Slow Cooker Pizza Sloppy Joe Sliders (An Easy Crowd Pleaser)

These Slow Cooker Pizza Sloppy Joe Sliders are everything you love about pizza and sloppy Joes combined. They start with savory ground meat, which cooks low and slow in a rich, seasoned tomato sauce. Next, they are piled onto slider rolls and loaded with cheese and your favorite pizza toppings for a fun, messy treat.

Three golden brown buns filled with ground meat, cheese, and pepperoni sit on a wooden board, filling spilling out the sides.

Recipe at a glance (TL;DR)

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 4 hours on low
Why it's effortless: Minimal prep, no cutting involved, no babysitting
Servings: 6
Best for: Potlucks, game-day, feeding a crowd, busy weeknights.

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📝Ingredient shopping list
Can you cook ground meat in a slow cooker without browning it first?
Step-by-step Photos
Serving ideas
How to store and reheat leftovers
Good to Know
More amazing slow cooker sloppy Joe recipes:
📖 Recipe

Why you'll love this sloppy Joe recipe

Easy, hands-free cooking ~Just add the ground meat and sauce ingredients to your slow cooker and let it do the work. No precooking required.
Perfect for feeding a crowd ~ You can easily double or triple this recipe with almost no extra work.
Perfect for meal prep and leftovers ~ Make a big batch and eat it all week on slider buns, with chips, or in bowls with rice and veggies.
Flexible ~ works with turkey or beef

📝Ingredient shopping list

Following are the ingredients you'll need to make this slow cooker potato & spinach frittata. Full quantities and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this page

Ingredients for Slow Cooker Pizza Sliders-rolls, ground meat, seasonings, sauce, onions, mushrooms, sausage-arranged on white.

Protein

Ground Turkey ~ or extra lean ground beef.
Cooked Sausage Crumbles ~ I use turkey, but any will do, as long as they are cooked

Produce

Onion ~ to save tears, I buy it already cut.
Optional toppings ~ Mushrooms, green peppers, etc

Bakery

Slider buns

Pantry Items

Pizza sauce ~ or marinara sauce, if you prefer
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Onion powder

Deli

Mozzarella cheese ~ shredded
Pepperoni ~ I use turkey pepperoni

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Technique

Can you cook ground meat in a slow cooker without browning it first?

This recipe is great with both ground turkey or ground beef. Both can cook directly in the slow cooker without browning first, as long as you make a few simple accommodations:

Ground Turkey

For the best consistency, ground turkey should be gently broken apart into natural-looking pieces when it is placed in the slow cooker. A rubber spatula or silicone fork is great for this.

Once it is broken apart, you can gently stir it together with the other ingredients.

Pro tip

The secret to slow-cooking ground turkey

You mustn't overwork the turkey. If it gets mushy while you are stirring it, it will cook mushy and give you a mushy finished product.

Ground Beef

Ground beef can be fatty. If you plan to cook it directly in the sauce in your slow cooker, purchase the leanest ground beef you can find. 96% lean or leaner works best. If your beef is less than 93% lean, I recommend cooking it on the stovetop first to avoid a greasy sauce.

Pro tip

Important ground beef info

Some people prefer the consistency of ground beef that is browned first. If this is the case, you can brown it on the stovetop before adding it to your slow cooker.

Preparing your slow cooker

Lightly coat your slow cooker with a non-stick spray, oil, or butter before cooking
Avocado oil and olive oil are both great choices for this recipe
Use a slow cooker liner for the easiest cleanup (always an optional step)

Step-by-step Photos

Inside a slow cooker, ground turkey, sausage crumbles ad seasonings are covered in tomato sauce, ready to cook as Slow Cooker Pizza Sliders.

To a greased slow cooker, add all ingredients other than cheese, toppings, and rolls.

A slow cooker filled with chunky ground meat, tomato sauce, showing a red mixture with visible pieces of meat and sausage.

Stir to combine carefully. If you are using ground turkey, do not overwork the turkey. You want to see pieces of the mince.

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A wooden spoon lifts cheesy ground meat in tomato sauce from a black pot, with melted cheese stretching-made for pizza sliders.

After cooking, stir in the cheese and allow it to melt.

An open-faced Slow Cooker Pizza Slider with toppings rests on parchment; the top half of the bread sits nearby on a wooden surface.

Cut apart your rolls and build your sliders!

If you love this recipe...

Please let me know in the comment section below!

Serving ideas

Pizza Sloppy Joe meat is great on soft slider rolls. Cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, and black olive slices are our favorite toppings. Feel free to get creative and use any topping you love on pizza.

This ground meat dish is a great meal prep dish. Make a big pot for the week and serve:

On top of a baked potato or pasta
In a bowl with rice and steamed vegetables
Tucked into a calzone-style wrap
With chips for scooping.

How to store and reheat leftovers

Refrigerate leftover sloppy Joe meat in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Freeze for up to 3 months in a freezer-friendly container or zipper bag.
Allow frozen leftovers to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then gently reheat in the microwave.
Do not store leftovers assembled in buns. No one likes soggy buns 😉
Do not over-microwave. This will cause the meat to become dry and rubbery.

A black plastic container with its lid partly open holds leftover saucy cooked ground meat for Slow Cooker Pizza Sliders on a wooden table.

Good to Know

Can I use frozen meat for this recipe?

Yes, but food safety guidelines recommend allowing it to fully defrost before adding to your slow cooker.

Can I make this dish the day before?

Yes! Pizza Sloppy Joe filling can be cooked in advance and stored in the refrigerator. Gently reheat and assemble sliders right before you are ready to serve them.

Can I slow-cook ground meat without browning it first?

Yes, you definitely can. To reduce the amount of grease in your finished recipe, use the leanest ground beef you can find.

What sauce is best for this recipe?

Pizza sauce would seem like the obvious answer here - and it can be! I find pizza sauce a little sweet with this recipe, so I prefer to use my favorite marinara. However, it will give the most authentic pizza taste.

How can I avoid soggy buns with my pizza sloppy Joe sandwich?

Lightly toasting the insides of the rolls before assembling the sandwiches will help to keep the bread from getting overly soggy. This is a great step if you know the sliders will be sitting for a bit before they are devoured.

Can I make this for a crowd?

This dish is perfect for potlucks, picnics, team dinners, and more. Just multiply the ingredients by the same factor. The total cooking time will not change, just make sure the innermost section of the food reaches a safe-to-serve temperature (165f for ground turkey and 145f for ground beef)
.Assume 2-3 sliders per person.