Valerie's Kitchen

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Sloppy Joe Squares

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An incredible, made from scratch Sloppy Joe filling is topped with cheese and baked between layers of crescent roll dough. These Sloppy Joe Squares will be a hit with your family or at your next potluck gathering!

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A made from scratch filling is topped with cheese and baked between layers of crescent roll dough. These Sloppy Joe Squares are a fun, delicious meal!

Boy # 4 started back to school today. The first day of his last year of high school and the first of many lasts for us this year. His older brothers will return to their respective colleges within the next couple of weeks. Summer is officially winding down.

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I always like to plan a special menu full of good, hearty, kid friendly (or teenage boy friendly) meals for the first week of school that are centered around the boys and cater to their tastes. Meals like this are much needed after the stress, excitement, and first day jitters that inevitably come each new school year. And somehow it makes me feel better too. This recipe is a great one to feed your hungry Back to Schoolers and it’s also a great choice for all those upcoming school potlucks or banquets.

I came across a similar recipe a loooonnnnggg time ago in a magazine that no longer exists. It was called Hometown Cooking, from the folks at Better Homes & Gardens. I’m still trying to get over the fact that this magazine is no longer published. It was my favorite cooking magazine and every issue had a gazillion recipes I wanted to try. I still refer back to issues that are now over 10 years old, for inspiration.

The recipe calls for Sloppy Joe filling so I use my all time favorite, hands down, no contest cause it’s the winner, recipe for Cajun Sloppy Joe’s.

Just slice, serve… enjoy!

A made from scratch filling is topped with cheese and baked between layers of crescent roll dough. These Sloppy Joe Squares are a fun, delicious meal!

Put a plate of this in front of them and ask them about their day. If you have a son, and he says more than three words in response, you are truly blessed.

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More recipes for Sloppy Joe fans:

Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes | Belly Full
Sloppy Joe Sliders | Valerie’s Kitchen
One Pot Sloppy Joe Noodle Skillet | Spicy Perspective
Taco Sloppy Joes | Lemons for LuLu

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A made from scratch filling is topped with cheese and baked between layers of crescent roll dough. These Sloppy Joe Squares are a fun, delicious meal!

Sloppy Joe Squares

Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Change the number in the box above to adjust serving size. Please note that size of cookware and cook time may vary.
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5 from 1 vote

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds ground beef
  • 1 small white onion diced
  • 1 small green bell pepper seeded and diced
  • 1 16 ounce can tomato sauce
  • 1 cup ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard
  • 2 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Creole or Cajun Seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper adjust amount as needed
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
  • 2 8 ounce packages refrigerated crescent roll dough
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar/jack cheese
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Instructions

  1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef, onions, and bell pepper until meat crumbles and no pink remains. Drain well and return skillet to heat.
  2. Add tomato sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire, mustard, brown sugar, Creole seasoning, garlic powder, crushed red pepper, and fresh ground pepper. Stir well to combine and reduce heat to low. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring frequently.
  3. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and spray a 13 x 9 pan with non-stick cooking spray. Press one can of the crescent roll dough into the prepared pan, pressing with your fingers to cover the bottom of the pan. Spoon the Sloppy Joe mixture on top of the dough in pan and sprinkle evenly with cheese. Carefully place the 2nd sheet of crescent roll dough on top of the cheese, lightly pressing the seams together and pulling the dough out to the edges of the pan. Brush the top of the dough with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
  4. Bake, uncovered, for 13 to 15 minutes till nicely golden brown. Serve immediately.

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      • It sounds very delicious, but it’s WAY too many ingredients for busy working moms. I might make it when I have a couple of days off.

        Reply

          • Found this recipe years ago, in a “Manwich” cookbook. Just a simplified version of the one here…crescent rolls, can Manwich & cheese . Sesame seeds on top. Feel free to fry onions etc with ground beef. I’ve even brushed the top with garlic butter for a little change. 🙂

        • I have made this for years. Use bottled BBQ sauce. Very quick. Travels well in a lunch and good cold as well.

          Reply

        • I made this but not all those ingredient just sloppy joe mix, cut up onion and cheese, all the other stuff I left out and it was great

          Reply

  8. What an absolutely clever dish! I love it! With the crust on the top and the bottom it is like eating a Sloppy Joe but not near as messy. Can I be a kid in your kitchen? 🙂

    Reply

  11. My husbands favorite meal is sloppy joes!! This looks so so good, and a great twist.
    I love how you plan your meals around comfort the first week of school…it’s true, so many feelings, emotions & energy packed into school days, so nice for kids to come home to meals like this.

    Reply

  12. i was actually thinking of doing sloopy joes or chili or chili today after a marathon day of cooking duck and sausage gumbo, tater salad, rice, homemade from scratch frenchbread and a apple, cranberry, raspberry gallette! whew, this looks perfect for today….going to make it wth baked mac n cheese and a salad…thanks -)

    Reply

  13. I’m making lots of your recipes! I made this one tonight and we really liked it. Really yummy ingredients! Thanks for another success. Lots of love.

    Reply

  14. I made this for dinner tonight. Been craving Sloppy Joe’s for awhile now, so figured, whatthehey. Cheated a little on the sauce, just used Manwich, but stuck to the rest of the recipe pretty faithfully, and, whattyaknow? It came out great, looked just like the picture. Never used unrolled crescent roll dough for a crust before, was delicious, even the bottom baked up nice.
    Thanks.

    Reply

  15. Valerie: I made this a couple nights ago. Well, pretty close. We don’t eat much spicy, so I used my normal Sloppy Joe recipe. The family loved it!

    Reply

  16. I make something similiar but use frozen bread dough thawed for the top and bottom layer and put in all in a jelly roll pan. the trick to rolling out the frozen bread dough is to havee it at least at room temperature. Many times I will put in in the micro for about ten seconds to warm it up. We call these Spoonburgers and the kids go crazy for them as well as the adults.

    Reply

  18. Sloppy Joes are not found here in Australia (at least, I’ve never heard of them except on American websites), but this looks good. Mince meat is a staple for pies, casseroles, stews etc. But what’s puzzling me is the dough you use. I’ve never seen it here, nor have I heard of it. We only get the choice between puff and shortcrust pastry in the supermarkets. Would either work?

    Reply

    • Hello MaryAnne. I don’t think puff pastry would be right for this. It’s somewhat delicate and very flaky which is quite different than the crescent roll dough. Although I’ve never had any experience with shortcut pastry, I assume it is similar to pie crust. I’d be inclined to try that over the puff pastry. Best of luck!

      Reply

  20. I have made this using finely chopped ham, cooked, chopped cooked brocolli and swiss cheese. I’m sure you could dream up other fillings as well.

    Reply

  26. Hi there this looks so delicious recipe. However I live in Australia and we don’t have that dough. What could I use in its place? Thanks so much.

    Reply

    • Since I’m not really sure what is available in Australia, it’s hard for me to say what you could substitute. I frequently use hamburger buns to make these into sloppy joe sandwiches instead.

      Reply

  27. This has been a go-to meal @ least once a week since I found this recipe & your website a month ago! THANK YOU! Being a single mom with a very picky 17 year old daughter, you hVe been a life saver!

    Reply

    • I’m so happy to hear that this recipe has worked out so well for you. We love it too. Thank you so much for your kind words 🙂 Your feedback is so appreciated!

      Reply

  28. this is a great recipe and since there are only two of us I use an 8″ square pan and only have to use 1 tube of crescent rolls~~YUM a must try.

    Reply

  31. Im from the uk & i had my first taste of sloppy joes on a vacation visit 14yrs ago & have wanted to find a recipe to make them since.
    We have all the ingredients too as i discovered crescent dough is the same as croissant dough.
    I have 2 kids who I know would love this I’ll definitely be trying out this recipe sometime over the summer

    Reply

    • I can’t say that I’ve ever tried freezing crescent roll dough. I think I’d be more inclined to make and freeze the filling and then assemble it just before baking but if you give it a try, be sure to let me know how it works out for you.

      Reply

  34. thank you for this recipe. It was delicious. My husband loved it. I have all my Mom’s recipes, made a beautiful recipe book for myself and my sister’s, but the one recipe that I could never find was my Mom’s sloppy Joe recipe. Not quite like her’s, but delicious. thank you for sharing.

    Reply

    • It is so special that you’ve collected all of your mom’s recipes and taken the time to put them together this way. What a wonderful tribute to her 🙂 I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe!

      Reply

  35. This is an excellent idea for dinner. my kids gobble up Sloppy Joe stuff any way they can have it. Have used cheddar mozarella cheese and sharp cheddar mixed with marble and it is awesome and yes you can freeze crescent rolls with it as I used Manwich filling before and it froze very well as I had made a double pan and froze one as my company didn’t show up so we had the leftovers reheated from thawing the other pan out. it was as good as the first fresh one reheated up and went great with a tossed salad.

    Reply

  37. I tried this tonight and it is wonderful! We run a restaurant and I plan on using this in place of juicy burgers! Thank for posting.

    Reply

  39. I’m so glad I took the time to make the filling instead of using Manwich – which I was considering. We could taste the difference. Very good, easy, kid friendly…thank you!

    Reply

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