I've been using this recipe as the starting point for (vegetarian) homemade sloppy joe's for years now. Making this recipe vegetarian is easy, cuts out most of the fat, and no one has ever been able to tell it's vegetarian until I tell them. Also, not having to brown the ground beef cuts out a step; I make this recipe in about 20 minutes including prep. Changes I make: sauté 1/2 of a chopped onion (any kind will do) using non-stick spray, add 1 chopped bell pepper (any color will do), replace 1 pound ground beef with 1 package of meatless meat, skip the Worcestershire sauce (to keep it vegetarian), and use whatever type of vinegar I feel like using that day (usually cider or white balsamic). Everything else stays roughly the same. Roughly because I don't actually measure anything when making this. I eyeball the amounts listed, mix it all up, taste it, add more of whatever needs to be added. It's great on onion buns, Kaiser rolls, or whole wheat buns as well.

Reviewed On: Jul. 2, 2012

Making just a few changes to accommodate the vegetarian in my house and to tweak to our taste, this soup was easy to make and had a very nice balance of flavors. Changes: I used low sodium vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, increased cinnamon from 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp, added ~ 1/2 tsp each salt & fresh ground pepper, and added ~ 2 tsp sugar. Easy and tasty, but makes WAY more than 4 servings. It also does make a thicker soup, but the thickness fit the richness of the spices. The warm flavor was great for a chilly night and was soothing for the cold I had when I made it. Great recipe!

Reviewed On: Dec. 12, 2008

So easy and so good! I added some white cheddar and onion powder as others suggested and added double the dried chives and garlic powder. I also used reduced fat cream cheese and replaced the mayo with nonfat plain yogurt to try cut calories.

Reviewed On: Oct. 4, 2008