This sloppy joe recipe has all the Italian flavors you love, plus it’s kid-friendly!
Sloppy Joe night is one of my family’s favorite dinner nights. But it can get a little boring for me, that’s why I decided to liven up our sloppy Joes by making them even more flavorful and a little more nutritious.
My son will hardly ever eat a salad with his sloppy Joe, so I like to incorporate vegetables he likes right into the meat mixture. I chop all the vegetables really small, so even if he decides he doesn’t like green peppers today for whatever reason, he won’t be able see them and pick them out. My food processor is a great tool for chopping vegetables really small and very quickly. For these sloppy Joes, I added green peppers, onions and mushrooms. Zucchini or eggplant would’ve have also worked well.
To make these sloppy Joes Italian-style, I incorporated Italian sausage and marinara sauce, instead of regular canned sloppy Joe sauce. I combined the marinara sauce with our favorite bottled BBQ sauce to make a delicious sauce. The beauty of this recipe is you can use any combination of pasta and BBQ sauces.
To serve alongside our sloppy Joes, I made a small tossed salad. Sweet potato fries are another healthier option I like to serve my family with dishes like this.