Korean Sloppy Joes with Bison and Black Beans

In our quest for meals that we both can enjoy, we came across a recipe for Korean beef sloppy Joes that looked pretty tasty.  We wanted something quick and easy, but also wanted something that was outside our regular rotation of quick meals.  This sloppy joe recipe ticked all of the required boxes:  fast, easy, the Beard gets meat, and I get a delicious bread.

Full disclosure:  in my 41 years on this earth, my only experiences with sloppy joes have been either canned Manwich (awful) or Adam Sandler (awesome).  I absolutely hate the taste of the Manwich.  It has a flavor that can only be described like green peppers and tomato soup had a threesome with a can of dog food.  Needless to say, I was a little apprehensive about this meal.

(Mind you, I love me some canned comfort foods.  I’m perfectly content to eat some Chef Boyardee Beefaroni or ravioli.  Dinty Moore beef stew is my perfect hangover food.)

Sloppy joes, slop sloppy joes

I had nothing to fear, because these sloppy joes turned out so, so good.  We changed a few things from the original recipe, but these sandwiches were utterly perfect for eating outside summer night.

The biggest change we made was the meat base.  The original recipe called for 1 ½ lbs of ground beef.  We intended on switching out the beef for the frozen pound of ground bison we already had on hand, thinking we’d just decrease the amount of sloppy joe sauce we made.  However, bison is leaner than beef.  As a result, volumetrically you’re not going to get as many servings out of the same weight of beef because you’re not going to have that fat in there to “beef things up”.

To make up for the difference in volume, and not wanting to have smaller sloppy joes, we added a can of black beans to the bison.  After draining, rinsing, and giving them a quick pulse or two in the food processor, we had a chunky textured, beefy batch of beans to add to the meat, giving us a whole lot of sloppy joe without adding a lot of extras.

The only other change we made to the recipe was eliminating the water.  We intended on just adding it until we achieved the right “sloppiness”, but we decided to leave the sauce on the thicker end of the spectrum.  With less liquid, we ended up with a sloppy joe that didn’t completely saturate our ciabatta rolls, but was still sloppy enough to require multiple napkins during the meal.

Some Extras

We chose different toppings for our sloppy joes, and both agreed they turned out delicious.  I whipped up a spicy mayo with some plain ol’ mayonnaise, sriracha, and cayenne pepper.  The Beard topped his sandwich with some sliced sharp cheddar, and I gave mine an extra squirt of sriracha and crumbled some bleu cheese on top.

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Korean Sloppy Joes

Korean Beef Sloppy Joes made with sweet and spicy flavors with a punch of garlic that’s a fun change from the classic sloppy joes.

Servings 4 sandwiches

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground bison
• 1 15oz can black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tsps sesame oil
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup hoisin
• 2 tbsps low sodium soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sriracha
• 2 green onions sliced thinly
• 4 ciabatta rolls
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Instructions

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a medium mixing bowl, mash the black beans with the implement of destruction of your choice – fork, potato masher, pastry cutter, etc.  Alternately, you could give it a couple of pulses in a food processor or a blender, but don’t go overboard, you want the beans to be chunky, not a paste.

2. In a large skillet, begin to brown your bison.  Break apart the meat as you go, but leave it crumbly.  Cook to medium done-ness, and add the beans.  Combine the meat and beans until evenly mixed.
   

3. Continue to cook your bison and beans until the meat is well browned (5-6 minutes).   Add in the garlic, sesame oil, ketchup, hoisin, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sriracha and stir together well.  You should have a mixture that’s about the texture of oatmeal – wet, but it will hold it’s shape on the bun for the most part.  If your mixture is too firm, you can add a water, a little bit at a time, until the sloppy joe’s are sloppy enough for your taste.

4. Toast the buns then spoon over the mixture and top with green onions.

Recipe Notes

Modified from the Korean Beef Sloppy Joe recipe at Dinner Then Dessert.

The Tart

The Tart likes to eat, cook, and bake things.  She eats to work out, and she works out to be able to eat.