Ground Chicken Sloppy Joes (Asian-Inspired)
These ground chicken sloppy joes are a healthy take on traditional sloppies, and filled with delicious Asian flavors. Best of all, they come together in 20 minutes!
![Chicken sloppy joe mixture in whole wheat bun, topped with coleslaw.](jpg/ground-chicken-sloppy-joes-5-660x986.jpg)
My husband and I have a profound disagreement when it comes to how sloppy joes should be eaten.
You see, he insists on eating them with a fork and knife. Forks and knives are all well and good for say, almond crusted chicken or orange glazed chicken.
But I say that the very essence of a sloppy joe sandwich is, well, sloppy, and thus should be required to be eaten as a sandwich in all of its messy glory. Just like I’m using my hands to eat a prosciutto sandwich and wonton nachos, I’m picking up a sloppy joes, too.
What do you think? Leave a comment below to help us settle this debate!
![White plate with burger bun filled with loose ground chicken saucy mixture and coleslaw.](jpg/ground-chicken-sloppy-joes-4-660x986.jpg)
Can you make sloppy joes with chicken?
I grew up eating sloppy joes the classic way – with ground beef (also the key ingredient in my kafta and taco mac and cheese recipes). In fact, I didn’t know there was any other way to make them until college, when Rachel Ray was in her heyday on the Food Network.
One day I was watching her show after class, and she made ground turkey sloppy joes. I went to the store that weekend and bought everything and made them for my roommates, and they soon became a staple meal in our house. I also love ground turkey for my turkey meatballs recipe air fryer.
So yes, just like you can make chicken stroganoff instead of traditional beef, and you can make my vegetable lasagna recipe instead of using meat, you can make sloppy joes with just about any ground meat. The truth is, I made these Asian sloppy joes with ground chicken because I happened to have some in my freezer.
You can also make this Asian sloppy joe recipe (and my Korean meatballs!) with ground turkey or ground beef.
![Wheat hamburger bun filled with Asian sloppy joe mixture and shredded vegetables.](jpg/ground-chicken-sloppy-joes-3-660x986.jpg)
This ground chicken sloppy joe recipe is infused with Asian flavors.
It seems like for traditional ground (beef) sloppy joes, I also stick with the traditional flavor profile for sloppy joes – tomato something (paste/ketchup/sauce), onion, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and maybe some green pepper.
But for chicken sloppy joes, I love coming up with new flavor profiles. My husband teases me because I am ALWAYS craving Asian food. I would choose sushi or Thai food or pho or Chinese carryout every single time we get carryout, if I had my way.
While I love making a batch of Asian noodle salad to have on hand for lunch, I’m still craving the same flavors at dinner, believe it or not!
For this ground chicken sloppy joe recipe, I was inspired by the flavors of moo shu chicken, one of our favorite dishes from any Chinese carryout. Moo shu chicken is usually a stir-fried combination of finely chopped or ground chicken, cabbage and various other veggies tossed together in a brown, umami-laden sauce.
This Asian sloppy joes recipe combines ground chicken and cabbage (coleslaw mix) with lots of Asian ingredients that I always have on hand – rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, fresh ginger, hoisin sauce and sriracha. And of course soy sauce, which is the secret ingredient in my homemade gravy.
If you prefer not to use coleslaw mix, simply buy a small head of cabbage and thinly slice it. Any extra cabbage can be used to make cabbage potato soup or corned beef egg rolls.
![Wheat hamburger bun filled with saucy chicken mixture and shredded vegetables.](jpg/ground-chicken-sloppy-joes-660x442.jpg)
How to make chicken sloppy joes:
For this ground chicken sloppy joe recipe, I rely on a bag of shredded coleslaw veggie mix from the store, for speed and ease. You’ll begin this recipe by making a quick slaw from some of the coleslaw mix, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil. You’ll put this slaw on top of the sloppy mixture for serving.
Then, you’ll make your sloppy mixture in a big skillet. First, cook the ground chicken and green bell pepper until the chicken is cooked through (any extra green pepper can be made into fajita veggie). Then, add the garlic, tomato paste and fresh ginger (use extra fresh ginger to make pear muffins or miso ginger dressing!).
In goes the water, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sriracha, and more of the coleslaw veggies. Simmer this all together for a few minutes until it’s thickened.
Time to eat these Asian sloppy joes, perhaps with a side of maple Brussels sprouts?
![Small white plate topped with hamburger bun filled with chicken sloppy joes and coleslaw.](jpg/ground-chicken-sloppy-joes-2-660x986.jpg)
Other options for serving this Asian sloppy joe recipe, beyond the bun:
Speaking of eating, how sloppy are we going to get here? How are we going to eat this chicken sloppy joe mixture?
Well, of course the classic way to eat a sloppy joe would be in a hamburger bun. Always a good option! But if you’re looking to go beyond the bun, I have some ideas for you:
- Flour tortillas – reminsicent of the thin, savory Mandarin pancakes served with moo shu, flour tortillas are a great way to eat sloppy joes. They’re also a trusty serving idea for my Asian pulled pork.
- Lettuce wraps – grab a head of iceberg lettuce or a few small heads of Boston or butter lettuce, and eat this sloppy mixture wrapped in lettuce leaves! I also love lettuce wraps for my red lentil sloppy joes and orange ginger chicken.
- Baked potatoes – stuff the sloppy mixture in a big baked potato, like I did for my chicken stuffed potatoes. I can’t figure out how you’d eat this with your hands, so I guess I’ll have to allow you to eat it with a knife and fork (sigh). My husband would be so happy.
![Wheat hamburger bun filled with orange hued chicken sloppy joe mixture and coleslaw.](jpg/ground-chicken-sloppy-joes-4-720x720.jpg)
Ground Chicken Sloppy Joes (Asian-Inspired)
These ground chicken sloppy joes are a healthy take on traditional sloppies, and filled with delicious Asian flavors. Best of all, they come together in 20 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
- 4 cups packed shredded coleslaw veggie mix, divided
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon sriracha
- 4 hamburger buns
Instructions
- In medium bowl, whisk together vinegar and sesame oil. Add onions and 2 cups shredded coleslaw veggie mix; toss to combine. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Meanwhile, In large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and bell pepper; cook 6 to 8 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, breaking up chicken with side of spoon as it cooks. Add garlic, tomato paste and ginger; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Stir in water, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, sriracha and remaining 2 cups shredded coleslaw veggie mix; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 4 to 5 minutes or until mixture is thickened, stirring occasionally.
- Divide sloppy mixture between buns; top with coleslaw.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 829Total Fat: 48gSaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 36gCholesterol: 139mgSodium: 1616mgCarbohydrates: 66gFiber: 8gSugar: 32gProtein: 36g
Hey Lori, I was following your blog since last couple of months and I try this chicken recipe yesterday. It was fab! My kids just loved it. Hope you will share delicious recipe with us in future.
I’m so glad to hear that, Emily!
Was delicious. I mixed a vegetable medley in mine, no bun. Would definitely make it again.
Love the vegetable medley idea, Susan!
Lori, I don’t know about following the blog of a sloppy cook…😇 That said, this recipe sounds quite good. I have never eaten a sloppy joe in my life, so if I make this it will be a first, in more than 7 decades of life. My feeling is that if it’s in a bun, you pick it up to eat. If I make this, I would tend to serve it on a bed of slaw, and forget even the tortillas, which are a staple in this area, and which I love. So I’d have to end up on Jeff’s side…
Hahaha nooooo, don’t end up on Jeff’s side! Just kidding. Maybe sloppy joes are just such a Midwestern thing that I never realized people in other parts of the country don’t eat them like we do?
Lori, people in Southern California, where I grew up, did eat sloppy joes. I’m sure that the reason I didn’t is because my mother learned to cook Hungarian food to please her Hungarian-born husband. He would not tolerate seriously American things like sloppy joes. So I basically grew up on “snobby” European cooking and was never exposed to the things “normal” Americans ate.
Ohhh, well that certainly makes sense, Susan. Sloppy joes are nothing if not “seriously American!” hahaha.
Made this for my family tonight. Everyone loved it! I followed your recipe without any changes. It was really fast and easy. We serve our sloppy joes open-faced so next time I will make a little more of the topping. Thanks so much for the recipe!
I’m so glad to hear that Denise. My family agrees – open faced sloppies are the way to go! haha.
We would love this. I will try it soon. Love new and different sloppy joe recipes. I don’t always make the same ones at all. We have our favorites, but, still like to try new ones. Thanks
sue
Thanks for stopping by, Sue! I am the same way with sloppy joes – I have a turkey sloppy joe recipe I like, but sometimes my husband will make picadillo-style pork sloppy joes. And sometimes we’ll do these Asian chicken ones. I love them all!
I agree with you, sloppy joes are meant to be messy and eaten sandwich style. A fork takes away the fun.
Haha yes! I’m so glad that somebody agrees with me about this no-fork business 🙂
Hi. Came across your recipe and made it tonight for dinner. My husband and I loved it. The kids (16months and 4) liked it too! I made it with ground turkey. Was good. I think this could also be used for the base in a lettuce wrap. Thank you for sharing. I have a few of your other recipies on my rotation for this week.
Happy New Year!
Kristy
I’m so glad this was a hit for your family, Kristy. I go back and forth between using ground chicken and turkey for sloppy joes. And I love the lettuce wrap idea!
If you’re reading the comments below about the excitement to make these – let me just say MAKE THEM!!! They are BEYOND delish!! I used corn tortillas only because I’m staying away from bread and with every bite it got better! Thank you for this AMAZING recipe – will be a weekly staple!
Thanks so much for the kind words, Jill. I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I love the corn tortilla idea. I’m dreaming up some Greek-inspired sloppy joes next 🙂
This looks amazing! Is there a total of 4 cups of cole slaw? Definitely finger licking good!!
Hi Alita! Thanks so much. Yes, you’ll need 4 cups total of shredded coleslaw-style veggies. I was lazy, and used one of those pre-shredded bags of veggies you find in the produce department. 2 cups of the veggies goes into the sloppy joe mixture itself (and gets cooked/softened a little bit), and then another 2 cups of shredded veggies is used to make the coleslaw you put on TOP of the sloppy joes. Hope that helps!
Mmmmm…I love this Asian twist on the already-delicious sloppy joe, Lori! And girl, how do you make photos of a sloppy sammich look so good?! This is a photography skill I lack. Tell Jeff I’m say “man up, dude.” You gotta eat this gloriously messy sandwich with your hands. It’s the only way to do it (and tastes way better too).
Hmmm, maybe it was because I made the sloppy mixture the night before, and didn’t bother to reheat it before I took photos? Maybe cold sloppy joes are key? haha.
Yessss, Kristen. You’re on the right team 🙂
I’m on team roll up your sleeves and eat the messy sandwich with your hands 🙂 These pictures looks incredible!
Okay, how quickly can I devour this?
Oh, sooooo quickly, Rachel!
Yes please! This would be the greatest Friday Night Treat ever.
Thanks Jane!
Brilliant idea to group my favorite things together! The chicken looks amazing in the picture. Pinned and shared. 🙂
Thanks so much for pinning and sharing, Maggie. Have a great weekend!
What a great idea for a delicious sandwich that’s full of flavor! Thanks for sharing!
You’re welcome, Jodee. Thanks for coming by!