Sloppy Joe Pie--Secret Recipe Club

This month for Secret Recipe Club, I had a fun little blog called Cheese Curd in Paradise. There was a bunch of stuff that looked good, and I pinned a few, but truthfully I knew what I wanted to make all along. As soon as I read the idea of a Sloppy Joe in pie form, I was on it. And I did not look back. It was delicious. And it can be made in, like, 10 minutes (plus bake time). Or you can pull out your crazy hat (just a little crazy, but you're adding some time to your recipe) and make it from scratch if you'd like (both methods will be covered below). Honestly, I would be glad to have found this blog just for this recipe. Because, I mean, the one problem with sloppy joes is that they're just so...sloppy. You put them on the bun and sure they're good, but they drip all out and you end up having to eat it with a fork anyway, and maybe you wish you'd just cut your burger up in the first place. This pie--it brings all the comfort food and eliminates the middle step of squeezing sloppy joe filling out onto your new shirt. You just go straight from pan to fork. Loved it.

Some notes:
-Ashley made this gluten-free simply by using gluten-free Bisquick
-I made this from scratch by using this recipe for homemade Bisquick. And a riff off of this recipe for homemade sloppy joes (basically a little sugar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, tomato sauce, and tomato paste). It was super delicious, but it seriously added a good 30 minutes to my prep time. If I had to do it again, I'd do it if I already had my homemade Bisquick all made and a leisurely dinner schedule. I would NOT make it from scratch if I had to get my husband out the door at 5:25 sharp and was about to go crazy--then I'd be dumping that sloppy joe sauce in and feeling pretty good about it too.

Sloppy Joe Pie
adapted from Cheese Curd in Paradise
Serves 4-6 (one pie pan)
Prep time: 15 minutes for the easy version; 30-40 minutes for the from-scratch version
Bake time: 30-60 minutes
Cost: $4.80 )that's $1.20/serving for a filling and fairly complete meal--yeah, I'm counting that tomato sauce in the sloppy joe as a vegetable; what about it)
meat: 3.00, onion: .20, sloppy joe sauce: 1.00, cheddar cheese: .75, Bisquick (not quite sure--totally guessing here): .50, eggs: .20, milk: .15

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (15.5 oz) sloppy joe sauce
1 C shredded Cheddar cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 C milk
1 C Bisquick
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper

Heat oven to 400.

In a large skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat, stirring, until beef is brown and broken up. Stir in sloppy joe sauce and cheese (oh my, it makes me feel all drool-y to think about again). Spoon this into an 8-inch square pan or a 9 or 10 inch pie pan (what I used).

Now, in a separate bowl, stir together the eggs, milk, Bisquick, garlic powder, and black pepper. I'd expected this to be kind of thick/lumpy like biscuit mix, but it wasn't--it was runnier--more like a thick pancake batter (and better that way, my friends, better). Pour this over the top of your beef mixture.

Bake for 30-60 minutes (why the big range? Ashley recommended 30 minutes, but ours was still super raw in the dough part at that point, so I ended up going another 20 minutes at least--again--just trying to prepare you if the husband, or anyone else, has to be out the door at a certain time). The top should be golden brown and if you stick a fork in the Bisquick part it should come out clean.

Allow to cool for a few minutes if you want and serve. If you serve it hot, it's going to be...wait for it...sloppy. You're not going to get a pretty slice like you see above. You're going to sort of scoop it onto your plate in a big glorious plop of tomato-y meat and carbohydrate (yum). That pretty slice in the picture above was from our leftovers the next day--after it had cooled and firmed up. Then it could be sliced and warmed in a tidy manner. However, sloppy first day or neater second day--it was delicious. Perfect meal, fabulous leftovers.

Thanks Ashley!

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