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The Good Hearted Woman

Home Cooking & Cozy Living

  • SOURDOUGH RECIPES & RESOURCES

Lighter Classic Sloppy Joes

May 2 By Renée 8 Comments

Our lighter version of classic Sloppy Joes has all the rich, savory, full-bodied flavor you’re craving! (Super-easy recipe | no cans, no mixes)

Lighter Classic Old School Sloppy Joes {with optional homemade Cheese & Onion Buns} | The Good Hearted Woman

This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.

We had some amazing lunch ladies at my elementary school when I was growing up. Nearly every day, they baked us fresh bread, and they served up what I have come to learn was some of the finest school food offered in the Portland Public School District at the time.

Sloppy Joe Day was always a good day in our lunchroom! I remember passing through the lunch line, watching as the Sloppy Joe lady plunked a big ice cream scoop full of thick, meaty sauce onto the bottom half of a freshly baked burger bun, where it sat like a little brown igloo until she smooshed it into a patty shape with the other half of the bun. 

Once at your table, you would hold your Sloppy Joe in both hands, fingers on top, thumbs down. The trick was to keep it level as you bit down, in the hopes that at least some of the filling would stay inside the bun as you did. I nearly always finished mine with a fork though, as most of my Joe inevitably ended up plopping out on my lunch tray. 

Lighter Classic Old School Sloppy Joes {with optional homemade Cheese & Onion Buns} | The Good Hearted Woman

Who Invented the Sloppy Joe? 

Three different institutions – two Florida Straits bars and a Midwest tavern – are variously credited with inventing the Sloppy Joe. The most widely accepted version is that Sloppy Joe’s originated in the Midwest in the 1930’s as the saucy loose meat creation of a Sioux City, Iowa cook named Joe. I’m not sure how true that story is, but I like it, so I’m going with it.

Sloppy Joe didn’t find his way into my mother’s kitchen until Hunt’s released its canned “Manwich” sauce in the early 1970’s, at which time Mama was quick to jump on the Sloppy Joe train.

Like many women of her generation, Mama was fascinated by the boon of boxed, canned, and frozen meals that food companies of the time were churning out. Hello, Joe!

Thankfully, the frenzy over boxed and canned meals has long passed, and today I do all I can to avoid prefab foods. But sometimes I still get the craving for those old standbys – most recently for the classic Sloppy Joes of my childhood cafeteria.

Lighter Classic Old School Sloppy Joes {with optional homemade Cheese & Onion Buns} | The Good Hearted Woman

Wavy Line

How We Lightened Up Ol’ Sloppy Joe

In order to bring classic Sloppy Joes into the new millennia with lighter, healthier ingredients, I had to make a couple of significant changes.

First, because we’ve taken a giant step back from beef in the last few years, I substituted ground chicken for the traditional ground beef. (You can also use ground turkey.)

That, however, presents another problem, because ground chicken is essentially the tofu of live proteins, in that it is utterly tasteless all by itself. For a more positive spin, think of it as a blank canvas, just waiting for you to paint it up with your culinary magic. 

The rich, savory flavor that is the calling card of any respectable Sloppy Joe is enhanced by adding a splash of Worcestershire sauce and a little cocoa powder to the mix. 

In addition to the traditional onions and celery, I also added a handful of grated carrots for depth and sweetness, a squirt of Sriracha for a touch of heat, and a handful of savory spices.

Finally, because I prefer my Sloppy Joes to have some body, I added a little ground oatmeal.

Oatmeal for Thickening Sauces: If you’ve never used this trick to thicken a meat sauce before, it may sound weird, but it works like a charm. You never even taste the oatmeal. (Do not use oat flour for this: it is too finely ground.)

Classic Old School Sloppy Joes | The Good Hearted Woman
5 from 1 vote

Lighter Classic Sloppy Joes

This lighter version of classic Sloppy Joes has all the rich, savory, full-bodied flavor you’re craving! 
Prep Time30 mins
Total Time30 mins
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Main, Main Course, Main Dish
Cuisine: Comfort Food
Keyword: lighter sloppy joes, sloppy joes
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 154kcal
Author: Renée | The Good Hearted Woman

Equipment

  • Large, heavy skillet

Ingredients

Sloppy Joes Sauce

  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 3-4 stalks celery finely chopped
  • 1 - 1 1/4 pounds ground turkey or ground chicken
  • 1/2 cup cold water
  • 3/4 cup ketchup [We use Portland Ketchup!)
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar see NOTES
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 medium carrots coarsely grated
  • 1 teaspoon Sriracha
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1 cup water or as needed
  • 1/8 - 1/4 cup old-fashioned or quick oats coarsely ground or chopped

For Serving

  • Chopped green onions
  • Toasted burger buns
  • Cheese sliced or grated [Optional; see NOTES]
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • In a small bowl, mix together ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, cocoa powder, salt, Sriracha, basil, oregano, fennel seeds, and paprika.
    Set aside.
  • Melt butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat.
    Increase heat to medium-high and add chopped onions and celery.
    Stir intermittently until the onions just begin to brown.
  • Add 1/2 cup water and ground meat to skillet with the onions and celery.
    Season with Break meat apart and cook until no pink remains and water has evaporated.
  • Add contents of small bowl to skillet mixture and stir to combine thoroughly.
  • Reduce heat to Low, cover skillet, and simmer 5 - 10 minutes.
  • If mix is too thick: Add up to a cup of water before simmering (Don't go crazy, though!)
  • To thicken the mixture, add 2 -4 tablespoons of quick or old-fashioned oats.
    This works best if you run them through a food mill or small blender first. Be careful though - you don't want to turn it into oat flour - you just want to break the oats up a little.

Notes

SLOW COOKER DIRECTIONS: Do steps 1 - 4 as outlined, then dump everything into the slow cooker, and cook on low for 1-2 hours.
INGREDIENT NOTES:
  • BROWN SUGAR: If you prefer your Joes a little less sweet, reduce or omit the brown sugar according to your tastes. Also, pay attention to the amount of sugar in your ketchup - if it is a very sweet variety, you will want to cut back on the brown sugar.
  • CHEESE: I usually use cheddar, or a blend of cheddar and jack. Just use whatever sounds good to you.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 154kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 52mg | Sodium: 624mg | Potassium: 390mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1941IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 21mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

Do you know what the three essential elements of a great school pizza are? Check out our Old School Cafeteria Pizza recipe to find out!

 

Classic Old School Sloppy Joes | The Good Hearted Woman

One of the best things about classic Sloppy Joes is that you can make them well ahead of time – as in days ahead – and simply heat the sauce up when you’re ready to eat.

Wavy Line

Sloppy Joes: Not Just for Buns! 

Never underestimate the versatility of the humble Sloppy Joe. Sure, it’s great on a bun, but it has so much potential for branching out. Here are just a few ideas: 

  • Sloppy Huevos Rancheros
  • Sloppy Breakfast Tacos
  • Sloppy Lasagna
  • Sloppy Pasta
  • Sloppy on a Shingle
  • Sloppy Rice
  • Sloppy Avocado 

Wavy Line

Homemade Sloppy Joes are even better on homemade buns! We like to serve these on my homemade Cheese & Onion Burger Buns. If you’d like to learn more about making your own burger buns – it’s super easy!!! – check out our post on How to Make Homemade Burger Buns (includes my Cheese & Onion Buns recipe).

Homemade Burger Buns | The Good Hearted Woman

Wavy Line

You may notice our cat Jackson Browne in the background of a few of the photos in this post. Jack has turned photo-bombing into a serious art form.

Lighter Classic Old School Sloppy Joes {with optional homemade Cheese & Onion Buns} | The Good Hearted Woman

I am almost certain that Jack watches for me to point the camera (or my phone) at something, then waits until just the right moment before leaping into the shot a millisecond ahead of my shutter finger.

(You can catch more of Jack and friends, plus a few of my doodles, on Instagram at The Harmony Cat.)

Wavy Line

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
of The Good Hearted Woman. 🌻 Be sure to PIN this post!

Lighter Classic Sloppy JoesWavy Line

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

Filed Under: Main Dishes, Recipes Tagged With: barbeque, Comfort Food, Sandwiches, vintage recipe

Bakin’ It Old School: Cafeteria Pizza Recipe

September 20 By Renée 39 Comments

This Old School Cafeteria Pizza recipe captures the essence of all that was good in the school cafeterias of our youth. (Cafeteria ladies not included.)

Old School Cafeteria Pizza Recipe | The Good Hearted Woman

This post may contain affiliate links, but don’t worry – they won’t bite.

This fall marked a real Mama Milestone for me. After 28 years of recording the first day of school with a photo each year, and then sending my girls off to preschool, and kindergarten, and grade school, and middle school, and finally high school – times five! – I faced my baby’s first day of Senior year – and my last “1st Day of School.”

Old School Cafeteria Pizza Recipe | The Good Hearted Woman

Our youngest on her first day of 1st Grade & first day of her Senior year. Time flies fast, my friends.

All but the youngest have gone off to college now too, but as anyone who has ever done so will tell you, sending a child off to college is an entirely different experience from packing them off to first grade. Anyway, this rite of passage got me reminiscing, and as I got online to update Em’s lunch account, I got to thinking about the cafeteria and the school lunches of my childhood.

I grew up in Northeast Portland and attended the same elementary school from kindergarten through the eighth grade; and in that time, I figure I ate nearly 1500 meals in our basement cafeteria. More than two-thirds were “hot lunches.”

I was one of those kids who got hot lunch almost every day. Both my parents worked outside our home and mom wasn’t the lunch-packing sort, so until I got old enough to where my mom would let me pack my own lunch, I was most often in the hot lunch line.

Most days, the actual food served for hot lunch wasn’t all that awesome, but ever so often, it was great. I mean, truly Good. My favorite was Chili & Maple Bar Day [I’ll get to that here on the blog someday – you’re gonna love it!], and my second favorite was Pizza Day.

Old School Cafeteria Pizza Recipe | The Good Hearted Woman

In fact, school pizza was my first pizza. You see, back when I started grade school, we didn’t go in for any of that fancy ethnic cooking like Pizza or Lasagna or Tacos at our house. We were a chili-mac, roast beef, chip-beef-on-rice kind of family. (Change comes slowly to Midwestern roots, especially when you replant them.)

Oh sure, by the time I hit my tweens, my mom had finally decided that she’d give the pizza at Amalfi’s a try, and from then on we had it at least once a month. But even though I have had countless amazing, hand-tossed, artisan-created, wood-fired, rustic pizzas since those long-ago days, a slice of old school cafeteria pizza now and again is a comfortable, reassuring memory.

It’s also a super easy, economical way to feed a ton of people!

Wavy Line

The Three Essential Elements of School Cafeteria Pizza

To recreate the unique flavor blend that is School Cafeteria Pizza, you basically need three elements: (1) pourable pizza crust; (2) pizza topping sauce; and (3) grated cheese (but not just any cheese!).

1 . The Pourable Crust

The pourable crust is arguably the most critical piece of the puzzle because it gives school pizza its unique texture and bite. Every source I could find for school pizza crust made enough dough for at least eight full-size sheet pans; however, after some tinkering, I was able to adjust the recipe down so that it is just right for a single half-sheet pan.

Old School Cafeteria Pizza Recipe | The Good Hearted Woman

2. The Pizza Topping Sauce

The second element is the Pizza Topping, which is really just a thickened tomato-based meat sauce. Easy-peasy. (As usual, I offer this recipe as a jumping-off point. If you want to make your topping sauce vegetarian, or add a stew of other ingredients to it, go for it.)

3. The Cheese

Back in the day, school pizza was blanketed in a golden brick of mystery known as Government Cheese. Government cheese was ubiquitous in the cafeteria of my youth, in grilled cheese sandwiches, lasagna, mac-n-cheese, and of course, pizza.

Old School Cafeteria Pizza Recipe | The Good Hearted Woman

If you have never experienced government cheese in all its glorious goldenness, you don’t know what you are missing. Rumored to have been created from the tears of Midwest dairy farmers, this “pasteurized process American cheese product” wedges in on the dubious side of the cheese wheel, somewhere between Velveeta and Kraft Singles.

I don’t have access to government cheese these days; however, I’ve created a blend that comes pretty close and gives this cafeteria pizza recipe its authentic, old school flavor.

PRO TIP: If you want to recreate old school Cheese Pizza, just leave out the meat and double the tomato sauce and spices to create the sauce. It really is as simple as that.

Old School Cafeteria Pizza Recipe | The Good Hearted Woman
5 from 11 votes

Old School Cafeteria Pizza

This Old School Cafeteria Pizza recipe captures the essence of all that was good in the school cafeterias of our youth. (Cafeteria ladies not included.)
Prep Time45 mins
Cook Time15 mins
Total Time1 hr
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course: Main Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Cafeteria Pizza, Pizza
Servings: 20
Calories: 282kcal
Author: Renée ♥ The Good Hearted Woman

Equipment

  • Heavy Baking Sheet
  • Parchment Paper

Ingredients

Pourable Pizza Crust

  • 1 packet quick rise yeast 1/4 ounce, or 2 1/4 teaspoons
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup instant dry milk
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 2 1/4 cups hot water 110-115° F | 55° C
  • 2 tablespoons corn meal

Pizza Topping

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1/2 pound mild Italian sausage
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 cup water
  • 6-8 ounces tomato paste
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

Cheese Blend

  • 4 ounces American cheese grated
  • 4 ounces Tillamook medium cheddar cheese grated
  • 4 ounces mozzarella cheese grated
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Pizza Crust

  • Preheat oven:
    • Conventional oven: 475° F [245° C]
    • Convection oven: 425° F [220° C]
  • Line a half-sheet pan with parchment paper. [Half Sheet Pan = approx. 20" x 13.5".] Spray with cooking spray and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal. Tilt the pan back and forth to distribute corn meal evenly.
  • Combine yeast, flour, dry milk, sugar, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. 
  • Combine oil and warm water, and then pour into flour mixture and stir thoroughly for about 5 minutes. Mixture will be very sticky. 
  • Pour mixture from bowl onto prepared pan and spread evenly using a spatula. Set dough in pan aside to rest for 20-30 minutes. 
  • Put the pizza dough pan in the oven and pre-bake until crust is set:
    • Conventional oven: 475° F for 10 minutes
    • Convection oven: 425° F for 7 minutes
    Remove from oven and set aside until Pizza Topping has cooled slightly. 

Pizza Topping

  • Prepare the pizza topping while the pizza crust is "resting." In large skillet, combine chopped onion, mild Italian sausage, and ground beef and cooked over medium-high heat until meat is thoroughly browned and onion is soft and translucent. 
  • Add tomato paste, water, brown sugar, and dried herbs. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes. The mixture is done when it is no longer runny. 
  • Allow topping to cool slightly before spreading it on pizza.

Cheese Blend

  • Combine three grated cheeses in a medium bowl. 

Assemble Pizza

  • Carefully spread the Pizza Topping over the pre-baked Pizza Crust. 
  • Top evenly with Cheese Blend.
  • Return pizza to hot oven and bake until cheese is melted and topping is heated through:
    • Conventional oven: 475° F for 10-15 minutes
    • Convection oven: 425° F for 5 minutes

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 282kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 514mg | Potassium: 251mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 298IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 161mg | Iron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheGoodHeartedWoman or tag #thegoodheartedwoman!

Have you tried our Shrimp & Grits Pizza? It’s rich, unique, and totally tasty! (It’s gluten-free, too.) 

Old School Cafeteria Pizza Recipe | The Good Hearted Woman

Wavy Line

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter
of The Good Hearted Woman. 🌻 Be sure to PIN this post!

Old School Cafeteria Pizza Recipe | The Good Hearted Woman     This Old School Cafeteria Pizza recipe captures the essence of all that was good in the school cafeterias of our youth. (Cafeteria ladies not included.) | The Good Hearted WomanWavy Line

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, including Amazon affiliate links, which means we may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that we have recommended. While clicking these links won’t cost you any extra money, they do help keep this site up and running. As always, all opinions and images are my own. Please check out our disclosure policy for more details. Thank you for your support!

Filed Under: Main Dishes, Recipes Tagged With: Comfort Food, vintage recipe

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