Make your peace with Sloppy Joes. This is a just-right flavored, no guess, recipe for Perfect Sloppy Joes. Make these with ground beef, ground turkey, or a combo of half ground beef and half Italian Sausage. Delicious.
Is ground turkey healthier than ground beef? NO…at least not the way I’ve been buying it.
Over the last few weeks, I found myself picking up ground turkey for a couple of recipes. One for a lettuce wrap and then for my recipe for Sloppy Joes. Why ground turkey? Because I read an article that ground turkey is healthier than ground beef. The article billed ground turkey as a healthier option for Sloppy Joes. Here’s how the intro read “This recipe gives an all-time classic sandwich a healthy makeover. Lean ground turkey and lots of fresh veggies make these overstuffed, ultra-satisfying sloppy Joes a little lighter without sacrificing taste.“
When I was having leftovers the next day I started wondering about that statement. I didn’t want to dig through the trash to find the nutrition label on the package, so decided to do a comparison on a web site I found, Self Nutrition Data. It’s a great site that that provides easy reference for nutritional information on all foods, and once you register, you can side by side compare foods. Here’s what they tell me for ground turkey vs. ground beef. I compared how I shop and what I would buy, which is ground turkey that contains dark meat vs. 90-10 ground beef. To compare apples to apples, the only choice was to select one ounce, cooked. Let’s take a look.
Ground Turkey 90-10 Ground Beef
Lean ground beef is a better alternative to ground turkey, unless you pick up ground turkey breast instead. Nutrition from the Jennie-O site:
This turkey breast chart isn’t a direct weight comparison to the first charts. 112 grams is about 4 ounces. As suspected, ground turkey breast is a healthier choice than regular ground turkey and lean ground beef. And according to Self Nutrition Data, regular ground turkey is slightly higher in calories, fat and even cholesterol than 90-10 lean ground beef.
So what’s the most important thing I learned from all of this? It was how to take screen shots from a website and then save it as a jpg and insert it into a blog post. It was somewhat of a saga. 🙂 I’ve always been a label reader, but also learned that with so many different grind mixes from so many different sources, that meats can be a tricky comparison. Especially when the recipe only indicates “lean ground turkey” not specifically “extra lean ground turkey breast”.
I’ll keep buying 90-10 lean ground beef for Joes and 80-20 for burgers. But when looking for a healthier alternative, will spend the extra dollars for extra lean ground turkey breast rather than regular ground turkey… but then what about those potato chips? I suppose I could eat just one. 🙂
And I almost forgot about this recipe. Whether using beef or turkey, it’s a tasty Sloppy Joes Recipe.
Perfect Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup small yellow onion minced (about 1 ¼ )
- 1 small red or green bell pepper diced
- 1 stalk celery diced
- Coarse kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 pound ground turkey or lean ground beef
- 1 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes undrained
- 1-2 teaspoons dry mustard
- 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon catsup
- Dash hot sauce optional
- 4 hamburger buns toasted
Instructions
- Heat oil in a 12-inch frying pan over medium high. Add onion, bell pepper and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft and just beginning to brown, about 6 to 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add turkey or beef and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up lumps with a wooden spoon or spatula, until meat is no longer pink, about 6 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, mustard, brown sugar, Worcestershire Sauce, catsup and hot sauce and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture is thickened, tomatoes are starting to break down and everything is heated through, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Taste meat mixture, adjust seasonings and season with salt and pepper; divide among buns and serve.
Nutrition
Perfect Sloppy Joes Recipe …It’s what’s for Dinner.
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
Wow, thanks for the eye opening info! I just finished a batch of new recipes this week and one of them involved ground turkey. Shamefully I don’t think I’ve ever read the nutritional facts for ground turkey because all you hear about is how much better it is for you than ground beef. I feel like a bit of a fool because naively enough, I’ve blindly followed that without question. Thanks for pointing out that ground turkey breast is really the healthy alternative to ground beef, and that a lot of ground turkey might have more fat in it then we’re led to believe.
And of course thanks for sharing the tasty looking Sloppy Joe recipe too!
Thanks Trevor. I’ve done the same thing for years, grabbed turkey when I felt the need to save calories. I’m not much of a fan of ground turkey breast, so usually grab the plain ol ground. So nice of you to stop by and the comment. Love new visitors.
I am not a ground any kind of meat person! I know, I’m weird. I think it’s the texture! I will eat burgers and kebabs and meatballs, but loose meat, makes me shudder!
My family likes it though and I know they like Sloppy Joes even though I rarely make them! These look really good.
Your post had me chuckling 🙂
I’ve experimented with a couple of ground meat kebobs and loved them. And glad for that chuckle!
Hi Lea,this turkey joes looks scrumptious….learnt so much about a good nutrition site from this post….we keep on searching for nutrition labels for different kitchen staples and this site seems like just the right place,thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Thanks Kumar’s Kitchen. 🙂
Good job with the labels! Very interesting read indeed. We skip the ground beef in our house and go straight for bison. Bison is supposed to contain more protein but less fat, calories, and cholesterol than chicken, pork and beef! Plus, it’s delicious. -Michele
I’ve purchased bison many times. And should more. I always shy away from the cost for some dumb reason.
You said a mouthful! Researching food has left me eating organic or wild meat and sticking to a plant based diet much of the time. But every once in a while, we start craving red meat and just go for it. Glad to know my choice of beef was the better choice! Good info and congrats on the beautiful screen captures.
I wish I could be more like you. I eat too much meat, cheese and those darn potatoes.
I have heard that ground turkey. I always tend to look at the Calories from Fat part of the label. I love a good sloppy joe and always buy lean ground sirloin when I do make them since they are in a sauce anyway. Your recipe sounds delicious. Glad you learned how to take screen shots 🙂
Susan, I used to know how to do it on my PC but never took the time on a Mac. I was pretty darn proud of myself.
Unfortunately most people think G. T. Is healthier than beef. It’s usually higher in sodium and has additives to compensate for the blander taste. I want to buy my own little meat grinder and make fresh ground turkey at home!
It’s the additives I worry about. I have three grinders, I’d give you one if you lived close. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by and the comment.
I actually prefer the taste and texture of ground turkey in many cases, maybe because I’m just very used to it! I use turkey and beef in different recipes that I think seem to call for one or the other, but you are right that lean ground beef is just as healthy! Thanks for an interesting article 🙂
I’m with you on that texture. And also switch out meat for certain recipes. Thanks for stopping in and the comment Andi.
What a great post! I am glad to know that ONLY the turkey breast is a bit healthier. I personally don’t like the ground turkey breast but have preferred the ground turkey (dark meat included) when I have substituted for beef. ALL this time I even thought that the ground turkey was better for me. I am glad you opened my eyes. I prefer beef hands down. Angels are singing Lea Ann!!
Thanks Jaime, I’ve been thinking just like you.
Great detective work Lea Ann. I’ve bought ground turkey a couple of times and was aware there is a difference in whether it’s ground from breasts or dark meat. My husband isn’t fond of ground turkey, so I don’t use it very often anyway.
Sam
I really don’t use it very often either. Thanks Sam.
Good post, Lea Ann. Info that a lot of folks can use. I did stop eating beef a long time ago but I tend to be a ground chicken person more than a ground turkey girl. But I do love a good smoked turkey. And I love sloppy joe. Thanks!
I am a fan of ground chicken. I like to pick up a pound at Whole Foods for my favorite Dirty rice recipe.
Larry always tells it like it is, don’t he now?…. and my papa, who was a cattle man would’ve said something like – “eat more beef”.
Great to know…
Drick, I have an Uncle with a huge Cattle Ranch in Western Kansas …. he’d not like the looks of this one.
so interesting! i never thought ground lean beef can be healthier than turkey!
Thanks Sarah and Arkadi
I did my homework on ground turkey years ago, because beef just tastes so much better. Glad to see you put it in print (with sources) here. — My burger mix: 73/27. Not only is it good, the flames are pretty to look at. 😉 Good stuff, as usual, Lea Ann.
I’m with you and that taste factor Adam. And HA about those flames. I can just see the look on my butcher’s face if I ordered that one.
Interesting facts. I had no idea. Good sleuthing.
Thanks Debra
I’m not a big sloppy joe person but my guys love them. They always know that I’m going somewhere when they are on the menu. I always make mine with lean ground beef or bison. The nutritional information is very interesting. I think Jennie-O might be a bit disappointed that you let the cat out of the bag.
Well, Jennie-o is pretty much on the Turkey breast side. I couldn’t find they did anything but that. Not sure though.
Thanks for all of the facts, Lea Ann, I tend to buy ground turkey when my parents come to visit as my dad watches his cholesterol closely and turkey is better for him than ground beef. I guess there is more to it than calorie counting as you’ve shown. You know what I got out of your post? A craving for sloppy joes!!!
You’re welcome Holly. You would have laughed if you would have seen me trying to get all that on my blog.
I’ve never used ground poultry and now I know I won’t have to for health reasons – thanks for this.
Thanks Larry.
Great post, LA. Very educational. Frankly, I’m not happy that we have to work so hard to eat. So complicated, isn’t it. And nice job with inserting those labels…very impressive!
Thanks Nancy. 🙂
tysm for the article & recipe. I would say that for my family I would make two changes in the recipe or so. I would add way more veggies and we like our Untidy Samuels sweet & sour so would add a tablespoon more brown sugar and add an equal amount(2 Tbs.) of apple cider vinegar. As to your question about whether ground turkey is healthier than ground beef that would depend on the sources. I can not find organic free range ground turkey, but even Costco has organic ground beef. I also like there free range ground bison for recipes like this. With the way industrial turkey growers raise their turkeys and that includes Jennie O, their all natural is anything but. It is not all that safe to eat, for people that really care about where their food comes from. It MAY be lower in fat, but if you buy organic ground beef that is as low in fat, you are miles ahead of ground turkey. Thanks for the dinner menu idea, after 50 yrs of cooking meals I can always use ideas for a change, I tend to get into a same old thing rut now and again.
sorry about the improper use of their/there. I am old and the disk space is getting full and over crowded.
I’m with you, my standby Sloppy Joe recipe has vinegar and sugar. And lots of other ingredients. And thanks for your comment. Enjoyed it.