Sloppy Joe Pasta Bake

Years ago, I adapted a sloppy joe recipe that I found in a newspaper to work with ground turkey. Later on I  swapped some ingredients for the low carb versions. This has become my family's favorite recipe for sloppy joes.

Of course this dish isn't low carb with the pasta added to it. I ate the filling in a green pepper. (I'll post it a little later.)

Since I'm trying to use up what stock I have at home this week, I didn't want to run out to buy buns and then a side dish to go along with the sloppy joes. (sound like I'm being cheap, huh?) Instead, I put it together with rigatoni and created a pasta casserole. My family ate it up like crazy....even my picky daughter.

Here's my original sloppy joe recipe, along with my low carb changes in bold.

Sloppy Joe Pasta Bake

olive oil

1/2c. celery, sliced (I omitted)

1/2c. onion, chopped

1/2c. red & green peppers,
chopped (I now use all green to
save $$)

2c. ground turkey, browned - I used 1 lb hamburger & 1 lb ground turkey because that's what I had here

1c. ketchup - I used low sugar Heinz Ketchup. It's sweetened with Sucralose and low carb
3 Tbs. white vinegar

1Tbs. brown sugar, packed - I used Splenda Brown Sugar Blend - check this, I thought that it was sweet enough with only 1 tsp of brown sugar. Sweeten to your liking

1/2 tsp dry mustard-this is needed
but I did use regular spicy brown
mustard in a pinch and it worked
fine - I've come to find that I like regular yellow mustard with this now

1/2 C. water

8 hamburger buns - I subbed one pound of cooked rigatoni this time

2 C. shredded cheddar cheese


Cook rigatoni. Rinse and keep warm.

Brown the hamburger, turkey, onions & peppers; drain very well. Return the mixture to the frying pan. Stir in ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar and mustard. Cook for 5 minutes to blend flavors. Add water, then heat through.

Pour rigatoni into a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Sprinkle 1 C. of cheddar cheese on top of the rigatoni. Pour the sloppy joe mixture into the casserole dish. Mix thoroughly. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Broil in oven long enough to lightly brown the cheese.