Deep Dish Sloppy Joe Casserole
If this Deep Dish Sloppy Joe Casserole looks a little bit familiar, that probably means you’ve been with me for quite a while. Back when I started this blog, one of my first recipes was a Deep Dish Pizza Casserole that I still get a lot of comments about – its popularity has stood the test of time! Now that the weather is starting to cool down a bit, I’ve been craving hearty, meaty casseroles that fill me up and warm me from the inside out. I’ve also had sloppy joes on the brain, because my fiancé made some recently and he thinks I eat them weird. I guess I do…I’m way more interested in getting straight to all the saucy meat, so the bun really just gets in the way for me. Plus, eating sloppy joes as a sandwich is just so…sloppy. I usually just put half the bun in the bottom of a bowl, cover it with meat and eat it with a fork or just skip the bun altogether. A bowl of meat? I guess I am kind of weird.
Anyway, for some reason the half-bun covered in saucy ground beef reminded me of my original deep dish casserole and gave me the idea to make it again but with sloppy joe flavoring. Not to toot my own horn, but this was a GENIUS idea – it’s so good!! Now this is a meat-to-bread ratio I can get on board with! Plus, since I’m calling it a casserole, it’s not weird for me to eat it with a fork. That’s a casserole given! For all you sloppy joe purists out there, don’t worry, this is still plenty sloppy. The pizza crust is bursting with rich, saucy meat and melty cheese, and the edges of the dough get nice and crusty. These are really nice, filling servings too; perfect comfort food for a chilly day! To view your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, click here!
Deep Dish Sloppy Joe Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 lb 95% lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning, I used the reduced sodium kind
- 8 oz white mushrooms, minced (I used a food processor)
- 1 medium carrot, minced (I used a food processor)
- 1 medium onion, minced (I used a food processor)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (I used a food processor)
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
- 1 pinch of cayenne pepper
- 15 oz can of tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 (11 oz) can of refrigerated pizza crust dough, (such as Pillsbury thin crust)
- 1 cup shredded 2% Mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly mist a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Bring a large saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat and add the ground beef. Break the ground beef up with a spoon or spatula while cooking. Sprinkle with steak seasoning and continue to cook until beef is browned. Add the mushrooms, carrot, onion, garlic, vinegar, and Worcestershire sauce and reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the brown sugar, cayenne pepper, tomato sauce, and tomato paste and stir together. Cover and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
- Unroll your pizza dough and lay it in your prepared baking dish. Push the dough down across the dish and up the sides. Pour the meat mixture from your skillet into the pizza dough. Place in the oven for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle the Mozzarella cheese over the top. Place the casserole back in the oven and cook for 5 additional minutes or until cheese is melted and pizza crust is browned.
Notes
9 per serving (P+ calculated using the recipe builder on weightwatchers.com) Inspired by my Deep Dish Pizza Casserole, sloppy joe ingredients adapted from Skinnytaste
Your pizza casserole is one of my husband’s favorites..every time I make it, he can’t stop saying how good it is. This version is definitely going on my meal plan soon!
I hope you both love it!
I made it tonight, we both loved it, even better than the pizza one!
i have a WONDERFUL sloppy joe recipe that the hubs + i love — might try making it with crescent roll dough thanks to this inspiration!
and youre not weird at all for liking it bun-less. i love the bowl-of-meat method, or sometimes i will gloop it overtop of a salad. yknow, cause then its healthy. 🙂
Haha, right? Glad to know I’m not the only weirdo 😉
Love the first – can’t wait to try this Emily!
Thanks Miranda, I hope you love it!
I made this last night and it was sooo good! Emily – I recently rejoined WW online and your blog has been such a pleasant find! I’ve been referring to it every day. I’ve made your banana chocolate oat singles (twice), your peanut chicken satay, company chicken, and now this sloppy joe dish. All have been excellent! Your website is extremely well-done and easy to navigate. I really appreciate all of the time and effort you put it into it!
-Jennifer
Aw, yay! I’m so happy to hear you’ve been using my blog as a resource and that you loved this recipe. Thanks for letting me know! Good luck with WW online – you can do it! 🙂
Do you think this would work with a can of manwhich? I have one left that I’m trying to get rid of.
Probably! I’ve actually never used canned sloppy joe mix before (I know, weird), so I’m note sure how much it makes, but you could definitely adjust if needed.
I made this with Manwich and it was really good!!!
This is delicious! We had it tonight for dinner & it’s a 3 thumbs up! It will be made again (and again, and again)… I love the way the veggies are minced up in disguise —-
Woohoo, 3 thumbs! Haha. I love hidden veggies too. Glad this was a hit! 🙂
This was sooooo tasty! The only changes I made were using a zuchinni instead of the mushrooms (I loathe mushrooms!). Also I didn’t have steak seasoning so I used seasoning salt. Otherwise, it was perfection! My husband didn’t even know there were veggies in it and he LOVED it!
Great idea with the zucchini sub for all you mushroom haters :). So happy to hear you both loved it! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Made this for dinner on Monday night and it was DELISH! It is definitely a good spin on the deep dish pizza casserole (which is popular in our household). I even had it for left overs last night. 🙂
I made this dish last night and it was yummy, everyone enjoyed it.
I made this last night and it wasn’t a hit. 🙁 The worchestshire sauce gave it a weird tang. I also thought that mushrooms and carrots didn’t really scream Sloppy Joe. I love the concept. Next time I will try it with onions and bell peppers. And minus the worchestshire sauce!!
This blog is FABULOUS!!! Heading to Wegmans tonight to get some essential ingredients! Going to try this recipe first.
THIS was so good! Thank you! i don’t think i want to go back to regular sloppy joes! 🙂
This was really good. I, like you, am not a fan of sloppy joes but my husband looooooooooves them. And when he talks about my cooking and how good it is, it is always followed by, “but she never makes me sloppy joes.” I think its the sloppy meat to bread ratio add in canned sloppy mix, and I have just never been a fan. The husband thought I was joking when I said I was making sloppy joe casserole. Thanks for the inspiration! It was a hit.
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I usually choose a recipe to make on Sunday that I can have for dinner throughout the week. My hubby wasn’t crazy about this recipe on paper so I said “Fine, it will be my dinner recipe” Well he smelled it on Sunday and on Monday he came home asking if he could have a piece! Good thing it’s 6 servings and I only need 5 for the week 😉
Delicious!
Tried this last night, delicious! DBF loved it too. We are huge fans of your deep dish pizza. Any suggestions on how to reheat so the dough doesn’t get all wet and soggy? It’s still delish but never as good as fresh out of the oven. I don’t have a toaster oven at work either (that’s my solution if I reheat at home).
This is awesome! Endless possibilities! It was so good I thought I was cheating!
I joined WW online a few weeks ago so have been looking for recipes. I found your blog while looking and made this tonight. Both my daughter and I LOVED it. I will definitely be making it many more times! I’ll also be looking through more of your recipes!!! Thanks!
Holy Yum is all I have to say about this dish Emily. I’m so impressed with the tastiness of your recipes! I make a lot of recipes from healthy bloggers and so far no one has has the success rate of the dishes I’ve made from your blog. I find there is a lot of trial and error with healthy cooking…not everything makes the grade in the end, but yours don’t disappoint. This is a new favorite for me. Thanks a million.
Made this tonight and it was DEELISH! I don’t eat meat so I always sub Morningstar Farms veggie crumbles for ground beef and the recipe turned out great. My 10 year old son declared it better than going out for dinner. A real winner. THANKS.
Great to know that it was good meatless – thanks for sharing. So glad it was a hit!
Made this 2 nights ago & we loved it! So easy & not much mess! Great dish whether you are on Weight Watcher’s or not! I NEVER used the food processor. I used shredded carrots & chopped onions. Left out the mushrooms cuz I don’t care for them & used minced garlic out of the jar. I will definately make this again! Love this site!
Emily, I made this last night, and it was a BIG hit!!! I have one very picky Son, that won’t touch a vegetable and he had two helpings of this. I Love the idea of putting the vegetables in without being noticed. I was thinking a tomato pasta sauce adapted from this recipe would be great. Do you have one, or have an idea on what I might do with the vegetables? Thanks!
How many servings? 8?
Hi Ali, the servings are listed directly under the recipe title in the recipe section of the post. This recipe makes 6 servings!
I made this a couple of nights ago. I loved it! It was a BIG hit with my husband too!! This one is a keeper for sure.
Glad to hear it was a hit, Lori!
can this be made in a cast iron skillet?
I’ve never tried that but probably as long as it’s a large one – let me know how it works out!
Can I make this as a freezer meal?
I have never personally frozen it (I almost never freeze things!) so I’m not 100% sure how it will work out. If you try it, please let us know!
I’ve just signed up on your website, so far, I’m loving the recipes that I’m reading. Can I freeze the Deep Dish Sloppy Joe Casserole and the Pizza one?
Thank you.
Third recipe I’ve tried from this site and each has been so delicious! Will you be recalculating points (with this new system in December?)
Hi Betty, when more information becomes available about the new program I will update things as quickly as I can 🙂
I made this tonight! It was delicious! and hubby approved! (He is super picky, but loves sloppy joes!) Thank you for the recipe!
I just made it and it smell amazing! It came out 8 sp in my recipe builder although I used 1.25 lb of 96% ground beef. Probably because I didn’t have pizza crust and used reduced fat crescent rolls! LOL And also used TJ’s lite mozzarella! Yum!
put leftovers on pizza tray and bake in oven and no soggy crust!
put left overs in oven on pizza tray and no soggy crust!
Made this last night. I subbed balsamic vinegar for red wine vinegar. It was very noticeable and not a good sub. Family still ate it but not a fav. Hope we all like it better next time with the right vinegar!
I love meat bowls too! This recipe is calling my name, but with beans 0 points on the new program have you ever thought subbing some beans for some meat? Just for lower points. Also, I don’t have the correct vinegar, Is that a big deal?
Nope, I’ve never tried using beans! I’m sure it will still be good if you use apple cider vinegar or something similar.
This sounded so good. However, I have to agree with the earlier commenter who said the Worcestershire sauce gave it a weird taste. Is make it again but with a different sloppy joe recipe. Thanks for the base!
This is one of my absolute favorites!! But I take a big shortcut and use the Sloppy Joe sauce that is already prepared in the can. It saves a ton of time with all the Worcester sauce, tomato sauce, spices, etc. I also add three Chopped green peppers and a lot of crushed red pepper. So darn yummy!!!
This is amazing! I love SkinnyTaste’s sloppy joe recipe, but sloppy joes are so… messy. This is an amazing way to turn it into a fork food, and hubby and I looooved it! We ended up making it two nights in a row because we forgot the leftovers on the counter overnight (I was so mad), and we weren’t going to let this be a one night meal. This will be a repeat, and I’ve told coworkers about it. YUM!
I made a quick pizza crust from a BudgetBytes recipe, and it was worth the little extra time. Plus it made two crusts, so the second night I didn’t have to make another one. I can’t wait to make this again!
I was wondering if anyone ever made it using 2 ingredient dough instead of refrigerated pizza dough. I’m thinking it would lower the points.
Has anyone tried this with 2 ingredient pizza dough? Seems like the points would be lower with it.
My first time leaving a review, I make your meals very often and they have all been hits with my family.
Last night I tried this recipe for the first time. I only had three kids at home and my husband. The teen loved it and surprisingly my husband did as well, he’s not much of a fan of sloppy joes, but even he went back for seconds.
The other kids are my non eaters, little girls aged 5 and almost 4. They looked at the meal and said eww no and left the table. Now we usually allow a spoonful of peanut Butter before bed. We are currently trying to omit that habit. So when they asked for peanut butter I said nope and handed them their plates of dinner. They younger one conceded first and tried a bite. Her eyes got big and exclaimed I like this! The older then tried it and also said this is good. Lol so they ate dinner.
Now it’s lunch time, and the younger one runs to the fridge and says I want last nights dinner. These kids never eat leftovers. To say this meal is a hit, is a huge understatement.
Thanks Emily for getting my girls to actually eat food!
This legit made my eyes tear up, haha. I have a picky toddler right now, so I totally GET IT and I’m beyond thrilled to hear that they not only tried it and liked it, but wanted more the next day. That’s the best review. Thanks for making my day!
O.M.G amazing. Definitely going to be a staple in our house.
I haven’t made it yet but I will. I also eat a 1/2 bun with sloppy joe meat on it with a fork or just a bowl of saucy meat. Yum!
This is one of mine and my husband’s favorite Emilybites recipes! It’s so easy (one hour start-to-finish including chopping veggies and measuring all ingredients). I know several others have mentioned using canned sauce or doing other substitutions, but honestly this is one of those recipes that I would keep exactly as is— the balance of the flavors in the sauce are PERFECT: sweet, tangy, spicy, savory. If you use the pillsbury thin crust dough as recommended, it cooks perfectly even without getting soggy. Plus the serving size is great given how hearty of a dish it is. Leftovers are great for lunch!
I started making this about a year ago and it has become a staple in our house. Sometimes I make it with ground beef, sometimes with turkey. And I add whatever vegetables I have in my fridge. Love it with some spinach!
Love this concept. I didn’t follow the sloppy Joe part exactly (had some tomato passata to use up and I like a few different spices), but I love how it turned out on top of the crust. Thanks for such a great idea!