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The most popular item on the Maid-Rite menu, these Loose Meat Sandwiches taste as good as the Iowa-famous diner classic. This easy ground beef recipe cooks in just 10 minutes!
Not quite as sloppy as a sloppy Joe, but still firmly in the category of “messy,” a Loose Meat Sandwich is the ultimate, all-American road food feast. If you’ve ever been lucky enough to try one at Tastee, Maid-Rite in Muscatine, Iowa, or even at Canteen Lunch in the Alley, you already know what all the fuss is about. If not, well then consider this recipe the next best thing.
Depending on where you are in the Midwest, the sandwich can be called a Nu-Way, Steamer, Big T, loose hamburger sandwich, tavern sandwich, or just a Maid Rite. Since the 1920s, it has been made with sautéed (sometimes steamed) ground beef and onions, served on a bun and dressed up with ketchup, mustard, and pickles.
If you love Sloppy Joes and hamburgers, then you need to add a tavern sandwich to your culinary bucket list.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
Ingredient notes
- Ground beef: I prefer a ground beef blend of 85% lean, 15% fat, for the best flavor.
- Onions: Yellow onions, white onions, or even shallots will do. I add them after the meat is cooked so they’re still a bit raw in the beef, just like a traditional Maid-Rite sandwich. Brown them in the skillet before browning the beef if you like them a little softer and milder in flavor.
- Hamburger buns: I love a good quality soft burger bun, toasted, buttered, and ready to go. But you can even make these slightly smaller soft dinner rolls for a buffet-style meal or a tailgate menu.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a large skillet, combine beef, water, mustard, and sugar. Simmer over medium heat until the beef is cooked through, about 5 minutes, breaking up clumps of meat with a spoon.
- Drain the fat if desired (I don’t, and it is closer to the original recipe if you don’t, but you can if you want). Stir in onion and season to taste with salt and pepper; I like 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper.
- Serve meat on buns with toppings on the side, such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and pickles.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This Maid-Rite recipe makes 4 delightfully sloppy sandwiches.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Feel free to make the meat up to 3 days in advance, then store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Reheat on the stove or in the microwave until warm, then pile inside hamburger buns.
- Freezer: Make the loose meat portion, then divvy it up in single-size or family-size servings in freezer-safe containers or zip-top bags. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, and reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
- Slow cooker: To make Loose Meat Sandwiches in a slow cooker, brown ground beef in a skillet, then add to a slow cooker. Add all remaining ingredients except buns to slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 2 to 3 hours. Serve in buns.
- Optional seasonings: Some cooks swear by a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce to amp up the flavor.
- Take your Maid-Rite over the top: Any burger toppings you like will be a hit atop a Loose Meat Sandwich, too. Try dill pickle slices, red onion, tomato slices, a splash of barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, and/or mustard.
Best sides for Maid-Rites
Side Dish Recipes
Homemade French Fries
Salad Recipes
Broccoli Salad Recipe
Slow Cooker Recipes
Crockpot Baked Beans from Scratch
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Loose Meat Sandwich (Maid-Rite Copycat)
The most popular item on the Maid-Rite menu, these Loose Meat Sandwiches taste as good as the Iowa-famous diner classic. This easy ground beef recipe cooks in just 10 minutes!
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef (85/15 recommended, see note 1)
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup onion peeled and finely chopped, plus more for topping (see note 2)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 hamburger buns split, for serving
- Toppings such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, pickles, for serving
Instructions
- In a large skillet, combine beef, water, mustard, and sugar. Simmer over medium heat until the beef is cooked through, about 5 minutes, breaking up clumps of meat with a spoon.
- Drain the fat if desired (I don't, and it is closer to the original recipe if you don't, but you can if you want). Stir in onion and season to taste with salt and pepper (I like 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper).
- Serve meat on buns with toppings on the side such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, and pickles.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Ground beef: I prefer a ground beef blend of 85% lean, 15% fat, for the best flavor.
- Onions: Yellow onions, white onions, or even shallots will do. I add them after the meat is cooked so they’re still a bit raw in the beef, just like a traditional Maid-Rite sandwich. Brown them in the skillet before browning the beef if you like them a little softer and milder in flavor.
- Hamburger buns: I love a good quality soft burger bun, toasted, buttered, and ready to go. But you can even make these slightly smaller soft dinner rolls for a buffet-style meal or a tailgate menu.
- Yield: This Maid-Rite recipe makes 4 delightfully sloppy sandwiches.
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Make ahead: Feel free to make the meat up to 3 days in advance, then store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Reheat on the stove or in the microwave until warm, then pile inside hamburger buns.
- Freezer: Make the loose meat portion, then divvy it up in single-size or family-size servings in freezer-safe containers or zip-top bags. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, and reheat on the stove or in the microwave.
- Slow cooker: To make Loose Meat Sandwiches in a slow cooker, brown ground beef in a skillet, then add to a slow cooker. Add all remaining ingredients except buns to slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 2 to 3 hours. Serve in buns.
- Optional seasonings: Some cooks swear by a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce to amp up the flavor.
- Take your Maid-Rite over the top: Any burger toppings you like will be a hit atop a Loose Meat Sandwich, too. Try dill pickle slices, red onion, tomato slices, a splash of barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, and/or mustard.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 sandwichCalories: 302kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 20gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 81mgSodium: 120mgPotassium: 335mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 25mgIron: 2mg
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Holy yummeroni!! My wife always called everything this, “made right” snafooey and, likely, because she is also a, “native Midwesterner”, “corn husker”, so I googled it and selected yours as usually I find the, “copycat” recipes quite earnest efforts to duplicate everything about what makes these classic and successful restaurant favorites so enticing. This was really a shocker because it’s a pretty simple recipe overall. I added a minced chili pepper, a minced serrano, and a 1/3 of a green bell pepper, minced. I forgot both bouillon cubes and I believe the soy sauce was full salt, so inadvertently I made a low salt version that was still out of this world yummy! I’m pinning it as we speak! Just a wonderful recipe! Thanks!👍👍👍👍👍
I GREW UP ON MAID RITES IN MACQUOKETA, IOWA AND IT WAS OUR GROUPS LUNCH TIME STAPLE SANDWICH AND OFTEN WITH A DELICIOUS BOWL OF CHILI TO ACCOMPANY IT. YOUR RECIPE TO ME IS RIGHT ON THE MONEY AND MY SON AGREES WITH MY ASSESSMENT. WE TOPPED IT WITH THE USUAL MUSTARD, KETCHUP, AND DILL PICKLES, AND TRULY ENJOYED OUR LUNCH. MY WIFE EATS GLUTEN FREE AND PUT HERS OVER HER BOWL OF RICE AND SHE TOO LOVED THE FLAVOR AND HOW EASY THE RECIPE WAS. THE MAID RITE THERE IS LONG GONE BUT MY MEMORIES OF RUNNING DOWN THERE FROM SCHOOL FOR OUR MAID RITE SANDWICHES IS STILL FRESH IN MY MIND, AND BETTER YET THEY WERE AFFORDABLE FOR A SCHOOL STUDENT WITH A LIMITED BUDGET. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS RECIPE.
Maid rites use 100% ground beef. They are very lean. You will not find chopped or minced onions in the original recipe. Only raw onion.
Onion, dill pickle slices and mustard are the original toppings. No ketchup. Been raised on them for 50 yrs, in Iowa (the original state of creation)
A double-boiler is a quicker alternative to a slow cooker that doesn’t dry out the hamburger like frying often does. Thanks for the great recipe!
Thanks for sharing Patrick! – Meggan
I grew up in the Midwest and spent most of my life in Des Moines, Iowa. Maid Rite’s were everywhere, in about every small town, and I loved them. Nothing like them out here in California where I live now. This recipe tastes almost exactly like the Maid Rites I remember. Thanks for sharing. We used to drive to Marshaltown, Iowa to eat at Taylors Maid Rite. They were so good we’d buy a big sack of them and put them in the freezer! I frequented a Maid Rite In Johnston and watched them prepare and serve the meat. The meat was slowly steamed in large rectangular steamers that let the fat drip down through holes in the steamer into the steamer water below. They scraped and stirred the meat frequently and the only seasoning used appeared to be salt and pepper. The cooked ready to serve meat ended up on the left side of the steamer, and the right side had raw or partially cooked meat. As it cooked they would scrape it to the left to the cooked meat area. This commingling of cooked and uncooked hamburger inside one steamer was eventually deemed to be in violation of safe meat handling procedures and was prohibited. Maid Rites were never quite the same after that.
Thank you for sharing David, I am so glad this recipe lived up to your expectations! – Meggan
I agree with David. I grew up in Moline,Illinois and my Mom worked there for over 25 years. It was my very first job making a whopping $1.00 an hour. this one is about as close as you’ll get without visiting a local Maidrite.
I grew up in Clinton, Iowa and I remember the same thing. They were delicious. :^)
Oh my gosh I waited years to get this taste again I never could get it right I tried I tried but I never added the mustard and the sugar oh my goodness they are so good I just bought 15 lb of ground beef and I bet you 14 lb of it is going to go to making these sandwiches I’m going to share them with my friends and I know they’re going to love them as much as I do there’s so good thank you so much for sharing this recipe I am so happy now that’s a shame it’s 69 that up that’s the only thing that’s making me happy love it again thank you so much.
Hi Cindy, how thoughtful! You’re so welcome! – Meggan
Excellent! Don’t change a thing. Easy to make bigger batches. We love this!
Thanks Michelle, so glad you enjoyed! – Meggan
Excellent and easy.
Thank you Michelle! – Meggan
Maid rite chops it’s meat up with no clumps. It’s absolutely finely chopped. Their sandwiches are probably some of thr best on the planet.
Made these for dinner and they taste delicious and just like the Maid Rite knock off I missed from my home town1
Thanks Jenny, so glad you enjoyed! – Meggan