These Easy Sloppy Joe Muffins are the perfect way to turn leftover sloppy joe filling into a fun, comforting meal. Flaky Pillsbury biscuits are stuffed with cheesy sloppy joe filling and baked until golden, creating a delicious handheld dinner or snack everyone will love. They’re simple to make, incredibly satisfying, and proof that leftovers can be just as exciting the second time around.
Have you ever been one of those people that struggles with what to do with any leftovers? I know I have. Although I do enjoy eating leftovers, I can often get tired of the same food over and over again unless it is something I am hyper-fixated on, and more often than not I end up throwing the rest of the leftovers out because they’ve gotten too old and no one else has eaten them.
This recipe is the perfect thing to help you repurpose any leftovers into something that feels brand new. It is also the perfect recipe for a snack, appetizer or something to feed if you need an interesting crowd pleaser.
Make this Easy Sloppy Joe Muffins recipe when…
- you need something to do with sloppy joe leftovers
- you want a delicious handheld snack or appetizer
- you are looking for the perfect part food that will please a crowd
Ingredient notes…
Here is what you’ll need to make this Easy Sloppy Joe Muffins recipe. Please be sure to check the recipe card for the exact ingredients and measurements.
- Sloppy joe mixture: If you don’t have any sloppy joe mixture leftover, you will need to make this first and plan ahead. I have a really easy and delicious Crockpot Sloppy Joe recipe for you.
- Pillsbury Biscuits: I used a tube of the Country Biscuits. There is enough for ten, so if that isn’t enough for your plan you will need to double the recipe.
- Cheese: I used shredded Mozzarella cheese but you can use whatever kind you prefer.
- Butter: To top the muffins when they cook and help brown the tops. You could always skip if you really need to, or use egg wash instead.
- Garlic: To add into the butter to make garlic butter.
- (Optional) Barbeque sauce: To top with at the end.
Equipment I swear by…
- a good muffin tin
- non-stick cooking spray
While the Easy Sloppy Joe Muffins bake…
This is a quick recipe so you don’t have a lot of hands off time, but you could still make time to:
- do a quick clean up of the kitchen so there is less to do later
- do some stretches
- drink some water
How to make it…
See the recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease a muffin tin with butter or non-stick cooking spray.
- Sprinkle about 1 tsp of cheese on the bottom. Open the tube of biscuits and peel one of the biscuits in half (they come apart pretty easily). Press half of it into the tin on top of the cheese, top with a spoon of the sloppy joe mix and more cheese, then press the other half of the biscuit on top. Repeat until all the biscuits are used up.
- Top with remaining cheese. Melt the butter and mix in the garlic and then brush the tops of the muffins with the butter mixture. Bake in the oven at 375F for 13-17 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown. Be careful not to burn the cheese on the bottom.
- Top with barbeque sauce and serve warm.
My tips and tricks to make this Easy Sloppy Joe Muffins recipe…
Add veggies: Feel free to add any veggies if you wish, peppers, mushrooms or tomatoes would be delicious.
Make it spicy: Mix your favorite hot sauce into the sloppy joe mixture to taste, sprinkle with crushed red pepper, or even top with the hot sauce instead of barbeque sauce, or dip it in hot sauce instead.
Make it extra cheesy: If you want it extra cheesy, you could double or even triple the cheese in this recipe, and add even more cheese on top and melt it. You just have to be careful that they cook evenly and nothing burns.
Storage notes:
Refrigerate: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. Warm up in the microwave, air fryer, or the oven. Enjoy within 3 to 4 days.
Freeze: I do think this recipe would freeze pretty well, but I haven’t personally tried it myself. If you try it, let me know how it goes in the comments below.
Are you struggling right now…
- Only make it when you have leftover sloppy joe mixture. (Having to make a whole other recipe first just to make these muffins may overwhelm you)
- Use pre-shredded cheese instead of shredding your own.
Thank you for stopping by Comfort In a Bowl. If you have any questions, or made any additions/shortcuts that you think other people may love feel free to comment below. If you create this recipe or any other from our site, we would greatly appreciate you taking the time to share, comment and rate the recipe! Take care of yourself.
Easy Sloppy Joe Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups Sloppy joe mixture see notes for link to sloppy joe recipe if needed
- 1 container Pillsbury Biscuits
- 2 cups Shredded Cheese I used Mozzarella
- 1/2 cup Butter
- 2 tbsp Garlic
- Barbeque sauce Optional, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375F. Grease a muffin tin with butter or non-stick cooking spray.
- Sprinkle about 1 tsp of cheese on the bottom of ten spots of the muffin tin. Open the tube of biscuits and peel one of the biscuits in half (they come apart pretty easily). Press half of it into the tin on top of the cheese, top with a spoon of the sloppy joe mix and more cheese, then press the other half of the biscuit on top. (See pictures above if needed) Repeat until all the biscuits are used up.
- Top with remaining cheese. Melt the butter and mix in the garlic and then brush the tops of the muffins with the butter mixture. Bake in the oven at 375F for 13-17 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown. Be careful not to burn the cheese on the bottom.
- Top with barbeque sauce and serve warm.
Notes
Looking for some more ideas for snacks or appetizers?
- Sloppy Joe Grilled Cheese
- Garlic Bread
- The Best Grilled Cheese Sandwich
- Ham and Pineapple Grilled Cheese Sandwich
My burnout situation…
I don’t like to try to make myself the victim but I often feel in my life like I am always fighting an uphill battle. Like nothing can ever just go easy for me.
An example would be what happened the other weekend.
I had mentioned in a previous post that I was going out of town for a festival/concert type event. I haven’t travelled very often in the last several years which heavily contributed to my burnout and depression so this year I’ve been making more of an effort.
My husband, sister, and brother in law went out of town for this event together and got an Airbnb. We’ve been planning this for over 6 months now. And it unfortunately didn’t go as smoothly as I’d hoped.
First the AC in my car crapped out about half way into our eight hour drive up on one of the hottest days of the year. But we hung in there and tried to make the best of it.
Then when we got to our Airbnb, the keys were not where they were supposed to be, and the whole reason we were staying at this Airbnb was for the walkable location, however that meant it wasn’t very car friendly. It was in an apartment building on a one way street with zero street parking anywhere, and we needed the keys to get into the underground parking. So while waiting to hear back from our Airbnb host, we had to leave the whole area just to be able to pull the car over somewhere.
We were running short on time (we had the first show that same night) so we had grabbed groceries just before heading to the Airbnb, so those were spoiling and melting in our ACless car. We ended up pivoting and going to a restaurant just so we had somewhere to park while we waited to hear from the host (we even asked the restaurant if they could store our just purchased, unopened groceries in their cooler and were told no). The host ended up telling us oh the cleaners found the keys in the apartment so we could meet the cleaners somewhere, but the cleaners were running late and still needed to clean the apartment (this was already hours after check in time).
We ended up pushing back a bit because we were all dripping in sweat so we all needed to quickly drop our stuff off, shower, get ready and rush to our event.
However, once we finally made it inside the apartment, we were dismayed to discover it was hotter in the apartment than it was outside. It was a two floor loft apartment. The thermostat didn’t work, and they had a small portable window air conditioning unit, but it was just a hose that went out the window (it wasn’t like sealed or fitted to the window if that makes sense so the window just had to be open and just let hot air back inside). So I showered, but I couldn’t really even do my makeup because it was literally melting off my face.
Still, we quickly dropped our stuff off, turned the tiny AC to full blast, and found the one fan they had in the apartment and turned it on. Unfortunately, when we returned about six hours later the temperature had only cooled a single degree. We tried to open the windows, but we quickly realized the windows didn’t have screens so tons of mosquitos and other bugs were flying inside. There was also tons of other weird things going on with the airbnb like construction (one bedroom had no ceiling and exposed beams and insulation which was not mentioned on the listing) the rug in the living room was just completely upside down (so rug backing up). We had no idea why. A lamp in the bedroom was broken in half. We couldn’t figure out how to turn one light off. They were doing renos on the patio so all the patio furniture was piled into the second floor of the apartment making not only the patio but almost the whole second floor unusable.
We tried to stay for that first night, but because of the heat none of us could sleep. In the morning, we were shocked when the host had messaged and basically asked how our first night was (we had two more left) and if there was anything he could do to make our stay more comfortable. My sister, very politely, asked if there was anything to be done about the heat, and then wanted to make him aware of a few more things (like the broken lamp and upside down rug) so he knew we didn’t do those things or get charged for them.
His response was shocking. He basically told us to get out of the Airbnb and he would refund our remaining days and that he was only one person and wasn’t going to deal with anything that my sister had said.
We had been across town when we got that message (celebrating my brother in laws birthday) and had to drop everything to race back and pack up and ended up missing a paid for event because we couldn’t make it back in time. My sister started crying because she was so stressed out.
That evening, after finding last minute alternate accommodations, it started storming at our second night of events and we got stuck in a scary situation outside in a thunderstorm with thousands of other people all scrambling to find shelter, and that night of events got cancelled for weather.
My husband ended up scoring a last minute appointment with a mechanic to try to fix my car AC before the long drive home, but because we hadn’t slept in the Airbnb, when we finally got to somewhere with reasonable temperature my husband slept in and missed the appointment.
So we drove home all the way with no AC.
So yes while there were still some great moments of the weekend… it was a lot more memorable and stressful then I would have liked.
People will always say things like “well you made it through it” or “well you guys dealt with things as they came and you problem solved and pivoted so that’s great”… but like I’m getting pretty sick of being told how strong or resilient I am for going through what I have.
I crave softness.
I crave ease.
I crave peace.
I would just like things to be easy for a while. I think I’ve earned it.
Conclusion…
This recipe is a great one if you are searching for a cool way to repurpose some leftovers and turn them into a winning snack.
Take care of yourself.
-Caitlin
