Gochujang Sloppy Joes

Why You’ll Love It

Gochujang paste is a Korean red chili paste that is easy to find at your local grocery store, Trader Joe’s, Asian markets, or Amazon. I buy it at the Asian market because I just love going there. I always walk out with an ingredient or two that I’ve never used before in the kitchen…and always a loaf of Japanese milk bread – egg salad’s best friend.

Adding gochujang paste makes for a really tasty Korean sloppy joes recipe. You can serve the meat mixture as a rice bowl, as lettuce wraps, or on hamburger buns to make a hearty sandwich. To make this recipe even easier, try adding Spiceology Korean BBQ blend instead of the gochujang paste.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Here’s what you’ll need to make this gochujang sloppy joe recipe. Find the full recipe plus printable recipe card with exact measurements and instructions below.

• Ground Beef – lean ground beef but you can also use ground turkey, ground chicken, or a mix of ground pork and beef
• Red or Green Bell Pepper – seeded and chopped
• Sweet Onion – a medium onion, chopped
• Gochujang – Korean chile paste. The amount of gochujang you use can be modified by hot spicy you’d like. This recipe has a hint of heat so you could easily add more the next time you make it
• Tomato Sauce – canned or homemade
• Tomato Paste – just a touch to help thicken the sauce and add flavor
• Worcestershire Sauce – adds depth of flavor and umami
• Yellow Mustard – you can use yellow mustard or a grain mustard if you’d like
• Brown Sugar – light or dark brown sugar adds a hint of sweetness and tame the acidity of the tomato sauce 
• Garlic – minced whole garlic cloves
• Soy Sauce or Balsamic Vinegar – like Worcestershire, will add depth and umami 
• Kosher salt & black pepper – all recipes on Farmgirl Gourmet call for Kosher salt, unless otherwise noted
• Buns or Rolls – whatever you fancy works just fine.

Steps to Make Sloppy Joes

Follow these simple steps to make this simple recipe for Korean beef sloppy joes.

Step 1: sauté the onions & peppers

Sauté the onions and peppers in a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and allow to cook for 1 minute.

Step 2: brown the meat

Add the beef to the onion mixture and brown all the way through, about 5-6 minutes. Season with Kosher salt & pepper.

Step 3: add sauces

Add the gochujang, ketchup, tomato sauce, tomato paste, Worcestershire, brown sugar, yellow mustard, to the beef mixture and stir well to combine. Turn the heat down to medium-low and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently, until thick, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Step 4: serve it up

Spoon meat mixture on buns or rolls and serve with your favorite side dish for sloppy joes.

What Side Dishes Go with Sloppy Joes?

You can serve almost anything as a side to sloppy joes, but here are some of my favorites:

• Potato chips – any kind
• French fries or sweet potato fries – crisp fried or baked fries are great with sloppy joes
• Quick pickles – crunchy quick pickles can be served on sloppy joes or as a side
• Tater tots – one of my favorite sides to serve with sloppy joes
• Onion rings – crisp fried onion rings pair well with sloppy joes
• Cole slaw – cold, crunchy cole slaw is a great side dish to sloppy joes
• Mac & Cheese – mac & cheese goes with anything and is especially good with sloppy joes
• Potato Salad – creamy potato salad is a great accompaniment to sloppy joes

Gochujang Sloppy Joes

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 25 minutes mins

Total: 30 minutes mins

Yield: 6 Servings

AUTHOR : Heather Scholten

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Gochujang Sloppy Joes is a real crowd pleaser for your weekly dinner rotation. This sloppy joes recipe is cranked up a notch with a healthy dose of gochujang paste. So simple, elevated, and a flavor bomb in your mouth.

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Ingredients

 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ▢ 1 lb ground beef
• ▢ 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• ▢ 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
• ▢ 8 garlic cloves, chopped
• ▢ 3 tablespoons gochujang paste
• ▢ 2 tablespoons ketchup
• ▢ 1 15- oz. can tomato sauce
• ▢ 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• ▢ 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons yellow mustard
• ▢ 4 hamburger buns or rolls

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Instructions

 

• Sauté the onions and peppers in a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and allow to cook for 1 minute.
• Add the ground beef to the onion mixture and brown all the way through, about 5-6 minutes. Season with Kosher salt & pepper.
• Add the gochujang, ketchup, tomato sauce, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, yellow mustard, to the beef mixture and stir well to combine. Turn the heat down to medium-low and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently, until thick, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Spoon meat mixture on buns or rolls and serve with your favorite side dish for sloppy joes.

Keyword 30 Minutes Meals, beef recipes, sandwich recipes

Show Us What You made!If you make this recipe, we’d love to see a your pic on Instagram! Tag us with #farmgirlgourmet so we can see!

Recipe By:

Heather Scholten

Co-Founder at Spiceology | More About Heather…

Heather is a recipe developer and content creator living in Vancouver, Washington. She started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006, almost 20 years ago, as a way to share recipes with friends and family. Heather is also the co-founder of Spiceology , a unique spice company, which she started in 2013. She shares family friendly recipes for easy everyday meals with a gourmet twist.

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