Bacon, Beer and Cheese Sloppy Joes are the perfect gameday food for a crowd with a Guinness sauce and sharp cheddar cheese filling.
We’re fully on board the sloppy joe train and so far your reader favorites are BBQ Sausage Sloppy Joes and Bacon Brown Sugar Sloppy Joes. Keep the reviews coming!
Bacon, Beer and Cheese Sloppy Joes
Another Monday, another Sloppy Joe Recipe! If you want to see all the previous sloppy joes we’ve shared on the blog you can find them all here. We’ve been having such a good time with them (and I think I’m singlehandedly keeping my local baker busy baking brioche buns for me).
We were at Trader Joe’s a few months ago and saw they’d paired up their pub cheese with bacon in the cheese/meat aisle. I was holding a pound of ground beef in my hands when I saw it. This dish was such a natural fit I had a full on lightbulb moment. One quick text later inquiring if we had beer, I was ready to make these sloppy joes.
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In most of my sloppy joes recipes I try to hide vegetables in the recipe so I feel like a better parent (my working mom guilt is real). But these are geared to a more adult crowd so I skipped the veggies.
If you would like to add vegetables into the recipe I’d recommend:
- green bell pepper, chopped finely
- mushrooms, chopped finely
- celery, chopped finely
- carrot, chopped finely
- canned diced tomatoes, water drained
Basically any vegetable that won’t add any additional sweetness that you can soften and brown in the bacon fat. I have used this recipe with mushrooms before and even carrots, both times were delicious.
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What goes good with sloppy joes for a side dish?
We love serving sloppy joes with Crispy Sweet Potato Fries, Beer Battered Onion Rings, Loaded Garlic French Fries or your favorite roasted vegetables.
tips for making these Beer, Bacon and CHeese Sloppy Joes:
- Make sure your ingredients are ready ahead of time, don’t let the pan scorch.
- Make sure you drain excess fat from the beef, I use 85/15 to minimize excess fat.
- Stop cooking when its just slightly too wet still, it will thicken as it sits for a couple minutes.
- If you don’t like beer, use 1 1/2 cups beef broth. If you love beer, ditch the broth and use double the beer.
- If you want to meal prep just leave the sauce extra saucy before shutting off the heat. You may need a bit of water when reheating.
- We love adding cheese to the mixture before serving. Just don’t add the cheese too early, add just early enough to allow it to melt slightly.
Are you going to join us and enjoy this recipe on Wednesday? Remember if you make this dish this Wednesday, we’ll be having the same dinner.
I’d love to know how it turns out for you so if you do make the recipe pretty please come back and leave a comment letting me know how you enjoyed them.
We put a ton of effort into recipe testing 35 Sloppy Joes for this weekly series! The reason we did (aside from the fact we LOVE them) is because you all have gone nuts for ALL 4 of the original sloppy joes on the site!
Bacon, Beer and Cheese Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 8 slices bacon chopped
- 1/2 yellow onion chopped
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 cup beer I used Guinness
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cubed
- 6 brioche buns
Instructions
In a large skillet cook the bacon on medium high heat for 2-3 minutes or until crispy but still bendable.
- Remove the bacon from the pan and drain all but two tablespoons of the fat.
Add the onions and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until softened.
- Add in the beef, lower the heat to medium and cook well, breaking it apart but leaving some chunks about the size of a raspberry or small grape (don't crush the heck out of it, the larger crumbles will help give the sandwich stability).
Cook until well browned (5-6 minutes), then add in the ketchup, tomato paste, Worchestershire sauce, dijon mustard, beer and beef broth.
Stir well, continue cooking until the sauce starts to evaporate and the mixture becomes "sloppy" (about 5-6 minutes).
- The consistency you are looking for is reduced enough that spoonfuls can be placed on top of each other with the bottom spoonful not spreading more than a half inch or so.
- Add in the chunks of cheddar and cooked bacon crumbles a minute before serving and stir just slightly to melt them into little puddles.
- Toast the buns then spoon over the mixture and top with additional bacon (if desired).
This is the best sloppy Joe recipe I have made! I added the diced tomatoes and mushrooms to it . Will definitely be making this again!
I am planning to make this weekend and wonder if leftovers freez well. Didn’t see any recommendations on storing. Thank you
P.S. I just love your recipes
I’m so glad you’re loving the recipes! You can absolutely freeze the leftovers.
The whole family LOVED IT and went back for seconds! Will be making sloppy joes this way from now on!
This recipe definitely needs LOTS of time for the sloppy meat mixture to thicken. I wouldn’t recommend using beer either. We had budweiser and the entire time it was cooking it reeked of beer ??
I’ve made this a number of times for the husband and 7yo son over the past year or so. It’s a huge hit! I make no changes to the recipe and it’s delicious every time!
This recipe looks AMAZING. I will definitely be putting this on my “to make” list for this fall! My husband will love it (while we watch the Packers! Beer and cheese – perfection!)
So perfect for game day!
Very flavorful! I love how the cubed cheese melts and makes little pockets of cheese throughout this!
Mmmmm, now I’m hungry for pockets of cheese! Love it!
Has anyone did this in the crock pot? I seen just cook the meat and throw everything in. But what about the bacon & onion cook it separately?
I would just set aside the cooked bacon until right before serving. Once everything has cooked in the slow cooker, resume with step 8. I’m not sure it really saves you any time from putting this in a slow cooker though. Good luck!
We just adore this recipe! I just quintupled the recipe for our sportsman’s club meeting tonight. 25 hungry men! I’m sure they will love it!
We loved these! I used all beef broth and they turned out great.
I used Yuengling Lager in place of the stout and these came out great! I’m Definitely making these again!
Have you ever tried in a slow cooker? Crockpot
I haven’t but you could brown the meat and add it all into a slow cooker and cook on low 4-5 hours. The last half hour, add the cheese and bacon crumbles. Enjoy!
Did you use Guinness stout for this?
Yes 🙂
Great recipe! I made with a vanilla porter, maple bacon, and chopped mushrooms. Definitely a keeper!
Yum!
Am i supposed to drain the fat after i cook the beef?
I used a leaner ground beef and didn’t have much but if you’re noticing quite a bit of fat, drain most of it before continuing the recipe.
Can you use miller lite?
I’m not sure it would work. We used more of a Stout beer for this recipe. If you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out. Thanks!
We used Coors original and it turned out great!
Good to know, thanks!
Awesome recipes I have seen on here I look forward to plenty more
Thanks, Sheila.
This calls for 2 cups cubed cheese. Is that just measuring the cheese or do I need to use 2 8 ounce blocks of cheese?
This recipe calls for 2 cups of cubed cheddar cheese.
Made theses tonight, they were really good. However it really didn’t thicken up. I used beef broth since I didn’t have beer. Could that be part of the reason?
It is part of the reason, beer reduces differently than broth. Next time you can add a little cornstarch slurry if you substitute beef broth and that should thicken it right up. Glad you enjoyed otherwise! 🙂
These sound delicious. My husband is gluten free. What is a gluten free beer you would recommend?
I don’t have any experience with any particular GF beer but as long as it’s a stout, it’ll work.
If meal prepping for someone should i put the cheese and bacon in then before i put in containers? Do you think ok to freeze?
I would put the cheese and bacon in before storing for ease. You can absolutely freeze.
I just made this tonight and it’s amazing. The only thing I did different was to add sausage and some mushrooms.
That sounds delicious! I am so glad you enjoyed it, and thank you so much for the review!
Hi! Looks delicious! Can I make this in a crockpot? Wanting to make this for a crowd and think this would be great to make ahead.
It won’t save you much time because you have to cook the beef and bacon ahead but if you want to make it in a slow cooker: cook the meats separately, set bacon aside. Add all ingredients except bacon and cheese to slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours. Add bacon and cheese before serving. Let me know how it turns out!
I can tell we are going to love these. We love cheese and bacon. Thank you for another great recipe.
Cheese and bacon are almost always a sure fire hit haha! Thank you for the review and hope you enjoy!
I’ve always loved sloppy joes, thought my recipe was good. Last week I had one at a restaurant and it was so good, it also had bacon. So I decided to look for a similar recipe and found this one. Yum! Hubby liked it better also. Love it with bacon. I only had Budweiser so look forward to trying it with the right kind of beer. I added liquid smoke instead of Worcestershire as I like the smoked flavor. Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!
We are big fans of Sloppy Joes in our house too Barb! Glad you and the hubs loved this recipe! I’ve got plenty more variations if you want to experiment and switch them up further! Long live the Sloppy Joe! 😀 😀
Never in my life have I had a sloppy joe before… but was looking for something new to try. I reduced it to o my 1 lb of ground beef and adjusted everything else accordingly (except the bacon bc you can NEVER have enough bacon… lol).
THIS IS AMAZING!!!! I opted for tortillas instead of buns for less mess and it was perfection!! Thank you for sharing!!!!
So glad you decided to give it a try. Love the tortilla suggestion too!
I made the beer bacon and cheese sloppy joes…. amazing! I made more like a slider to make it easier for little ones. My family devoured them. Can’t wait to make again
Perfect!!
Hello, I absolutely love your Asian sloppy joe recipe. Perfect family mea. I am hoping to try this recipe tomorrow night. However, in my area of the country, grocery stores don’t carry blocks of sharp yellow cheddar cheese that can be cubed. I have only found mild yellow cheddar, or shredded sharp cheddar cheese (like Kraft). For this recipe, do you recommend using the mild block? The shredded? Something else? Thanks!
I would get anything that you can shred yourself vs the pre shredded. It’ll mix better and not get clumpy. Enjoy!
I made this for a potluck and everyone loved it. Some people even ate it without a bun so they could have more without filling up on bread. I had tripled the recipe and fixed two sloppy Joes for my husband prior to going to the potluck. When I got home my husband asked if there was any left so he could have more.
This is now my go to sloppy Joe recipe.
Yay!! I’d call that a winner!! Thanks for the 5 stars, Judy.
Made this tonight. Followed recipe exactly. Definitely will make again! Sooo good!!
I just made this and it turned out amazing. I didn’t have a dark beer so I substituted for a full can of Bud light beer. Definitely will be making this again.
Thanks for dropping by to let me know! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
I’m all out of paste what else can I use? I’m cooking this as we speak
So sorry I’m just seeing this now. You can use 2 to 3 tablespoons tomato puree or tomato sauce as a substitute. Hope it turned out well for you.
Love this recipe!! My boys and I really enjoyed it!
OMG ? beer bacon cheese sloppy joes were fantastic! I used Guinness beer and no beef broth. Had to go to a local bar to get a bottle of Guinness as I typically don’t drink it. Well worth it plus a little bit of socialization and fun before going home to make dinner on my day off.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Julie. Sounds like a fun night.
I haven’t read all the comments yet, so maybe this has been answered. I noticed on some of your other sloppy joes recipes that you give slow cooker variations, but not on this one. Can it be adjusted for the slow cooker?
Because of making the bacon and beef before hand anyway, I’m not sure this will be any easier in a slow cooker. If you decide to try, I would place everything in the slow cooker after those 2 are made. Set to low and then add the cheese in right before serving. Hope this helps!
Does it have to be cheddar cheese or can I use American cheese instead?
You can use whatever cheese you’d like. 🙂
I have sworn off Sloppy Joes for years, until I tried this recipe tonight. Fantastic ! We will be having these much more often !
Glad to have brought you back to the dark side, haha! Thanks for giving it a shot, Peggy.
Made these tonight and oh my Lord is it good! I didn’t change anything.
Thanks for taking the time to come back and let me know, Brooke!
Followed the recipe – IT WAS AMAZING! The flavors all played off each other wonderfully. Such a treat!!
This was sooooo good!! We’ve made it several times, and I reduced the beer and added more broth. We love it!
So glad you love it, Brandi!
Looks amazing! All My Favorite Things yay! Quick question, not a mustard fan, would leaving out this item change the flavor drastically? I try hard to stay true to recipes so that they taste the way they were intended, but the mustard thing is killing me. LOL
You can leave it out if you want though you don’t really taste the mustard, it more so balances out the flavors. Up to you. I hope you enjoy it either way!
We just made this for Super Bowl Sunday and it turned out Fabulously! My whole family loved it and we added carrots , celery, alittle bit garlic , and used a nut- brown ale. Great Job! Thanks so much!
Fantastic! So glad everyone enjoyed it!
Turns out great every time. Thank You!
You’re welcome, Sarah!
Made this for superbowl party can’t wait to try this. I used yuengling beer no broth, smelled amazing cooking
This is a fabulous dish! I’ve I made this with both ground turkey and ground beef. I’ve used Miller and Yuengling, I definitely liked the Yuengling better it was more robust. I use pre-shredded cheddar because I’m lazy and I mixed it in well. I was a bit worried about the amount of ketchup, however, the combination of ingredients gives it a decadent beer cheese flavor and goes magically on any bun. The leftovers were great on Tostitos and now that I’m thinking about it, I’m thinking this would be over the top on a pretzel bun. I highly recommend this recipe, I only wish it was a “healthy” dish I could eat more often.
So glad you enjoyed it!
Turned out perfect! Thank you for this recipe, it was a big hit.
You’re welcome, Lisa!
Made these for my son and I last night. I used Yuengling lager, rather than Guiness, and I was out of Worcestershire sauce so I used a balsamic vinegar that tasted similar. We both loved them! I ate two, against my better judgement, but I just couldn’t help myself. I expect they’re even better with Guiness. Despite the ketchup and tomato paste, these don’t have the tomato sauce taste that classic sloppy joes (like Manwich) have. It had what I can only describe as a savory taste. While eating them, I felt that I had to make these for other people. It’s one of those recipes that you feel you have to share. I definitely will make this again!
That’s so awesome….share away!! Your friends and family will love you for it!
These sloppy joe’s where amazing i used shiner bock for the beer and it turned out awesome
thanks for sharing
You’re welcome, Samantha! So glad you enjoyed it!
Do have to use the onion? My husband hates and always know when I use one.
Nope, just leave it out if he doesn’t like it.
Are you supposed to drain it after you brown the beef? I’m cooking it now and it doesn’t seem to be thickening
Depending on the fat content of your ground beef, you may have to. If you notice too much oil in the beef after browning, feel free to drain it.
This recipe was amazing, it was a major hit with all of my family even my daughters friends that are extremely picky eaters. Can’t wait to try more of your amazing recipes.
How fantastic! I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it. Thanks for the 5 star rating.
Looks so good!!
Not a fan. This Guiness beer gave it a bitter taste. I liked the addition of the cheese and bacon, though.
Sorry about that. You can always use a different beer that’s more to your liking next time.
Can I make this using a Budweiser beer?
I haven’t tried it so I’m not sure if it would work. Usually you want to use a darker beer. If you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out.
The BEST sloppy joe recipe! This will be the only recipe I use for sloppy joes from now on. My family really enjoyed eating it and yours will too.
Thanks Carolyn! I really appreciate the 5 stars!
These are the bomb! I did have to tweak a little because I didn’t have everything.. I used a lager instead of Guinness and no beef broth. My husband doesn’t like a real tomato-y sloppy joe so I omitted the tomato paste. Definitely toast the bun so it doesn’t get soggy… was so good!!! I will definitely make this again and serve with some beer cheese dip and pretzels perfect for your big game day!
So glad you all enjoyed it!
Could you use root beer instead of regular beer??
I’ve never tried it but I’m not sure if that much carbonation would make an issue or not. If you decide to try, I’d love to know how it turns out.
I’d like to make this ahead of time, would it sit well in a crockpot or what would be best if it gets too thick?
It should be fine on warm. If you notice it getting too thick, give it a stir and add in a bit more broth and you should be fine.
OMG – that’s funny – tell her to add more beer, girl!! YOUR RECIPES ARE AMAZING. Your blog is FANTASTIC. I’m always forwarding recipes to friends, have visited your site soooooo many times…. Thank You for the great recipes! All are keepers, including this one. Am now mosey-ing over to check out the Loaded Garlic Fries…..YOU ROCK, SABRINA!!!!!
Thanks so much!
Loved these sloppy joes! We all had seconds. Will make again. Thank you for sharing!
Oh my gosh, these look heavenly. These are on my list for dinner tonight. Going to the store right now to get ingredients. Thanks for posting.
Enjoy!
This looks sinfully awesome. So hearty and like a comfort food with a bonus round of bacon. Me likey.
Thanks Ben!
Can you recommend a different beer other than Guinness?
You can use any type of stout beer for this recipe.
This looks so delicious!
Oh my gosh. I just saw this recipe on foodgawker, and it sounds amazing! Can’t wait to get it into the dinner rotation.
How awesome!!
There is just something about a good sloppy joe and adding bacon, yum!!
I know, right?!
Oh man, what an amazing combination!
Trifecta of deliciousness!!
That looks incredible! The men in my house will LOVE this!
Thanks Liz!
Oh my goodness. Going grocery shopping now!!! ?? I literally want to try all your sloppy joes this week ?
They’re all so good!!
My mouth is literally watering. You’ve combined all of my favorite things into one sandwich! Can’t wait to make this!!!
Thank you Krissy!
Made with ground venison! Delicious!
That sounds amazing!
These sloppy joes have me drooling!
Omg this looks amazing! Can not wait to go to shoprite for chop meat. I’m always looking forward to ur emails to try the next recipe. ?