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Easy Skillet Sloppy Joes Pasta

This skillet sloppy joes pasta is a wonderful one-pan meal when I want a lot of flavor but have very little time. It’s also budget-friendly and absolutely delicious! I’ve made it with ground beef or turkey, and it’s good either way!

bowl of skillet sloppy joes pasta

This is one of those dishes that brings me back to my childhood when I thought that sloppy Joes were the best food ever!

Sloppy Joe Noodle Skillet

I’ve also heard this dish referred to as a sloppy Joe noodle skillet. It really doesn’t matter what you call it because it’s delicious by any name. Plus it’s super easy! I love to cook one-pan dinners when I’m in a hurry because everything goes so quickly. And cleanup is a breeze. 

Skillet Sloppy Joes Pasta Ingredients

This recipe only has a few ingredients, and you’re likely to have all or most of them in your pantry and fridge.

I placed a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for your convenience. If you’re in a hurry, all you need to do is scroll down to see it.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Ground beef
  • Sliced peppers and onions
  • Barbecue sauce
  • Can of diced tomatoes
  • Spiral pasta (or whatever pasta you prefer)
  • Water

I’ve also used ground turkey for this recipe, and it’s just as good. I typically choose whichever I have in my freezer.

I keep bags of sliced peppers and onions in my freezer because they’re great additions to so many recipes. Plus it saves time since I don’t have to do so much prep work.

If you don’t have canned diced tomatoes, you can use tomato sauce or stewed tomatoes. The texture will be slightly different, but it will still taste good.

barbecue sauce and petite diced tomatoes

Any kind of small pasta is good. I just happened to have an abundance of gluten-free spiral pasta in my pantry because I got some on sale recently.

spiral pasta

Also, instead of water, you can use beef stock. I chose to use water because there’s already enough flavor in the other ingredients for my taste. Just remember that once you start cooking, the recipe becomes yours.

How to Make Skillet Sloppy Joes Pasta

I have a large stainless steel skillet that I used for this recipe. It’s also good in an iron skillet, although some people don’t like to cook tomatoes and other acidic foods in cast iron. I’ve never had any trouble with that.

Brown the ground beef in the skillet over medium-high heat. Then add the peppers and onions. Sauté everything until the onions are tender and translucent.

browned ground beef, peppers, and onions in a skillet

Next, pour the barbecue sauce over it and add the diced tomatoes. This provides some of the liquid to help cook the pasta, but you’ll still need more.

tomatoes and barbecue sauce added to the skillet

Stir until everything is well mixed. Finally, add the water and pasta. Stir everything again, turn the heat down to low heat, and pop a lid on top of the skillet.

pasta added to the pan

After about 15 minutes, start checking to see if the pasta is done. This usually happens after about 20 minutes, but I still like to start checking early since I don’t care for mushy pasta. It’s best if the pasta is al dente.

stirring the ingredients

Serve this dish hot. You can add a side salad and some bread to make it a complete meal. But it’s really not necessary since this is a one-pan (or one-pot) meal.

One-Pot Dinner Recipes

At the end of a long day, I appreciate having recipes for easy meals. And this often involves being able to cook everything in one pot or pan because cleanup is so much easier.

Here are some more delicious one-pot meals:

Frozen Burrito Casserole – Next time you’re at the grocery store or placing your grocery order, pick up some frozen burritos to make this delicious dish. It’s quick, easy, and oh-so satisfying!

Eggplant Parmesan – Made with just a few simple ingredients, this dish gives you all the flavor you want in a meal. It’s up to you whether or not to add a side dish.

Dutch Oven Pasta and Meatballs – Here is another example of combining a few convenience foods to make a tasty meal the family will love!

More Recipes

We like to eat a lot of salads around here. Sometimes I make this Greek olive and feta salad when we’re in the mood for something zesty. Other times I pop open a bag of chopped salad mix.

One of our favorite types of bread to eat with a dish like this is cornbread. This southern style cornbread is delicious.

Or if you like a moist cornbread, you may prefer this fine-ground cornmeal cornbread.

My friend Julie has figured out a way to make sweet Jiffy cornbread more moist. She share’s this tip on her Back to My Southern Roots blog.

One of my current favorite side dishes is this balsamic glazed zucchini. It’s easy to make, yet it has a rich, sophisticated flavor that most people love.

Ingredients in a pan above a bowl of skillet sloppy joes pasta

Cooking Tips

You can use any type of skillet to make this delicious one-pan meal. If you use an iron skillet or nonstick skillet, cleanup will be easy because they both release food very easily.

However, you can still do well with a stainless steel skillet as long as you are careful.

The most important thing is to heat the pan before adding the meat. If you put the meat into the skillet when the pan is cold, it will stick and be much more difficult to clean.

Have all of your ingredients measured and ready to go before you begin cooking. Doing this enables you to assemble the ingredients without having to stop and look for them.

Keep a kitchen measurements cheat sheet nearby so you always have the right amount of what you need in the recipe.

Childhood Favorite Sloppy Joes

I’m not the only person who feels pangs of nostalgia at the mere thought of sloppy Joes. After all, who can resist all of those delicious flavors coming together in such a delightful way?

Yield: 6 servings

Skillet Sloppy Joes Pasta

bowl of sloppy joes spiral pasta

This quick and easy one-pan dinner will satisfy a hungry family at the end of a long day!

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 pound of ground beef
  • 3 cups of sliced peppers and onions
  • 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce
  • One 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes
  • 1-1/2 cup of spiral pasta (or whatever pasta you prefer)
  • 1/2 cup of water

Instructions

  1. In a large skillet, crumble and brown the ground beef over medium-high heat.
  2. Add the peppers and onions. Sauté for about 5 minutes.
  3. Pour the barbecue sauce and diced tomatoes over the top. Stir.
  4. Add the water and pasta. Stir again and cover. Turn the heat down to low.
  5. Cook until the pasta is al dente, approximately 20 minutes.
  6. Serve hot.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 369Total Fat 16gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 9gCholesterol 67mgSodium 728mgCarbohydrates 30gFiber 4gSugar 12gProtein 24g

The nutrition information is a product of online calculators. I try to provide true and accurate information, but these numbers are estimates.

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