Grab a couple cans of whatever beans you've got in the pantry, and whip up these easy and seriously tasty vegan sloppy Joes!
Some recipes are really tough to veganize. With others it can be done countless ways, and they all taste good.
Case in point: vegan sloppy Joes. You can use so many different ingredients to replace the meat! The sauce is the important part, and aside from that, all you need is some sloppy vegan food thing to put into your sauce.
For these sloppy Joes, you can use just about any can of beans you've got hanging around as your main ingredient. And since this is a two-can recipe, you can mix and match. Why not, it's more fun that way?
So, lets talk about how these are made!
Jump to:
What You'll Need
- Olive oil. Feel free to substitute another high-heat oil.
- Onion.
- Bell pepper. You only need one, and any color works! I usually go for red.
- Carrot.
- Garlic.
- Beans. Black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, black-eyed peas, chickpeas, pintos, and/or brown lentils would all be awesome choices.
- Water.
- Tomato paste.
- Red wine vinegar. Apple cider vinegar works as well!
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce. Annie's, Edward & Sons, and Whole Foods Brands are all vegan.
- Soy sauce. Substitute gluten-free tamari for gluten-free sloppy Joes!
- Brown sugar. Use organic to keep the recipe vegan.
- Liquid smoke. You can leave this out if you're not a fan.
- Chili powder.
- Salt & pepper.
- Burger buns. Dave's Killer Bread burger buns are my favorite!
How to Make Vegan Sloppy Joes
The following is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
- Heat up some oil in a large pot, then add diced onion, pepper, carrot and garlic. Sweat the veggies for a few minutes until they begin to soften up.
- Now you can add almost everything else! A couple cans of beans (drained and rinsed), water, tomato paste, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, liquid smoke and chili powder. Stir everything together.
- Let the mixture simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, giving it a stir every so often. You can add a bit more water if it thickens up too much.
- The mixture is finished cooking when the sauce is thick and the veggies are soft.
Stuff your vegan sloppy Joe filling into buns and pile on your choice of toppings. I like to use pickle slices and fried onions.
Vegan Sloppy Joe Tips & FAQ
- Can this recipe be made gluten-free? Yup! Just substitute gluten-free tamari for soy sauce and use your favorite vegan and gluten-free burger buns.
- The filling for these keeps well and can be made up to two days in advance. Store it in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
- Adjust the seasonings to your taste! Not a fan of smoky flavor? Leave the liquid smoke out. Like a little heat? Add some cayenne pepper or hot sauce.
- You can make this recipe with leftover beans if you've got some pre-cooked. I often make it with leftover lentils I've got hanging around. Whatever you use, just be sure to go with two 14 or 15 ounce cans, or about 3 and ¾ cups.
- Don't feel like regular old sloppy Joe sandwiches? Switch things up and stuff the filling into a sweet potato or use it to top some fries or a vegan hot dog — store bought or homemade, like my carrot dogs, portobello dogs or marinated tofu franks.
More Easy Vegan Dinners
- Sweet & Sour Tofu
- Creamy Coconut Mac & Cheese with Broccoli
- Easy Teriyaki Noodles
- Vegan Hamburger Helper
- Easy Sweet Potato Curry
Video!
Check out my video for extra guidance on how to make these vegan sloppy Joes!
Like this recipe? If so, be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter. And please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you make it!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 bell pepper, any color, diced
- 1 medium carrot, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 (14 ounce or 400 gram) cans beans, drained and rinsed, OR 3 ¾ cups precooked beans, whatever variety you've got (see note!)
- ¾ to 1 cup water
- â…“ cup tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar or turbinado or coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
For Serving
- 5 burger buns, toasted
- Onion slices, optional (I sautéed mine)
- Dill pickle slices, optional
Instructions
- Coat the bottom of a medium saucepan with oil and place it over medium heat.
- Add the onion, pepper, carrot and garlic. Sweat the veggies for about 5 minutes, until the carrots and peppers begin to soften and the onions are very tender and translucent.
- Stir in the beans, ¾ cup water, tomato paste, vinegar, Worchestersire sauce, soy sauce, sugar, liquid smoke and chili powder.
- Raise the heat and bring the liquid to a boil.
- Lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer, uncovered, until the sauce is very thick and the veggies are tender, 15 to 20 minutes, adding a bit more water if needed during cooking.
- Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Stuff buns with bean mixture. Top with dill pickle slices and onion slices. Serve.
Notes
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Great recipe, thank you! I made it with black eyed peas and pinto beans. I plan to have it over a baked potato. Yum!!
Oh, I added a little raw tomato to the sloppy joe salad.
As I'm trying to live as sustainably as I can (we have a no cook policy at lunchtimes), I made a vegan sloppy joe salad. Used a can of cooked organic lentils (I halved the recipe as I was making it for only myself and had only 1 bun) and left all other ingredients raw; (only used 1/2 to a 1tbs of tomato paste).
No cook, no shop, and DELICIOUS!!! Went really well with a few homemade zucchini pickles.
This looks delicious and I’m definitely going to make it with beans, as you suggest, but I’m wondering how it would come out with a pound of Beyond Beef. Any thoughts?
Sorry for the late response! I think it would work fine with Beyond Beef, or pretty much any ground beef substitute for that matter. The only thing you might want to adjust is the amount of soy sauce, since the salt/seasoning content of Beyond Beef probably differs a bit from canned beans. I'd leave it out initially, then add it to taste at the end, along with salt and pepper to taste. I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try it!
Thanks, Alissa—I will. I made it with cannellini beans last week. Delicious! I added ketchup on top—yum lol. I have such juvenile tastebuds.
I loved how easily this came together!
Glad to hear it!
Halved the recipe and made this with black beans today, and mashed them up. Served them in pita with lettuce and my husband added home grown cherry tomatoes and raved about it. He wants me to send this recipe to others as he loved it so much
Really enjoyed this recipe with my daughter. Used black eyed peas and cannellini beans. Great texture and can't wait to have again.
I never made vegan sloppy joe's can't wait to have them for dinner and I am only 9 but I love to cook it is my lifestyle .
Can I sub tomato sauce for the paste. Just don't have any on hand now
I wouldn't recommend it - part of what the paste does is help thicken the mixture. Tomato sauce is much more liquidy and will probably do the opposite.
This may be a stupid question, but can I use regular Manwich sloppy joe mix to make these? I am going to use kidney beans (canned). I also intend to mash the beans up a bit, as I’ve read a few people claiming that it creates more of a sloppy joe texture. Also, I might decide to make this into a pasta.....would that work? Manwich sauce, kidney beans (canned) and pasta? Would I need to add anything else? I’m really low on funds, and I have 2 cans of manwich and 4 cans of kidney beans & a box of pasta 😂
I've never used Manwich mix, but I really can't see why it wouldn't work! And I think mashing some of the beans is a great idea. I think it would be great over pasta too! Enjoy!
This was so hearty and flavorful! I made quinoa and put it all in a wrap. Thank you for the recipe! It’s a keeper!
I love the wrap idea! Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much Deb!
Great recipe. I like to take a potato smasher to the beans so that it has a more sloppy joe texture. I think this helps the non-vegatarians to enjoy it!
Great idea! I'm glad you like it!
So delicious!!! I cannot stop eating it...thanks for sharing this goodness 😊😊😊😊😊
Yay!! Glad you like it!
This was so incredibly delicious. Thank you for a new favorite family recipe!
Two things:
1. It was even better after it sat for a couple of hours and then was reheated. The flavors really set in.
2. We added a jalapeño to it. Minced. Whoa, yummy!
Yum! I love the idea of an extra spicy version! Glad you enjoyed them!
I'm very excited about Veggie Sloppy Joes. If you use lentils I assume you cook them first? How much would you use?
Yup, you'll want the lentils to be precooked, and you can use 3 3/4 cups. I hope you enjoy!