Sloppy Joes go Hawaiian! These Hawaiian Sloppy Joes are made with ground pork, bacon, pineapple and a sweet and savory sauce that will transport you to the tropics.
I love recipes with a Hawaiian twist, like this Hawaiian One Pan Pasta or this Hawaiian Chicken with Ham and Pineapple.
It seems like this time of year, everything is go-go-go. Especially this week before Christmas, with everyone rushing with their last minute purchases and get togethers. So not surprisingly, dinner often gets put on the back-burner, and I think we tend to hit the drive thru more often. But really, why settle for the drive thru when you can have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes??
I love that you can take something as simple as the sloppy joe and put a fun twist on it. In fact, This recipe is one of those spins – taking a sloppy joe and giving it a Hawaiian spin, turning it into these Hawaiian Sloppy Joes.
Ingredients
- Bacon: I like to use a regular cut bacon, but thick cut would work, as well.
- Pork: I don’t always love ground pork because it dries out so easily, but it works really well in this recipe.
- Onion: A sweet onion is your best choice here, followed by a yellow onion.
- Garlic: I prefer freshly minced garlic.
- Tomato Sauce: You’ll want to use a regular tomato sauce – not one with any spices or seasonings in it.
- Brown Sugar: You can use either light brown or dark brown, but I prefer light brown sugar.
- Red Wine Vinegar: If you don’t have red wine vinegar, you can sub in white wine vinegar. If you don’t have either, you can use apple cider vinegar, but you’ll want to cut back on the amount just a bit.
- Worcestershire Sauce: This adds a lot of depth to the sauce.
- Pineapple: I like fresh pineapple for this recipe. But if you are using canned pineapple, you’ll want to cut it into smaller pieces.
- Buns: If you have the time, these are great on homemade hamburger buns, but any store bought buns will work as well.
- Cheese: I like to use grated Cheddar cheese.
How to Make Hawaiian Sloppy Joes
- Dice the bacon and cook it in a skillet until it is crispy. Remove it from the skillet.
- Add the garlic to the skillet with the bacon grease and cook it, breaking the pork up as it cooks. Then add the garlic and onion and cook until they are tender.
- While the pork is cooking, combine the tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and worcestershire sauce in a bowl and stir them to combine. When the pork is cooked, pour the mixture into the skillet. Cook it all together until slightly thickened.
- Add the pineapple and the cooked bacon to the mixture and cook just to warm it all through.
- Serve the pork mixture on buns, topped with cheese.
More Sloppy Joe Recipes
Buffalo Sloppy Joes
Enchilada Sloppy Joe Recipe
Sloppy Tex-Mex Sloppy Joes
Chicken Sloppy Joes
Turkey Sloppy Joes
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Hawaiian Sloppy Joes
Ingredients
- 1/4 lb bacon diced
- 1 1/2 lbs ground pork
- 1 sweet onion finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 cup chopped pineapple
- salt and pepper
- 4 hamburger buns
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp. Remove to a paper towel lined plate with a slotted spoon.
- Return the pan with the bacon grease to the heat. Add the pork and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until it is browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and continue to cook until soft, another 5 minutes.
- While the pork and onions are cooking, combine the tomato sauce, brown sugar, red wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Once the onions are cooked, pour the mixture into the pan with the pork and onions and cook until it reaches your desired consistency. Stir in the pineapple and the bacon. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Split the hamburger buns open and toast them in a toaster or under the broiler.
- To serve, place the bun bottom on a plate and place a scoop of the Hula Joe mixture on top. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the cheese and top with the bun top.
Britni says
Do you think this burger would taste good with ground turkey? 🦃
Deborah says
I think it would! I think turkey doesn’t have quite as much flavor as the pork, but with the sauce, I think it would still be great.
Food, Faith, and Other Fabulous Finds says
These were surprisingly delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Deborah says
I’m so glad you liked them. Thank you!!
Lubna Naz says
Wow these were perfect and yummy too. Thanks for sharing.
Sophie says
Lol I can see where he’d get that title, but I honestly don’t think I could come up with something this tasty! I’m all for quick healthy meals that put fast food to shame, looks tasty with those fries!
kamailesfood says
Sounds pretty tasty! I’ll have to give them a try.
Dawn says
I think I would like my sloppy joe this way much better. I love a good hawaiian pizza too.
This is really tempting, even at 10am! lol
Mary says
How funny! I saw the show when she made these and I was curious if they tasted good! Maybe I’ll give them a try!
Emily says
Love it! I think these would be delicious.
I like watching Rachael’s 30 Minute Meals, but I’m not a fan of her travel shows.
Is her daytime good? It must be pretty good.
Aimée says
I think I’ve overloaded on cookies b/c as soon as I saw your post I exhaled in the most greedy way. I want this!! Time for salt in my diet…and fries! 🙂