# Do you add anything to Manwich? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [November 18, 2025, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942 "2025-11-18T01:10:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/1 "2025-11-18T01:10:04Z")
I like some diced celery and a dash of garlic powder. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/2 "2025-11-18T01:30:55Z")
Some ground beef, too, I would imagine. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/3 "2025-11-18T01:35:50Z")
I have added diced celery and/or onions before-I sauteed them first. I have also used leftover Manwich to make a pizza. Just spread it on a crust, sprinkle with cheese and bake in oven to the cheese is melted. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/4 "2025-11-18T01:41:45Z")
I bought this stuff a decade or two ago (in other words, well into adulthood) and it wasn’t as good as I remembered from childhood. Too sweet for one thing. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/5 "2025-11-18T01:42:40Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > it wasn’t as good as I remembered from childhood. Too sweet for one thing. I never liked it when I was a child. Too sweet. (As were all sloppy joes.) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/6 "2025-11-18T01:46:18Z")
I imagine it should be possible to make a sloppy joe from scratch but not have it be too sweet. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/7 "2025-11-18T02:00:16Z")
I add a can of corn and cook the ground beef with onions. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/8 "2025-11-18T02:17:35Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I imagine it should be possible to make a sloppy joe from scratch but not have it be too sweet. When I was a kid, everything came out of cans. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/9 "2025-11-18T02:27:38Z")
Yeah, there was a lot of that then. I was about 10 the last time I had Manwich. If you’d asked me yesterday whether they still made it, I’d have said “Probably not; I don’t remember seeing it on the shelves in decades”. Now I’m curious to see it. Not buy it, and certainly not eat it. But just to see that it exists and whether / how the label has been updated from the late 1960s. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/10 "2025-11-18T02:42:07Z")
As above, too damn sweet. With all our grand and great/grandkids, the meal comes up often. I’ve made an approximation without all the sweetness (GB, onions fine chopped, garlic powder, pasta sauce, some chilli powder)- you’d a thought I was poisoning them. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/11 "2025-11-18T02:42:50Z")
When I came to the United States almost 40 years ago from a country with few packaged food offerings and even fewer advertisements, I was seduced by the advertising for all manner of packaged food. It took me about two years to realize that pretty much all canned and box food “enhancers” were rubbish, and that the advertising was all puffery. Manwich was definitely one I remember being a horrible disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/12 "2025-11-18T03:09:39Z")
I learned that Manwich has bell pepper. My first experience with heartburn came at age 14. I was on a boy scout camping trip and the Scoutmaster heated several cans and served on hamburger buns. Tasted fine until my stomach started burning and I got reflux. I would be very sick if I ate Manwich today. Any bell pepper in food makes me miserable for many hours. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/13 "2025-11-18T03:12:41Z")
You wouldn’t want my Manwich with chopped up jalapeno slices in it, then. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/14 "2025-11-18T03:59:38Z")
I make sloppy joes at home. Only without the heavy seasoning. I’m a big fan of food served over toast. Heat a can of Chunky vegetable beef soup and serve over toast or cornbread. Great stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/15 "2025-11-18T06:33:29Z")
I mis-read. No, I do not add anything to Mankind. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/16 "2025-11-18T06:37:45Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > I was about 10 the last time I had Manwich. If you’d asked me yesterday whether they still made it, I’d have said “Probably not; I don’t remember seeing it on the shelves in decades”. There are lots of YouTube videos about people from other countries trying sloppy Joes for the first time. I have not seen one where they did not enjoy it! Instant comfort food. I have it a couple of times a year. Like today. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/17 "2025-11-18T06:47:24Z")
I add cooked ground beef, and make Sloppy Joes. I never had it as a child—it was my ex-wife who introduced me to it when I was in my early 40s—so I cannot comment on whether it is too sweet. To me, it tastes like it always has. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/18 "2025-11-18T17:22:22Z")
It’s probably been decades since I’ve had one, but I used to add hot sauce to my Manwich, and melt a slice of American cheese on top. ---
**Author:** ![Disinfectus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/disinfectus/32/11085_2.png) [@Disinfectus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disinfectus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/19 "2025-11-18T17:27:32Z")
I make my own sloppy joes without all of the sugar and they are so much better. I can’t stomach the canned stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942/20 "2025-11-18T18:39:41Z")
Ummm. @Spoons , Your response makes me wonder if folks eat the can of Manwich without hamburger meat? @Gatopescado…this is news? 😄 Yes you can make sloppy Joe’s without Manwich. It just a sweet b-b-q type sauce. Pulled pork is better, IMO [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-add-anything-to-manwich/1024942.md?page=2)