These Vegan Sloppy Joe's are flavorful, messy, delicious, and super simple to make. Made from quinoa and completely vegan!
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Why you will love this recipe
- Taste: This Vegan Sloppy Joe has a flavorful tomato sauce mixed with quinoa and the added garlic, onions and chili powder gives you a hearty, juicy sloppy joe.
- Make-Ahead: This recipe for Vegan Sloppy Joe's with quinoa is perfect for making ahead of time for a quick and easy lunch or dinner. Simply make the quinoa ahead (even the day before is fine) of time and store it in the fridge. When ready to make the sloppy joes add the chopped onion and garlic to a pan with the tomato sauce and spices, cook for a few minutes, stir in the quinoa and you have a quick fresh dinner. Another option is to fully make the the quinoa sloppy joe mix and store it in the fridge, re-heat in the microwave or on the stove top again.
- Super Simple to Make: Easy vegan sloppy joes come together quickly, with a handful of ingredients, you'll get this perfect delicious meal, taking only about 30-40 minutes to create.
- Nutritious: This vegan sloppy joe has quinoa which is a good source of protein and fiber, but it also contains all nine amino acids, making it a complete plant-based protein.
- Vegan: Yes, this vegan sloppy joe recipe is made with quinoa that tastes amazing and has added ingredient's and spices. This vegan sloppy joe is also made without lentils which is common in vegan sloppy joe recipes.
If you love this recipe you might also love this Rice and Veggies dish, Vegan Black Bean Burgers, Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad, Kale Pasta and Curry Quinoa.
Ingredients
For a full list of ingredients and quantities be sure to check the recipe card below for these Vegan Sloppy Joe's.
- Quinoa: The "meat" or base of these sloppy joe's.
- Water or Vegetable Broth: To cook the quinoa in, water or broth work fine, broth will just add a little more flavor but if you don't have it water works just fine.
- Onion and Garlic: These give flavor and added texture and "meaty" chunk textures to these vegan sloppy joe's.
- Seasonings: I use onion, garlic and chili powder with a dash of salt and pepper.
- Tomato Sauce: This is the other base part of this recipe that helps to hold everything together and form the sloppy part of these sloppy joe's.
- Peppers: I sometimes add these and sometimes I don't it's really a personal preference if you like peppers or not.
Variations
- Optional wrap it up: Grab a vegan tortilla wrap, drop your choice of lettuce on it, put a few tablespoons of sloppy joe mix on top of the lettuce (if you'd like add any chopped veggies you can do so) and sprinkle shredded cheese on top and fold or roll it up.
- Buns: You can use any type of bread you'd like, to ensure it's vegan be sure to check the ingredients and labels. Hamburger buns, slices of any favorites of bread (cut into triangles), pretzels buns, french baguettes or brioche buns (some need to be home made if you want them to be vegan).
- Additional add in's: Mix additional ingredients to this Vegan Sloppy Joes recipe, corn is a very popular add in to sloppy joes, black beans, jalapeño or peppers chopped up added in mixture or put on top, sliced pickles on top, or even taco seasoning in the mixture, yes each will change up the taste a bit but it will still taste great.
- Add Tang: If you want it to have a "tang" you can add a tiny (start with like ½ teaspoon) of distilled white vinegar.
How to make these Vegan Sloppy Joe's
Prep: First cook quinoa in advance according to instructions on your package, mine is 1 cup dry to 1 ½ cups water. I wash the quinoa in a mesh strainer and drain the liquid, then place in a pot with the water or vegetable broth for more flavor, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer on low heat with a lid for about 15 minutes. I usually prep this the night before and store it in the fridge so it's all ready to go!
Step 1: In a skillet add the chopped onion, garlic, olive oil and sauté until fragrant (about 3-5 minutes). Add the optional peppers here too if you choose too add them.
Step 2: Next add the tomato sauce, chili powder, onion powder and garlic powder and stir, cook about 5 minutes on medium heat. Salt and pepper to taste.
Step 3: Then add the cooked quinoa and mix well, just cook until hot which is about 5 more minutes and then serve on whatever kind of buns you would like!
Step 4: (Optional) top with onion, avocado, vegan cheese anything! Makes about 8 burgers, also depends what sized buns you use!
Expert Tips
- Rinse the Quinoa: Rinsing the quinoa, I use a fine mesh strainer and rinse the quinoa under cold water for best results, follow package directions, although optional you can use vegetable broth to add flavor to the quinoa.
- Serve for Lunch or Dinner: These vegan sloppy joe's are perfect for a quick and easy dinner, but it is also a great option for lunch. Lunch or dinner try it with a side of our roasted curry cauliflower, kale pasta or spinach pesto pasta.
- Meal Prep: You can cook the quinoa the day before and put in an air tight sealed container in the fridge. Than assemble everything when you're ready to serve.
Recipe FAQs
It has a tangy and slightly sweet tomato sauce taste, but it's versatile because many will add other additional ingredients they like which will add additional flavors to the sloppy joe.
It's called a sloppy joe because a lot of times the center filling will fall out as you are eating it. Which gives you a messy sloppy joe sandwich.
Sloppy joe is considered a sandwich served generally on a hamburger bun.
In a sloppy joe the meat (or alternative to meat) is cooked loosely not formed in a patty. A burger is a solid piece of ground beef formed into a patty.
More Easy Vegan Lunch and Dinner Recipes
Vegan Sloppy Joe's
Ingredients
for the quinoa:
- 1 cup dry quinoa (cook according to package directions-about 3 cups after cooked)
- 1 ½ cups vegetable broth (optional to cook the quinoa in, can also use water but broth adds more flavor)
the rest of the ingredients:
- ½ small white onion (chopped small)
- 2 clove garlic (chopped/minced tiny)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Optional: chopped peppers or jalapenos
- 15 ounce can of low sodium or no salt tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- pickles/cheese (for topping - optional)
Instructions
- Prep: First cook quinoa in advance according to instructions on your package, mine is 1 cup dry to 1 ½ cups water. I wash the quinoa in a mesh strainer and drain the liquid, then place in a pot with the water or vegetable broth for more flavor, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer on low heat with a lid for about 15 minutes. I usually prep this the night before and store it in the fridge so it's all ready to go!
- In a skillet add the chopped onion, garlic, olive oil and sauté until fragrant (about 3-5 minutes). Add the optional peppers here too if you choose too add them.
- Next add the tomato sauce, chili powder, onion powder and garlic powder and stir, cook about 5 minutes on medium heat. Salt and pepper to taste.
- Then add the cooked quinoa and mix well, just cook until hot which is about 5 more minutes and then serve on whatever kind of buns you would like!
- Optional: top with pickles, onion, avocado, vegan cheese anything!
- Makes about 8 burgers also depends what sized buns you use!
Harriet Emily
Yum yum yum, vegan sloppy joes are my favourite! Love that you made these with quinoa, so healthy and delicious! I can't wait to try your amazing recipe Michele! <3
nadia
This looks so good! My husband is always asking me to create a healthy sloppy joes recipe. I love the idea of using quinoa as a replacement for the meat. Yummy 😀