This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our affiliate policy.
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 with Bacon and Cheese
Appetizer Recipes
Homemade Potato Chips
Slow Cooker Recipes
Slow Cooker Baked Beans
Join Us
HUNGRY FOR MORE? Sign up for our weekly newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for our latest recipes! Tag all your glorious creations #culinaryhill so we can eat vicariously through you.
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!
Equipment
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 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: 1sandwichCalories: 302kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 20gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 81mgSodium: 120mgPotassium: 335mgFiber: 1gSugar: 2gVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 25mgIron: 2mg
Did you make this recipe?Tag @culinaryhill on Instagram so we can admire your masterpiece! #culinaryhill
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
I do belive that this sandwuch originated in a bar in South Dakota. I’ve never had a Maderite but I have had what is known as a loosemeat or tavern sandwich at Miles Inn and Tastee In and Out in Sioux City, IA. I don’t recall them having brown sugar in then nor do I belive they had soy and/or whorstshire sauce. Ground beef, lots of onion, garlic and a serious dose of pepper. A real gut bomb. I make them from that best guess recipe and they are as good as Mom’s. But I will say, those at miles are thicker than mine. I belive it may be do to the long slow stew mentioned in another post.
The Maid RIte Sandwich recipe is wrong. I am a long time fan and i still love it. Tried making at home for years, they were good but not quite the same. Something was missing. I steamed the meat and buns, everything but my hamburger always seemed firmer. My family raises purebred Black Angus so i have eaten a lot of hamburger in my life,the taste and texture of the Maid rite was always smoother. Then one day when i was starving from a drive back from WI i pulled in to my favorite fast food. I ordered 3, never had 3 before usually 2. First one just slid down so nice and delicious. During the second one i got a whiff and taste of what i thought was pepper. The meat was so nice with an almost creamy texture. I started on the third and was pretty full so i could taste everything. I realized it was not pepper, it was liver. The more i ate i was convinced. I love liver by the way, but that was what was giving the creamy texture and that little bit of bite. Then i remembered my uncle (who also was a cattleman )used to have the butcher mix in liver in their hamburger because his kids would not eat it on it’s own. I have eaten at other locations and they all have that taste.I can imagine that Maid Rite does not want it to get out because it might turn some people off, but i wanted you to know. If you want to try it for your own personal use i would grind maybe a quarter pound of liver with 3 lbs of beef.
Hi Bob, thank you so much for sharing! I appreciate it! – Meggan
This is very similar to how we made these. I’m diabetic, so now I’ll eat this on low carb toasted bread instead of the delicious buns, but small price to pay. :) I do add the worchestershire sauce with the water and a couple drops (literally) of liquid smoke, I also like my onions cooked. We move the meat to one side and brown the onion lightly in the meat/water liquid.
Hi Dodie, thank you so much for your tips! Take care! – Meggan
You’ll get much closer to the otlriginal if you let the meat stew on the lowest setting for a couple hours after cooking.
Thanks for the tip, Jeffrey! – Meggan
Freaking awesomeness, tastes just like the original made-rite.
I’m so glad you loved it, Roy! Take care! – Meggan
we did a comparison of this recipe with the other one noted that uses acv and brownsugar… we think this more represent the NuWay that we remember. Very easy and a fun go to meal.
Thank you for trying my recipe! I’m glad it tasted similar to what you remember. Take care! – Meggan
Sorry, but I have been eating the Original Maid-Rites from the Muscatine area for 70+ years and they never-ever use ketchup, just saying.
Hi Mary, thank you for sharing your experience! – Meggan
I added a tablespoon of dill pickle juice to the hamburger mixture.. we also topped with a little more mustard and fast food style pickles. These were amazing, and spot on for Greenville, Ohio maidrites! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Britt! So glad you loved it! – Meggan
Best Maid Rite knock off I have found!
Added bonus…my apartment smells really good. haha
I love it, Cynthia! Glad you loved it! – Meggan
I haven’t tried this recipe yet and I’ve only eaten at one Maid Rite restaurant, located in Greenville, OH. However, I think one thing that makes the Maid Rite sandwich great besides the hamburger is the buns. They have a certain sweetness to them. It will be interesting to see how this recipe works with store bought hamburger buns.
I made my first batch in February and I’m in heaven. I can’t say for certain that the recipe tastes exactly like what I’ve eaten at the Maid-Rite Sandwich Shoppe in Greenville, OH, but if not, they’re pretty close. Thank you so much Meggan for sharing this recipe. You’ve made this older guy so happy.
Kurt,
Try using brioche buns. They are sweet!