Crock Pot Veggie Loaded Sloppy Joes

This is a super easy, hands off recipe that we really enjoyed recently. The sloppy joe flavor is very versatile as well - it makes for a delicious loose meat sandwich, potato topper, loaded french fries or totchos, mixed into ramen noodles, etc.!

Because this cooks fully in the crock pot, the meat texture is very soft, especially since half of the mixture is shredded veggies as well. It has a mildly sweet, slightly chili flavor profile that you can tweak however you prefer, based on what you want to use the mixture for.  I love how full of veggies this recipe is, and how easy it was to use the mix in so many ways! It would also freeze well if you want to use half now and save half for another day.

I used my food processor with the grater blade to shred all of the veggies which made very quick work of that portion of the prep.

Crock Pot Veggie Loaded Sloppy Joes

Ingredients
2 lbs lean ground beef
1 large onion, grated or diced small
2 small zucchini, trimmed and grated
2 small yellow squash, trimmed and grated
1 cup water
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
1 6-oz can tomato paste
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon spicy brown mustard
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons salt, more to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, more to taste

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in the crock pot, stir to blend as much as possible. Cover and cook on high 4 hours. Stir, and check. Cook another 2-3 hours on high as needed until cooked through. If there is an excess of liquid, remove lid to simmer off some of the liquid during the last 30 minutes.
2. Taste, adjust seasonings and serve as desired!