Sloppy Joe Burger- VIDEO

This is the leanest Sloppy Joe you will ever eat -- as a matter of fact, you will have to add oil to the latest recipe from this slim and cheapest of chefs. Sloppy Joe's are typically made with ground beef, and depending on the fat content, you will have a gallon of grease after browning the beef. So, not only is my homemade poultry Sloppy Joe Burger delicious, but it fits into almost any dietary regimen.

Hi, I am The 99 Cent Chef and I am a tightwad. I seldom cook with $3 dollars per pound ground beef anymore. Since I created this blog in 2007, I've weaned myself off this artery-clogging but oh-so-tasty protein and learned to love ground poultry. 

The kind I use is mechanically separated and typically found in the frozen deli case for around a dollar per pound. It's more watery than fresh ground chicken (or turkey,) but I've found that it firms up fine during baking or sauteing.

What's trickiest is cooking a chicken patty on a BBQ grill is keeping your soggy chicken burger from seeping through the grating.

My Ground Chicken Sloppy Joe Burger is loaded with flavor, using sauteed fresh veggies, pungent chili powder, ground cumin, and brown sugar -- all in a thick sauce of tomato and ketchup. 

Upon the first bite of my homemade Sloppy Joe, you will flashback to your childhood: when Mom put the steaming meaty bowl of goodness on the dinner table, and you piled on the sloppy mess between a bun -- then dribbled it all over your fingers, while staining the front of your tee shirt, as you scarfed it all down as fast as you could.

I used a pound of ground chicken for this recipe, so the end result will easily, and cheaply, feed your hungry brood -- just make sure to lay out extra napkins.

You could conveniently buy a couple of cans of Sloppy Joe sauce, but you will still have to fry up some meat, so you might as well go the extra step and make my much more delicious homemade Poultry Sloppy Joe. 

And like two of my earlier video recipes, Beanie Weenies, and Chicken Stroganoff, I used stop motion animation -- it makes following cooking directions so much more fun!

Poultry Sloppy Joe's - Video

Play it here. The video runs 3 minutes 18 seconds. 

To view or embed from YouTube, click here.

Ingredients (about 6 - 8 servings, depending on how sloppy you like it!)

• 1 pound of Ground Chicken, turkey, or beef - I used packages of cheaper, frozen (and thawed,) mechanically separated, ground chicken.
• 1 whole small Onion - chopped
• 1 stalk of Celery (optional) - chopped
• 1/2 Bell Pepper - green, red or yellow, chopped.
• 1 tablespoon of Garlic - chopped, from the jar or fresh.
• 1 can of Tomato Sauce (about 15 oz.) - okay to use crushed, whole, or chopped tomatoes. Just break apart into smaller chunks when sauteing.
• 1/4 cup of Ketchup
• 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tablespoon of Brown Sugar - or your favorite sweetener (may need less, depending on sweetener potency.)
• 1 tablespoon of Chili Powder
• 1 teaspoon of Ground Cumin (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of Oil - 1 tbsp. for sauteing chicken, and 1 tbsp. oil for sauteing veggies.
• Salt and Pepper to taste.

Serve on hamburger buns

Directions
In a large pan or pot, add a teaspoon of oil over medium heat, then add ground chicken. I spread out the chicken to cover the bottom of the pan and just sit back and let one side brown. You don't need to brown both sides. It should take about 7-10 minutes. 

Turn over meat and break apart into bite-sized pieces -- like you would for a spaghetti meat sauce. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add another teaspoon of oil to the pan. You can add chopped celery, bell pepper, onion, and garlic to the same pan -- or you could have been sauteing the veggies, at the same time as the chicken, in another pan -- it's up to you. 

Stir and cook veggies for about 5-10 minutes, until onions begin to turn light brown and caramelize.

When veggies are done, add cooked ground chicken. Pour in a can of tomato sauce, and a 1/4 cup of ketchup, and mix well.

The final additions are the seasonings, including Worcestershire Sauce, ground cumin and chile powder, brown sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. Mix the Poultry Sloppy Joe sauce well.

Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low. Cover and cook for 10 - 15 minutes. Check during the last five minutes and stir. You want a thick chili consistency -- not too watery. Uncover and let sit a couple of minutes, and the sauce will thicken even more.

Get out the hamburger buns and load them up -- but don't forget the extra napkins!