Here’s an easy no-ketchup sloppy-joe stuffed potatoes recipe. We think it’s the best lip-smacking stuffed air-fryer potatoes — and you’ll never miss the buns in this gluten-free meal.
What is a sloppy joe?
According to Wikipedia, ‘Marilyn Brown, Director of the Consumer Test Kitchen at H.J. Heinz in Pittsburgh, says their research at the Carnegie Library suggests that the sloppy joe’s origins lie with the “loose meat sandwiches” sold in Sioux City, Iowa, in the 1930s and were the creation of a cook named Joe.’
Today, sloppy joe’s are usually made of ground or shredded beef or pork in a tomato sauce.
A from-scratch sloppy joe sauce
One simple way of making sloppy joe’s is by using a lot of ketchup with some mustard and Worcestershire. Not a fan of ketchup? Or out of ketchup? With this recipe where you make your own ketchup-like sauce.
When you play around with a recipe like this, you realize that what you enjoy most about sloppy joe’s is not so much the main ingredients, but the flavors of mustard, sugar, tomato and worcestershire. You can adjust the ingredients to your liking: more or less vinegar, or coconut sugar, or mustard.
Potatoes instead of buns
To make the recipe gluten-free, we opted to put our beef mixture onto potatoes instead of the typical buns. My favorite potato is the Yukon gold, most of which are a little small to scoop out and stuff. So, we opted to fill the split potatoes with the sloppy joe mixture.
This was a win, because you’ll want lots of the delectable air-fried potato with each bite!
Are there vegetarian joes?
This recipe could easily be made vegan using beans instead of beef – and we plan to make it this way soon for Meatless Monday.
Preparation hints:
Roast the potatoes while you are preparing the filling. If you decide to use russets rather than Yukon golds, you may want to add about 1/4 cup of water to your sauce so it doesn’t get too thick.
Once the potatoes are roasted, and as soon as you can handle them without burning your fingers, split each potato almost in half, then spoon the filling on.
Using small-diced onion and bell pepper makes it easier to stuff the potatoes than if you chop them with a larger dice.
You can put the garnishes on the table and let everyone adorn their own.
If you simmer the sauce for longer than the 10 minutes I suggest in the instructions, it will continue to thicken unless you cover it.
If you have a chance to make Sloppy Joe Stuffed Potatoes, please let me know how it went by leaving a comment below, or share on social media!
Enjoy.
Beth
Other recipes you may enjoy
Ground Beef-Stuffed Kabocha Squash
Massaman Curry-Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
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Sloppy Joe Air Fryer Stuffed Potatoes
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Main dish, dinner
- Method: Stovetop, Air Fryer
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Here’s an easy homemade no-ketchup sloppy-joe recipe. Use it to make these lip-smacking stuffed air-fryer potatoes — you’ll never miss the buns in this gluten-free meal.
Ingredients
- 4 good-sized Yukon gold potatoes, baked in air fryer or oven, plus olive oil to coat (see note)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large white or sweet onion, diced small
- 1 large bell pepper, any color, diced small
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1 tablespoon prepared spicy yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Cook the potatoes (see note below for air fryer directions) and set aside.
- In a pot or large skillet on medium heat, heat the olive oil and add the onions. Saute the onions become just translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the bell peppers and cook for 3-4 minutes more until peppers are starting to change color.
- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more.
- Add the ground beef and cook, stirring and breaking it all up, until all the pink color is gone.
- Stir in the remaining ingredients and simmer for at least 10 minutes. Taste to see if it needs a little more salt or vinegar. Remember that the potatoes aren’t salted so you can make the mixture just a bit saltier than you might otherwise.
- Cut the cooked potatoes almost in half and press gently open. Spoon the Sloppy Joe filling on top of each open potato. Top with cheese, if desired, and a dollop of yogurt (or sour cream) – dairy or non-dairy. Garnish with sliced green onions and parsley.
Notes
I used directions from All Recipes for my air fryer potatoes
Ingredients
- 4 Yukon gold potatoes, about 3-4 inches long each
- 3 teaspoons olive oil, divided
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Brush potatoes gently with 1 teaspoon oil; place in the basket of the air fryer and cook for 10 minutes. Skins will be starting to brown.
- Brush potatoes with 1 additional teaspoon oil; continue cooking in the air fryer for 10 minutes. Coat with the remaining oil and cook until tender, 5-7 minutes more.
Keywords: sloppy Joe's, gluten-free, dairy-free option, stuffed potatoes, potato sloppy joe's, comfort food, beef sloppy Joe's
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Oh my gosh, this is genius! We love sloppy joes and have never thought to make them this way — but it’s perfect for my GF husband!
★★★★★
Thanks, Taleen, this recipe has been a very happy discovery, which makes total sense when you think that tomato flavors go so well with potatoes! I hope he enjoys it.
We’re not real sloppy Joe eaters, but we love potatoes for lunch. I may have to give this a go soon.
★★★★★
Marta, we haven’t been either, but the fact that these don’t have store-bought ketchup has elevated them to my older son’s favorite dish – and the Yukon golds are perfect with it.
Oh my! I love making things in my air fryer, and these sloppy joe stuffed potatoes are going on my my must make soon list.
★★★★★
Wendy, the air fryer gives the potatoes a slight crispiness that goes great with the Sloppy Joe seasonings. Hope you like it.
I love this idea of using the air fryer for the potatoes, and as a replacement for a bun! Brilliant, and so much healthier. I haven’t had sloppy Joe’s since I was a kid, but need to give this recipe a try. Delish!
★★★★★
Lesli, it’s the perfect combination, we think, GF or not. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we do and make it to your own taste.
These looking AMAZING! I’ve never thought about using potatoes instead of buns, but this is definitely something I am excited to try!
★★★★★
Thanks, Sondra, I hope you enjoy it with the potatoes. I’m sure we’d never choose buns now after trying this, gluten or not!
I love the idea of using a baked potato instead of a bun for sloppy joes! This looks so good and I need to make it really soon!
★★★★★
Thanks, Stine Mari, my son, who loves all things good food, told me to forget the buns from now on and just serve it this way – just to motivate you!
I love this recipe! Turned out great for a quick family meal. So creative and tasty.
★★★★★
Julie, I’m so happy to hear that. It’s a great recipe and I’m over the moon that it turned out well for you. We love it!
I love that you used potatoes with this recipe instead of buns. What a filling, delicious recipe. I need to put this into our weekly rotation because my whole family will love it!
★★★★★
Hi Leslie, my son, who gives me honest feedback, said that we also need it on our weekly rotation – it’s that flavorful. Yay! I hope everyone loves it as much as we do.
What an awesome idea! I love this because it’s so simple. Using potatoes is a great way to get complex carbs and a healthier bread substitute. I used sweet potatoes and it was really tasty!
★★★★★
Sophia, I’m so glad to hear it. I can imagine it was delicious with the sweet potatoes and I will put that on my list to try, too.
I like the idea of using potatoes instead of buns. Love how flavorful and inviting those joes are looking, I will be trying a vegan version soon.
★★★★★
Sapana, a vegan version should work really well, I’m imagining it would be a little like dressed-up barbecue beans. I look forward to hearing how it turns out.
I love potatoes and this stuffed potato sloppy joe looks perfect for dinner time. I loved that you chose to air fry.
★★★★★
Hi Lathi, we think that air frying the potatoes makes the dish even better than it would be using another method – I’m new to air frying so it was a great surprise!
My husband loves loaded baked potatoes so he would totally enjoy these stuffed potatoes. What a fabulously tasty idea!
★★★★★
Gail, this is one of my son’s favorites for the same reason – you can vary the amount of “stuffing”, which is great!
Wow! This is definitely an entire new food concept for me. I loved the idea of our favorite potato to be the bum in this overload stuff.
★★★★★
Amy, it’s really an easy, tasty, and fun variation on the traditional “Joe” and I can’t recommend it enough.
These are absolutely delicious! Thank you for this simple and easy air fryer recipe.
Alexis, I’m so glad to hear it. It’s one of our favorites because of the great blend of flavors.
This looks delicious and I am a “loose meat sandwich” kind of gal from way back. On a baked potato is even better! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Thanks, Beth. Everyone enjoyed this and nobody missed the bread!