Biscuit-Topped Sloppy Joe Casserole
Sloppy joe casserole with a from-scratch beef filling, sharp cheddar, and a golden biscuit topping. An easy 9×13 dinner ready in about an hour.
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Sloppy Joe Casserole is the answer to the part of sloppy joes nobody loves. The bun that dissolves halfway through dinner. Seasoned ground beef simmers down into a thick, tangy tomato filling, gets covered in sharp cheddar, and then bakes under a layer of biscuit pieces that puff up golden on top and stay soft underneath. You scoop it out with a big spoon and the bread stays where it belongs.
The filling has to be thicker than you’d make it for sandwiches. That’s the whole trick. Simmer it until a spoon dragged through the pan leaves a track that doesn’t fill back in. A loose filling steams the biscuits from below and you end up with raw dough hiding under a browned top, which is the single most common way this casserole goes wrong.
I make the sauce from scratch rather than opening a can. It takes about four extra minutes: ketchup, tomato paste, brown sugar, mustard, and Worcestershire. You get to decide how sweet it goes, which matters, because canned sloppy joe sauce is aimed squarely at kids and reads like candy to most adults. The whole casserole is on the table in about an hour.
Why You’ll Love This Sloppy Joe Casserole Recipe
- No soggy bun. The biscuit topping bakes over the filling instead of sitting under it, so it stays fluffy and golden.
- A sauce you control. Ketchup, brown sugar, mustard, and Worcestershire from scratch let you dial the sweetness where your family likes it.
- Cheap and filling. A pound and a half of ground beef and a can of biscuits feed eight people for a few dollars a plate.
- Kids clean the pan. Sweet-tangy beef, melted cheddar, and warm biscuit is about as easy a sell as dinner gets.
Sloppy Joe Casserole Ingredients
Use 85/15 ground beef rather than something leaner. Ninety-three percent lean beef turns dry and crumbly once it simmers in the sauce, and since you drain the grease off after browning anyway, the extra fat mostly does its job and leaves.
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef (85/15)
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar, divided
- 1 (16.3 oz) can refrigerated biscuits (8 count), each quartered
Recipe Variations
- Use ground turkey in place of the beef; cook it to 165°F since it’s poultry, and add a tablespoon of olive oil to the pan since turkey renders almost no fat.
- Swap the canned biscuits for a batch of cornbread batter poured over the top, and bake 25-30 minutes at 400°F until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Stir a drained 15 oz can of corn or black beans into the filling to stretch it further and add some texture.
How to Make Sloppy Joe Casserole
- Heat the oven: Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Brown the beef and vegetables: In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef with the onion and bell pepper for 7-9 minutes, breaking the meat apart as it cooks, until no pink remains and a thermometer reads 160°F. Drain off the grease and return the pan to the heat.
- Bloom the garlic and tomato paste: Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, until the paste darkens slightly and smells sweet instead of raw.
- Build the sloppy joe sauce: Add the ketchup, beef broth, brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, salt, and black pepper. Stir until everything is combined.
- Simmer it thick: Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring now and then, until a spoon dragged across the bottom of the pan leaves a track that holds for a second before filling back in. Taste and add another spoonful of brown sugar if you want it sweeter.
- Fill the dish: Spread the beef mixture evenly in the prepared baking dish and scatter 1 cup of the cheddar over the top.
- Top with biscuits and bake: Quarter the biscuits and arrange them in an even layer over the cheese right before the dish goes in the oven, not while the filling cools. Bake at 400°F for 22-28 minutes, until the biscuits are puffed and golden and cooked through in the center. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup cheddar over the top in the last 5 minutes and return it to the oven to melt.
- Rest and serve: Let the sloppy joe casserole stand for 5 minutes before scooping so the filling settles instead of running across the plate.
Recipe FAQs
Why Are My Biscuits Doughy on the Bottom?
The filling was too loose or the biscuits sat on it too long before baking. Simmer the beef mixture until it mounds on a spoon, and put the biscuits on right as the dish goes into the oven.
Can I Use Canned Sloppy Joe Sauce Instead?
Yes, one 15 oz can replaces the ketchup, broth, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire, and chili powder. It’s sweeter than the from-scratch version and you lose the ability to adjust it, but it saves about 5 minutes.
Can I Make This Sloppy Joe Casserole Ahead?
Make the filling up to 2 days ahead and refrigerate it. Reheat it on the stove until it’s hot and bubbling, spread it in the dish, then add cheese and biscuits and bake. Cold filling under raw biscuits is the one shortcut that doesn’t work.
What Size Baking Dish Should I Use?
A 9×13-inch dish fits this amount and gives you a single layer of biscuits with a little room between them. An 8×8 works if you halve everything, and the bake time stays about the same.
Can I Use Homemade Biscuit Dough?
Yes. Drop tablespoon-sized rounds of your favorite biscuit dough over the filling and bake at 400°F for 20-25 minutes, checking the underside of one in the middle before you pull the dish.
Cooking Tips
- Drain the grease after browning the beef, even the 85/15. Fat left in the pan floats to the top under the biscuits and makes the bottoms greasy.
- Quarter the biscuits instead of laying them on whole. Smaller pieces bake through evenly and give you more golden edges per serving.
- If the tops brown before the middles are done, tent the dish loosely with foil and give it another 5-8 minutes. Biscuit topping needs the full time, and pulling early is how you get gummy centers.
Storage and Freezing
To store: Cover and refrigerate for up to 4 days. The biscuits soften in the fridge but firm back up in the oven.
To freeze: Freeze the beef filling on its own for up to 3 months and bake it fresh with cheese and biscuits later. A fully baked casserole can be frozen too, though the biscuits come back noticeably denser.
To reheat: Cover with foil and warm at 350°F for 15-20 minutes. The microwave works for single portions but turns the biscuit rubbery, so the oven is worth the wait.
How to Serve Sloppy Joe Casserole
Sloppy Joe Casserole is heavy enough that something crisp alongside helps: a bag salad with ranch, dill pickle spears, or crunchy coleslaw all do the job. Corn on the cob or oven fries turn it into full ballpark-night dinner. If your crew still wants the handheld version, our Sloppy Joes recipe covers that. This is one of the recipes in our August dinner collection, and more budget-friendly ground beef casseroles like it are on the way.
Loved This Recipe?
Sloppy Joe Casserole keeps everything good about the sandwich and swaps the falling-apart bun for a golden biscuit top.
Leave a star rating in the comments below, it helps other people find this recipe. Made it? Tag @allwellfed on Instagram, I love seeing this one in other people’s kitchens.
Biscuit-Topped Sloppy Joe Casserole
Equipment
- Instant-Read Thermometer 160°F, checked in two spots rather than one.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef 85/15
- 1 yellow onion diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup beef broth
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp yellow mustard
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar divided
- 1 (16.3 oz) can refrigerated biscuits 8 count, each quartered
Instructions
- Heat the oven: Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Brown the beef and vegetables: In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the ground beef with the onion and bell pepper for 7-9 minutes, breaking the meat apart as it cooks, until no pink remains and a thermometer reads 160°F. Drain off the grease and return the pan to the heat.
- Bloom the garlic and tomato paste: Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, until the paste darkens slightly and smells sweet instead of raw.
- Build the sloppy joe sauce: Add the ketchup, beef broth, brown sugar, yellow mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, salt, and black pepper. Stir until everything is combined.
- Simmer it thick: Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring now and then, until a spoon dragged across the bottom of the pan leaves a track that holds for a second before filling back in. Taste and add another spoonful of brown sugar if you want it sweeter.
- Fill the dish: Spread the beef mixture evenly in the prepared baking dish and scatter 1 cup of the cheddar over the top.
- Top with biscuits and bake: Quarter the biscuits and arrange them in an even layer over the cheese right before the dish goes in the oven, not while the filling cools. Bake at 400°F for 22-28 minutes, until the biscuits are puffed and golden and cooked through in the center. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup cheddar over the top in the last 5 minutes and return it to the oven to melt.
- Rest and serve: Let the sloppy joe casserole stand for 5 minutes before scooping so the filling settles instead of running across the plate.
Notes
If you made this, leave a star rating down in the comments. It takes about ten seconds, and it’s how other cooks decide whether a recipe is worth trying.
