This sandwich gets most of its flavor by cooking low and slow in the slow cooker. Ground beef is cooked in a skillet with green pepper, celery, onion and garlic. The meat mixture is drained and added to a slow cooker. A sauce is made with tomato sauce, lemon lime soda, ketchup, mustard, cumin, Worcestershire, salt, oregano, black pepper and apple cider vinegar. Whisked sauce ingredients are poured over the meat mixture. After stirring everything together, the meat and sauce cook for several hours. To serve this yummy sandwich, tender saucy meat is spooned on hamburger buns. This homemade version of a Sloppy Joe will beat any canned version you’ve had.
I used more than 1 cup of tomato sauce. The can I purchased had about 1 ½ cups in it and halfway through cooking I added the extra ½ cup to keep the meat from drying out. You can substitute Italian seasoning for the oregano, if you don’t want the stronger oregano flavor. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a bowl first, and then pour over the meat mixture.