One-Pan Sesame Beef Sloppy Joes
with Umami Ginger Sauce & Cucumber Salad
- Soy
- Wheat
- Sesame
- Milk
- Eggs
One of the most underrated childhood comfort foods, in our opinion? The humble sloppy Joe. Check out our version with some sweet upgrades. Ground pork is browned with scallions and garlic, then simmered in a sweet and spicy ginger sauce until thick and caramelized. The filling is piled into soft potato buns with a tangy cucumber and tomato salad sprinkled with sesame seeds. Tasty nostalgia on the table in just 15 minutes? Where do we sign up?!
Ingredients
2 unit
Scallions
1 clove
Garlic
1 unit
Cucumber
1 unit
Tomato
10 ounce
Ground Beef
½ cup
Umami Ginger Sauce
(Contains: Soy, Wheat)
1 unit
Ketchup
1 teaspoon
Sriracha
1 tablespoon
Sesame Seeds
(Contains: Sesame)
5 teaspoon
Rice Wine Vinegar
2 unit
Potato Buns
(Contains: Milk, Eggs, Soy, Wheat)
Not included in your delivery
Salt
Pepper
1 teaspoon
Cooking Oil
¼ teaspoon
Sugar
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry produce. • Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens. Peel and grate garlic. Trim and thinly slice cucumber. Halve tomato lengthwise; slice into ¼-inch-thick half-moons.
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add pork, scallion whites, garlic, salt, and pepper. Cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until pork is browned and scallion whites are softened, 2-4 minutes. • Add umami ginger sauce, ketchup, Sriracha, and half the sesame seeds. Cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened and pork is cooked through, 1-2 minutes more. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.
Cook through this step as instructed, swapping in beef for pork.
• In a medium bowl, combine cucumber, tomato, scallion greens, vinegar, remaining sesame seeds, ¼ tsp sugar (½ tsp for 4 servings), and a pinch of salt.
• Halve and toast buns. • Fill buns with pork mixture and as much cucumber salad (draining first) as you like. Divide sloppy joes between plates and serve with any remaining cucumber salad on the side.
Ground Beef is fully cooked when internal temperature reaches 160°.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Sep 2026- Flavor: The sweet-and-spicy umami ginger filling wins fans over, though some find it too sweet and prefer a more savory profile — reduce the glaze or swap in BBQ sauce to taste.
- Ease of prep: This one truly comes together fast, with minimal cleanup thanks to the one-pan method 🎉.
- Suggestions: Toast the buns — reviewers say it's a game changer; add a splash of brown sugar to the cucumber salad for extra depth, and let the salad sit longer to develop flavor.
- Leftovers: The filling reheats well and yields enough for an extra sandwich or two; some served it over rice for a satisfying next-day bowl.
- Cucumber salad: The pickled cucumber salad shines as a topping on the sandwich; as a standalone side, some found it too vinegar-forward or wanted more variety.
- Portions: A few felt the meal needed a more substantial side — roasted sweet potatoes or a small salad were popular add-ons to round it out.
Reviews from our home cooks
This has to be one of the simplest yet most delicious recipes I have ever come across. The cucumber salad is simple and light and refreshing. The umami ginger sloppy Joe is out of this world. I toasted the buns and a little brown butter and I could eat this recipe every day! AMAZING!!!!
Delicious! Messy, but so yummy. The flavor of the sauce in the Sloppy Joe was rich and tasty. The cucumber salad was a very tasty side.
Especially liked the cucumber salad - a nice, fresh, simple side to the spicy sloppy joes. And it was almost TOO easy! I was surprised, but my husband liked it better than a regular salad. Will make it for other meals for sure. Thanks for the idea.
Simple, tasty take on sloppy joes, and the salad was just the right combination to offset the sweet sauce for the meat.
The Asian take on this sloppy joe sandwich is amazing! The flavor and ease in prep and cooking are also amazing. The only reason for a 3 and not a 4 is the strong vinegar carrot cucumber side. It is fantastic on the sandwich but a bit much for a "side dish". The girls in the family loved it but the boys and kids were not loving the vinegar concoction.
Such a fun take on the sloppy joe!! The sauce was very yummy and I loved the side as the cucumber & tomato salad. It made the meal feel just right, not too heavy.
Really tasty. Only used half of the spicy sauce, and the sloppy joes were spicy enough for us. The cucumber and tomato salad was refreshing.
Delicious and light with the cucumber salad side. We did add some pickled red onions to the sloppy joes.
Really great flavor - Asian-inspired taste but the texture/feel of a traditional sloppy joe. Cucumber salad would have been nice to marinate for a longer time.
All of the different sloppy joe offers are excellent. This one is no different. I never thought the cucumber-carrot mixture on top would work, but it really does. Excellent offering and one of my favorites.
