of messiness—where it’s juicy enough to be satisfying but not so wet that your bun disintegrates before you can get it to your mouth.

For the Sweet Potato Wedges

Let’s start with the sweet potatoes, which need a head start in the oven. I know some recipes call for boiling them first, but direct roasting concentrates their flavor and gives them those delightfully crispy edges that make you reach for “just one more.”

1. Preheat your oven to 450°F. This high heat is non-negotiable for achieving crisp exteriors.
2. Cut your sweet potatoes into wedges about ½-inch thick. Try to keep them relatively uniform so they cook evenly.
3. Toss them on a baking sheet with just enough oil to coat, plus salt and pepper.
4. Roast for 20-25 minutes, or until they’re browned and tender enough that a fork slides in easily.

I’ve found that giving sweet potatoes enough space on the baking sheet is crucial—overcrowd them, and they’ll steam rather than roast, resulting in soggy wedges that make you question your life choices.

For the Quick-Pickled Onions

While the sweet potatoes roast, make the quick-pickled onions. These aren’t just garnish—they’re the bright, acidic counterpoint that cuts through the richness of the pork. And they take literally minutes to prepare.

1. Slice part of your red onion as thinly as humanly possible. I aim for slices that are almost transparent.
2. In a small bowl, combine lime juice, a pinch of sugar, and salt.
3. Add the sliced onions and give everything a good stir.
4. Set this aside and let the acid do its magic while you prepare everything else.

The transformation is remarkable—in just the time it takes to cook the pork, those sharp raw onions mellow and pickle just enough to add a perfect tangy crunch.

For the BBQ Pork Filling

Now for the star of the show—the pork filling that somehow manages to be simple yet complex, familiar yet surprising.

1. Sauté your chopped onion until softened and just starting to turn translucent.
2. Add garlic and cook just until fragrant—about 30 seconds. Any longer and it can turn bitter.
3. Add your ground pork, breaking it up as it cooks. I like to leave some slightly larger chunks for texture.
4. While the pork cooks, prepare your sauce by combining BBQ sauce, the pickling liquid from your onions (genius flavor layering here), ketchup, a touch of sugar, and water.
5. Once the pork is cooked through, add this sauce mixture and let it simmer until thickened—about 2-3 minutes.

The sauce should coat the meat without pooling excessively in the pan. If it’s too thin, simmer a bit longer; too thick, add a splash of water.

You’re looking for that perfect consistency where it will cling to the meat but still be juicy enough to warrant the “sloppy” title.

Assembly: Where Art Meets Delicious Disorder

There’s a brief moment of beauty before you take your first bite of a Sloppy Joe—when everything is still contained within the boundaries of the bun, when the pickled onions are artfully arranged on top, when you can still see the defined layers.

Appreciate this moment. Take a picture if you must. Then surrender to the glorious mess that follows.

Toast your buttered buns until golden—this crucial step creates a barrier that will delay (though not prevent) the inevitable softening from the sauce. Pile on the BBQ pork mixture, scatter those vibrant pickled onions on top, and add hot sauce to taste.

The sweet potato wedges should be served alongside, hot and crispy, ready for dipping or scooping or whatever feels right in the moment.

Variations and Confessions

I’ve made these with ground turkey when I was trying to be “healthier,” and while they were good, the pork version has more flavor and better texture. That said, beef works beautifully too, if that’s your preference.

Sometimes I add a handful of grated cheddar or a slice of pepper jack on top of the pork just before serving. It adds another layer of indulgence, though it does make the whole affair even messier, if you can imagine.

And here’s my guilty confession: on particularly exhausting days, I’ve been known to skip the homemade sauce and use a good quality store-bought BBQ sauce doctored with some lime juice and extra spices. The world didn’t end, and dinner was still delicious.

These BBQ Pork Sloppy Joes aren’t going to win any beauty contests. They’re going to drip down your hands and possibly onto your shirt.

You might find yourself hunched over your plate in what my husband calls “the Sloppy Joe hunch”—that protective posture we instinctively adopt to minimize cleanup.

But every messy bite will remind you why sometimes the most delicious things in life are the least Instagram-perfect.

And I promise, they’re infinitely better than whatever came out of that cafeteria kitchen all those years ago.