Give Breakfast Sandwiches A Saucy Flavor Boost With One Old-School Filling

It's hard to go wrong with the standard breakfast sandwich of egg, sausage, and cheese. It's also delightfully easy to substitute or add ingredients to fit your early-morning cravings, such as topping your sandwich with bacon, adding sliced avocado, or whisking herbs into your eggs. When you're in the mood for something more filling and savory, turn your breakfast sandwich into a remixed take on a sloppy Joe. Sloppy Joes only take about 30 minutes to make, including prep time, so you can whip this variation up on a weekday or save it for the weekend to truly sit down and savor your hard work.

The origins of the sloppy Joe are difficult to confirm, but it's been a beloved old-school sandwich for generations, and it's easy to see why. The basic ingredients for a sloppy Joe are ground beef, green bell pepper, onion, garlic, ketchup, mustard, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and brown sugar. You can experiment with other spices and sauces by adding vinegar, paprika, cumin, chili powder, or hot sauce. Exchange the beef for ground turkey or chicken if you prefer poultry. It only takes a few minutes to brown the ground meat and soften the vegetables, with the rest of the time devoted to simmering the sauce and letting it thicken. Once you finish your saucy sloppy Joe filling, you can start getting creative.

After you have the meat squared away, you can't forget the other two essentials: eggs and cheese. Melt the cheese into the filling to get cheesiness in every bite, or top the ground meat with a slice of American or Swiss. Beer cheese or nacho cheese are good contenders if you decide to mix your cheese directly into the meat. Both options add smooth creaminess and cheesy flavor.

Toward the end of cooking your sloppy Joe filling, fry up an egg. You could even go one step further and make sandwich-shaped scrambled eggs. Add the eggs on top of the meat and cheese, and you have an alternative take on a breakfast sandwich. The usual sloppy Joe hamburger buns work for this recipe, and it helps to know the best and worst bun brands at the grocery store. Toasting your bread lets it stay intact under the meat filling, especially if you choose white bread. Or, keep to breakfast sandwich tradition with an English muffin.

The quintessential sloppy Joe is simple in its ingredients and presentation, so there's no need to load up on toppings or incorporate lots of extra add-ins into the filling. This also makes it quicker to assemble. To make this breakfast sandwich even easier to prepare in the morning, cook the meat filling the night before and reheat it on the stove or in the microwave. You'll have a hot, filling meal in just a few minutes.