Turkey Sloppy Joe (Crock Pot Italian Style)
Turkey sausage, peppers and onions slow cooked in the crock pot with crushed tomatoes and spices for an easy weeknight meal. Serve this on a roll with baby spinach and melted cheese if desired for a sloppy yet delicious sandwich.
Turkey sausage, peppers and onions slow cooked in the crock pot with crushed tomatoes and spices for an easy weeknight meal. Serve this on a roll with baby spinach and melted cheese if desired for a sloppy yet delicious sandwich.
- Carbohydrate 11.4905550231667 g
- Cholesterol 56.69904625 mg
- Fat 6.51672258266667 g
- Fiber 2.89692663421233 g
- Protein 16.4684770538333 g
- Saturated Fat 1.55417170385 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (227g)
- Sodium 581.521925683334 mg
- Sugar 8.59362838895433 g
- Trans Fat 0.97717652265 g
- Calories 167 calories
Step-by-step
- In a medium non-stick skillet, cook the sausage over medium-high heat, breaking up as it cooks into small bits until cooked through, about 5-6 minutes.
- Add onions and garlic, and cook another 2 minutes.
- Transfer to the slow cooker and add the bell peppers, crushed tomatoes, rosemary and fresh cracked pepper.
- Cover and cook on low 4 hours.
- Makes 3 1/2 cups.
- To serve, place heaping 1/2 cup of meat on a roll and if desired, top with cheese and baby spinach.
Swapping canned crushed tomatoes for fresh, ripe plum tomatoes yields a thinner sauce that requires an extra thirty minutes of uncovered slow cooker reduction to concentrate the starches and natural sugars properly. When raw Italian turkey sausage is removed from its casing and browned in a skillet over medium-high heat for five to six minutes, the Maillard reaction creates complex pyrazines and savory amino acids that provide depth before the slow cooking even begins. Because poultry fat contains higher proportions of unsaturated fatty acids than beef, pre-cooking the meat and draining excess oils ensures the final mixture achieves a clinging, spoonable consistency rather than pooling at the bottom of the basin.
Fresh Versus Preserved Components
Using raw bell peppers cut into exact half-inch pieces introduces distinct structural integrity compared to jarred roasted peppers, yielding a crisp-tender resistance after four hours on low heat. Fresh garlic minced directly from cloves releases sulfur compounds like alliinase when cell walls rupture, whereas jarred minced garlic lacks this volatile punch due to pasteurization. Dried rosemary crushed between the palms releases trapped essential oils such as rosmarinic acid, distributing herbal fragrance evenly throughout the crushed tomatoes.
Chemical Interaction and Reduction
Acidic compounds from the tomatoes break down proteins in the turkey sausage over the four-hour cooking window, tenderizing the meat fibers while drawing out natural umami flavors. Maintaining a consistent low temperature prevents the crushed tomatoes from scorching on the edges of the crock pot insert while allowing the moisture released from the chopped onions and bell peppers to integrate seamlessly into the sauce.
