Slow Cooker Southwest Tavern Sandwiches—a loose meat sandwich seasoned with southwest flavors and then topped with cheese, avocado and tomato. A perfect dinner or lunch to feed a crowd.
Get the INSTANT POT tavern sandwich recipe here

Slow Cooker Southwest Tavern Sandwiches
If you love southwestern food and sloppy joes you’re going to love these slow cooker southwest tavern sandwiches which are a cross between the two. Saucy, flavorful ground beef is piled onto toasted buns that have been slathered in mayo and then the beef is topped with cheese, tomato and avocado. All the flavors in this sandwich are like a party in your mouth.
A few notes:
- This recipe is great to serve a crowd and so easy to double, triple or quadruple in your 6 quart slow cooker.
- The meat is a bit spicy because of the chipotle pepper and the adobo sauce. If you’re a little scared of the spice then cut down on the amount of chopped pepper you add in and/or the amount of adobo sauce you add in. This is also where a lot of the flavor comes from so don’t cut it all out!
- I used extra lean ground beef where there was hardly any grease at all. So I didn’t need to drain the grease. However if you’re using a fattier ground beef you may need to drain off the grease before adding in the rest of the ingredients.
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What Slow Cooker Did You Use?
To make Slow Cooker Southwest Tavern Sandwiches I used my Ninja Auto-iQ 6 Quart Slow Cooker.* My favorite feature of this slow cooker is that it has a stove top function. I did step 1 of this recipe straight inside the slow cooker. Less dishes!


Slow Cooker Southwest Tavern Sandwiches
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4-6 hours
- Total Time: 41 minute
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
Description
A loose meat sandwich seasoned with southwest flavors and then topped with cheese, avocado and tomato. A perfect dinner or lunch to feed a crowd.
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean or extra lean ground beef
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 1 chipotle pepper canned in adobo sauce, diced
- 1 Tbsp adobo sauce (from the chipotle chili can)
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
- 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- Mayo, sliced tomato, sliced avocado, sliced cheese (I used colby jack)
- Buns, for serving
Instructions
- Heat a pan on your stove over medium high heat. Brown the beef for about 3-4 minutes then add in the salt, pepper and onion. Stir and let the onion saute for 3-4 more minutes. Drain off any excess grease. Add the beef/onions to the slow cooker.
- Stir in the broth, chipotle and adobo sauce, garlic powder, cumin and tomato sauce.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours. Then add in the chopped cilantro and lime juice.
- Slice the buns in half and toast them. Spread a little mayo on each bun. Scoop some of the meat mixture on top of each of the buns. Top each sandwich with tomato, avocado and cheese. Eat and enjoy!
Notes
You can easily double or triple this recipe to serve a crowd.
If you want to make it a little less spicy then leave out the adobo sauce.
- Category: Beef
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: Southwestern
*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.
Would these be terrible/sacrilegious with ground turkey or chicken??
Not at all! I think it would be great!