Instant Pot Pizza Joes—sloppy joes with a pepperoni pizza twist. An easy dump and go recipe. The meat can be prepared early and kept warm until it’s time to eat.
Note: The SLOW COOKER instructions for this recipe are in the recipe card below.
Instant Pot Pizza Joes
Dump the ingredients into the Instant Pot, turn it on and you’re good to go! This recipe is unique because there is no browning of the ground beef. I was a bit nervous to try this technique but I knew that it worked well when I made Cincinnati Chili so I thought I’d give it a shot. It was amazing and my family licked the whole pot clean.
What kind of ground beef can I use? Since the ground beef is not browned you’ll need to use a lean or extra lean ground beef (or turkey) so the pizza joes aren’t swimming in grease.
Can I use tomato sauce instead of crushed tomatoes? Yes you can. I prefer the crushed tomatoes because it gives texture, body and flavor.
How come you don’t stir? When making a recipe that has thick sauces or tomato products I like to layer the dish so that the burn message doesn’t happen. By keeping the thinner liquid on the bottom of the pot you can prevent the burn error message. Read more about the burn error message on the Instant Pot.
Can I add in other pizza toppings? Yes! Try adding in mushrooms, olives, sausage or maybe even ham and pineapple.
What should I serve with Instant Pot Pizza Joes? This is a fun summer meal that goes well with watermelon, grapes, chips, potato salad, pasta salad or green salad. If you’re looking to cut down on carbs you can leave out the buns and serve over shredded lettuce (that’s what Greg did).
You’ll also like these Instant Pot recipes…
Instant Pot Open Faced Pizza Sandwiches
Instant Pot Italian Chicken Pasta
Instant Pot Pepperoni Pizza Meatloaf
Instant Pot Pizza Joes
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
Sloppy joes with a pepperoni pizza twist. An easy dump and go recipe. The meat can be prepared early and kept warm until it’s time to eat.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup beef broth or water
- 1 pound uncooked lean or extra lean ground beef or ground turkey
- 1 cup diced onion
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 green bell pepper, cored and diced
- 1/2 cup chopped pepperoni
- 1 (15 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste
- 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
- 6 buns
- 6 slices of mozzarella
Instructions
Instant Pot Instructions
- Pour water/broth into Instant Pot. Add uncooked ground beef into pot. Break it up as much as possible with a hamburger chopper tool* or a wooden spoon. Dump the onion, salt, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, bell pepper, pepperoni, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste on top. Do not stir.
- Cover Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 10 minutes. When the time is up move the valve to venting and remove the lid.
- Use a spoon to stir the contents of the pot and to break up meat. If mixture is too runny then turn to saute and let it simmer a few minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Add in fresh basil.
- Scoop mixture onto buns and top with a slice of mozzarella cheese.
Slow Cooker Instructions
- Add uncooked ground beef into slow cooker. Break it up as much as possible with a hamburger chopper tool* or a wooden spoon. Dump the onion, salt, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, bell pepper, pepperoni, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste on top and stir.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours.
- Use a spoon to stir the contents of the pot and to break up meat. Salt and pepper to taste. Add in fresh basil.
- Scoop mixture onto buns and top with a slice of mozzarella cheese.
Notes
I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. Make in the 3 or 8 quart pot with no changes.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Instant Pot
*Karen Petersen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Making this tonight… has anyone made it but sautéed the ground beef first? Also I plan to serve it on garlic bread instead of buns. 😋
Garlic bread mmmmmmmmmmmm
I made this tonight in the Instant Pot and it was so easy. It wasn’t as spicy as I thought it would be but still very tasty. I didn’t have crushed tomatoes so I used a can of diced tomatoes and used 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. It came out very juicy so I had to cook it down a lot. Next time I will omit the water.
Sounds like a plan! I would do the same thing but I worry about the burn message.
Hi Karen,
This sounds like my kind of recipe! However we aren’t big on pepperoni because of my gall bladder having been removed due to stones, er, uh boulders! So, could we make this regulate sloppy joes by eliminating the pepperoni and Italian seasoning? The cheese wouldn’t go either but I’m more concerned about the actual sloppy joe itself. The hubs is really funny about his sloppy joes…he loves the ‘manly’ can stuff, know what I mean?😁 Thanks for all your great recipes!
Sure you could do that but it might be a little bland without the pepperoni and seasonings. You might need to add in some extra salt.
Can I use the same instructions using frozen meat?
I would add 10 extra minutes and it will probably be all cooked into a block so you’ll have to break it up after the pressure cooking time is over.