Maid Rite Recipe Loose Meat Sandwich + Video
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Use our Maid Rite recipe to create a loose meat sandwich that tastes just like the restaurant original! Each ground beef sandwich may look like a sloppy joe, but it tastes nothing like one. The flavor is so much better, and with our recipe, you can make them at home!!
This loose meat sandwich recipe may seem simple, but trust me — there’s something special about these sandwiches. They’re easy to make and irresistibly scrumptious!
Maid Rite Recipe
If you live in the Midwest, you may already be familiar with Iowa’s famous Maid-Rite restaurant franchise.
They’re best known for their loose meat sandwich — perfectly seasoned ground beef served on a warm, slightly sweet bun with pickles and diced onion.
My husband and his family grew up enjoying the Maid Rite sandwich, so I wanted to create a homemade version.
After a lot of trial and error, I came up with this crockpot loose meat sandwich recipe. Trust me, this one is a keeper!!
For a delicious twist on a ground beef sandwich, make a batch of burger bombs. They’re made with frozen dinner roll dough — the perfect game-day food!
How to Make a Maid Rite Sandwich
At the restaurant, the ground beef is prepared in very large pots. But for this recipe, you’ll be using a crock pot.
RECIPE VIDEO
Watch the video in this post to see us make this Maid Rite recipe from start to finish!
- Slow cook the ground beef.
Combine all of the ingredients in a slow cooker, then cover and cook on High for 1 hour.
Remove the lid, then continue cooking for 2-3 hours, or until most of the liquid is gone. - Assemble the sandwich.
The classic Maid Rite sandwich is served on a steamed bun. If you have a steamer, you can use that. Otherwise, warm or toast the buns.
Scoop the seasoned ground beef onto the bread. Use a slotted spoon, otherwise the liquid will make the buns too soggy. - Add your favorite toppings.
At Maid-Rite, you can order a “Cheese-Rite,” which is the original loose meat sandwich topped with cheddar cheese, onion, and pickles.
Other popular toppings at the restaurant are jalapenos, BBQ sauce, and cheddar cheese sauce.
Serving Suggestions
Pair this Maid Rite recipe with any of your favorite cookout or picnic side dishes.
You can’t go wrong with a side of corn (which Iowa is also famous for) or a side of French fries.
If you’re feeding a crowd, skip the fries and whip up some potato salad or crockpot baked beans with bacon instead.
Loose Meat Sandwich Recipe FAQ
While both are made with seasoned ground beef, Sloppy Joes feature a rich tomato-based sauce.
The meat mixture is slightly sweet and often enjoyed without additional toppings.
Loose meat sandwiches like Maid Rites, on the other hand, have no sauce at all. The meat has a bold beefy flavor, and the sandwich comes with pickles and diced onion on top.
Allow the meat to cool, then transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. I don’t recommend storing the assembled sandwiches, because the buns will become soggy.
Reheat the meat in the microwave or in a pot on the stovetop, adding a splash of liquid as needed to keep the meat moist.
Prep Ahead Instructions
This Maid Rite recipe is perfect for meal prep! Toss everything in the crockpot and let it cook for a few hours while you go about your day.
If needed, you could also cook the meat ahead of time and reheat it later. It will keep in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours.
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Other Easy Crockpot Sandwich Recipes
Maid Rite Recipe Loose Meat Sandwiches + Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
- 1 teaspoon low sodium beef base, or a bouillon cube
- 1 teaspoon low sodium chicken base, or a bouillon cube
- 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 3 pounds lean ground beef
For Serving
- 8 hamburger buns
Optional Toppings
- cheese
- pickles
- diced onion
- ketchup
Instructions
- Set slow cooker to high. Add all ingredients except ground beef and stir to combine. Add beef and stir again; be sure beef is completely coated.
- Cover slow cooker and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to break up ground beef. After 1 hour of cook time, remove lid and continue cooking on high for 2 ½ – 3 hours, until most of the liquid has cooked off. Continue to stir occasionally and break up any chunks of beef.
- Using a slotted spoon, serve a heaping spoonful on a warm bun and load it up with your favorite toppings. We love cheese, ketchup and pickles!
- Serve and enjoy!
Video
Donna’s Notes
- To make this recipe JUST like the Maid Rite restaurant does, steam the hamburger buns before you load them up with loose meat.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe’s nutritional value will vary depending on the ingredients used, measuring methods, and portion sizes.
Originally published April 2014, updated and republished June 2023
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Oh My GOD… Perfect to make in the 18wheeler going down the road. Start it in grocery store parking lot. Rest Area hour down the road to stir, Dinner is served at 6… Outstanding. Thanks you…
Being from Ames, Iowa and growing up with Maid Rite sandwiches, I MUST try this recipe. I just made a different recipe that a fellow Iowan posted on Facebook and it doesn't even come close to the real deal. I will try this recipe and can't wait to taste it to get a little taste of Iowa again.
Hi Roz, I am trying this recipe today! Will let you know how it works out!
P.S Harry Oates family ran/owned the Maid-Rite in Ames…. but you probably knew that!
I'm from North Carolina, where Sloppy Joe's are what I grew up on and loved. They are totally different from these as mentioned above. With that said, I am always open to new foods and tastes! It sounds like these are much loved out west.
Do you think it would work to cut the recipe in half? What adjustment would I need to make? Pinning it.
It would be helpful if everyone would try a recipe first and comment on it instead of just rushing to say "Looks good Ill try it!" Plus simple math works on food recipes just fine. If you reduce a recipe by half then therefore you would reduce the ingredients by half.
Yes! And why don't they come back then, and say something useful AFTER they do actually make the recipe??
I agree, try before you comment, would be very helpful.
I differ, cutting a recipe in half, usually requires cutting the ingredients a little more than half. I'm not certain why, but trial and error has proven this to be true.
Have an awesome cooking adventure!
The Maidrite made right doesn't have any sweet or sour in it. Skip the brown sugar, and the vinegar! Close but no cigar! My neighbor owned the franchise when I lived in southern Iowa.
And for those of you claiming Rosanne made the Maidrite famous….Rosie copied it for her show. Maidrites were famous before Rosie ever was. I wouldn't patronize her restaurant after she and Tom left the contractors holding the bag on her "New" Ottumwa mansion. Sad…..a lot of people hurt by this….
so what is the recipe?
Is the meat HAMBURGER?
LOVE the TSRI 🙂 Wondering if I could use ground turkey and how that might change the overall outcome??
Yes. The first thing I noticed in this recipe is the photo with ketchup on it. I'm from Iowa originally.
I was told along time ago that Maid-Rites are meant to be served with mustard, no ketchup. Which is the way I like them. At the time, the owner told that only recently had they started putting ketchup out. I will be making this recipe tonight. I will have it with mustard. My wife with ketchup.
We lived in Muscatine until just before I started 6th grade and we got Maid-Rites there a lot. Fred Angell created the Maid-Rite in Muscatine in 1926. About the ketchup, Mom and Dad would say, "Ketchup on a Maid-Rite? You DON"T put ketchup on a Maid-Rite!"
I was born and than lived in Muscatine, IA until we moved right before I went into 6th grade. We got them a lot when we lived there. Fred Angell created the Maid-Rite back in 1926 in Muscatine. As far as the ketchup goes, my Mom and Dad would say, "Ketchup on a Maid-Rite? You DON"T put ketchup on a Maid-Rite!" The Maid-Rite mix that the Maid-Rite restaurants use now is a packaged thing they get from corporate which is different than the earlier days when each restaurant would make the mix themselves.
Donna, I have become enamored of your website in recent days and as such it's bookmarked and I read it often. I've made several of your recipes, to great acclaim by my family. You make me look really smart! Thanks for your meticulous instructions. Judging by the questions that ensue in the comments (especially of this recipe), you're not only a great cook but the most patient woman on the face of the earth. Anyway I'm making the Maid-Rites for dinner tonight and I've invited some family. We're all chuffed about it. Thanks for all you do! Bon Appetit and Love from Jenny the Pirate xoxo
Was so looking forward to this. Made it today and so disappointed, no flavour and I made it per recipe. I'm not a novice, have been cooking for over 50 years and people rave over my food. Sorry this was a miss! I will definitely have to doctor it up so hubby will eat and can't afford to throw all this meat away.
Recipe is good but definitely not a Maid Rite.
Have you ever tried the Maid-Rite from Greenville Ohio? Very similar with pepper
Yes! And yum! Just don't put your hands on the wall!
Maid-Rite in Greenville, Ohio is the one I know and it is SO good! Love "the wall", but definitely won't put my hands on it. LOL. This recipe doesn't sound like the same Maid-Rite from Greenville (I know, this one mimics the one in Iowa). Now I have to see if I can find a recipe that sounds more like Greenville's recipe. And NO Ketchup. That's a travesty. 🙂
I was wondering when someone was going to mention Greenville! I honestly had no clue they were so popular out west! lol. Personally I like Crabills better than Maid Rights.
Was just a there Nov 2018. Actually brought some back to georgia.
They use to use BEER to steam meat.
Nothing beats a MadeRite, made right!
Greenville is my hometown so I have enjoyed many MaidRites in the last 70 years!
This is very bland. We don't like the sweet taste. I'll stick to regular hamburgers or Taco meat.
I lived in Fairfield Iowa as a kid in the fifties and there was a diner there that served what they called "ZIP Burgers. For the last 50 years I've been craving one and trying to duplicate one. Your recipe has DONE it! I don't know if the owner of that diner copied his from MaidRite, but either way, I am so happy to finally be able to have that loose meat sandwich again. Much Thanks!!
I lived in Fairfield in the 50's. I am Larry roach and love maid rites. I graduated from fhs in 56
Oh, and I forgot, I did add 1 1/2 teasp of cayenne pepper to make the Zip part.
I'm from Southeastern Iowa, and have lived in VA for a while. I crave these, and in the rare event I go home I have to have one. I'm beyond giddy to try this.
I grew up eating a similar sandwich called Nu Way in Wichita, Ks. and when I moved to Missouri, I was introduced to the Maid Rite and they are extremely similar, and both delicious! My simple, but almost exact recipe makes a smaller amount, but is right on! 1 lb. ground chuck, 1/4 cup onions, 1/8 c up A and W Root Beer, 1/8 cup low sodium soy sauce, 3/8 tsp Lawry's Seasoning Salt, 1/8 tsp black pepper. Brown meat until done and drain. Add remaining ingredients and steam until well done. Spread yellow mustard on both sides of bun and add 3 sliced pickles. Top with one scoop of meat mixture and one slice of yellow cheese. Wrap in waxed paper and microwave for 20 seconds. This will taste so much like the originals, that you will be amazed and they only take a few minutes to prepare! My family, friends always ask for my secret recipe!!
Hmm – that's confusing, but my comment below Rainy here was supposed to be in reply to yours of April 24. 🙂
If you ever go through Sioux City IA stop by Miles Inn and try a Charlie Boy Sandwich. It is a loose meat sandwich also and is very good. I was born and raised and we grew up on loose meat sandwiches. I'm trying this tomorrow for my Birthday, only missing he low sodium soy sauce so I'll use the full salt version. LOL Will give you my opinion after. Thank
Also go to the Tastee-in and out 1 block from Miles Inn. It's better than at maidrite. I grew up in Sioux City, every time I go there…Tastee is on my list of must do.
I followed your clear directions for assembly, thank you for that! Next time I'm going to use your recipe also. I have to agree with a couple posts above that fast food chains (largely manned by high school students) would tend to use simple formulas with few ingredients.
Maid Rite restaurant in Greenville, Ohio has the best Maid Rite, even better than Iowa, and people come from all over just to get one. Their recipe is similar, but it is one of those "best kept secrets," and it is hard to duplicate. Many people have tried, but they can only come close.
That is a big 10-4 I grew up in Ansonia which is about 8 miles north of Greenville and every Sat. my dad would head for the Maid Rite and he would bring home a very large sack of Maid Rites. The Maid Rite has been in Greenville,Ohio for as long as I can remember and I am 79 years old and I was always told they were steamed with vapor from beer being boiled, but as you said the recipe was always a best kept secret, and if you get to Greenville and go to the Maid Rite drive through you will see the wall up to the order window is covered with chewing gum, it has been that way for years…
I also grew up in Greenville, loving our Maid Rite sandwiches and the wall (now all the walls and some gum even higher up! Living in the Rocky Mountain west for a long time, we once stopped in the Maid-Rite at the BIG I-80 Stop in Iowa on our way to visit Greenville. The Maid-Rite sandwiches there were NOTHING like the ones in Greenville–no comparison. This month I will be in Greenville for a reunion and on schedule is a lunch at the Maid Rite–they now have a canopy with picnic tables for all the groups who plan to have a gathering there.
there is beer in the maid rite sandwich in greenville love there sandwich and you can only come close but will never be as good as going there
I agree! Greenville, OH has a great "Maid Rite" sandwich. I use a recipe that boils the hamburger in water, drain and then simmer in beer until all liquid has evaporated. The type of beer changes the flavor slightly. I used to use Bud Light but recently switched to Dos Equis Amber. This is a family favorite and requested often.
An even easier way is 2 or 3 pounds of ground beef with some fat content, take 1/2 cup of water, dissolve a beef bullion cube in it, ad two tablespoons of dark molasses salt and pepper and after breaking up beef in a pan add the ;1/4 cup of the liquid. cook on a medium heat and continue to break up the beef. A hand held mixer works fine, After beef is fully cooked take a small strainer and fill with the loose meat, and push out the excess liquid , place on bun and add you own condiments. Store the remaining liquid in refridgerator for the next batch.
Columbia MO has a place called Mugs Up (https://www.mugsup.com/) that is a "drive-in" restaurant with car hops who take your order and bring it to you on a tray that you hang on a slightly opened car window. They serve zip burgers (exactly what your recipe is here), zip cheese burgers, fries, cheese fries, chili cheese fries, and floats (root beer is made in house) and served in a cold frosty mug. They've been in business for 51 years. Zip burgers are phenomenal and nothing better can be found in Columbia. I no longer live in Columbia and miss the zip burgers. Thanks tons for the recipe!!!
I know this is an old thread, it's 2019 I've been in Columbia Missouri at least 43 years. Mugs Up is still open and going strong. Usually open the season March close sometime at end of Oct.31. Yum wanting me some zip burgers and rootbeer
There used to be a Mugs Up in Riverside Mo. I worked there as a kid in 64. I still crave those damn burgers. There is still one in Independence Mo, going strong. I go there when I am in the Kansas City area. I remember adding a packet of seasoning to the hamburger meat back then that slow cooked overnight. Maidrite burgers are similar but I think Mugs Up had the best loosemeat burgers and root beer around. I still crave them..So Good!
This post reminds me of the love we Midwesterners have for White Castle hamburgers. People who didn't grow up here hear all the hype and can't wait to try them – but don't relate at all. I have seen many copycat recipes for White Castle. Some are close, but never right-on. Nothing is ever as good as the real deal. Maybe the packaging has something to do with it. Memories of our youth are very exact. We not only want the taste but also the experience. Copycat recipes can't do that. But it's still fun trying to.
It's an acquired taste. Yum!
I'm looking forward to trying this recipe. I am originally from Iowa and love a Maid Rite sandwich. Every time I go home I make sure to at least get 2 stops in before leaving. I have tried many recipes, but to no avail do they compare. (they are usually not even close). I'll try and remember to let you know how it goes. Thanks for a different recipe. Oh, and I usually just put mustard on mine:)
I received your recipe from a friend and having never prepared or tasted this before, I wondered if I could prepare this ahead of time so I could see how it tasted and then freeze the meat for use in about a week for guests. Thanks!
I made this exactly as the recipe says today. I also went to our local Maid-Rite and bought 2 plain maid rites to do a side by side comparison. While good, this is not the Maid Rite recipe. For one thing the meat comes out too dark (from the dark soy, Worchestershire or brown sugar I assume). As to the comments it has to be easy for the Maid Rites to be able to do it, the seasoning liquid comes to Franchisees from Corporate (I asked our Maid rite owner). So the quest goes on….
WHO CARES ! Make 'em the way you like 'em !!!!