by Jim Behymer · Published · Updated
It’s hard to find a recipe for Woonsocket, Rhode Island‘s Dynamite sandwich–a hoagie-ized version of the Sloppy Joe–to feed fewer than 20 people. Dynamite sandwiches are a community thing, served at “a dinner, abarbecue, a church fundraiser, a wedding or a funeral…in people’s homes, at family gatherings and at community events.”1 Dynamite is what they make in Woonsocket when they need to feed a horde.
As it happens, I have a horde at home. Sounds like something I should look into.
Dynamite refers to the sauce, in fact, not the sandwich–the sandwich is the first and best use of that sauce, but it’s also used to top pasta, or as a dip with tortilla chips, or for any number of other ways you might use infinitely reheatable leftovers. Elsewhere in Rhode Island they name this sandwich after the bread roll, not the sauce, calling it a “torpedo.” In Woonsocket though, the sauce is the… Hmm, I feel like I had an appropriate rhyme here but I’ve misplaced it.
Dynamite sauce consists of ground beef with bell peppers, onions, bell peppers, tomatoes or tomato sauce, bell peppers, and garlic… did I mention bell peppers? They generally use a combination of green and red peppers, and add a little crushed red pepper to justify the spicy-sounding name.Salt, pepper, bay leaf, herbs… these things make an appearance too. And I did see some recipes that used a higher proportion of meat and less of the veggies. By and large though, the ratio of onions/peppers to meat hovered between 2:1 and 3:1 with more peppers than anything. Bell peppers are what give thissauce most of its flavor.
Despite having a small army to feed at home, many of the recipes I saw were going to make justtoo much sauce for me to reasonably use, so, as I often do, I took what I liked from one recipe and another and came up with my own version. A little Rhode Island in Illinois.2 3
So this post is Jim-in-DIY-recipe mode rather than Jim-in-investigative-doofus mode or Jim-in-bitching-about-British-sandwiches mode or Jim-in-eating-20-dumb-sandwiches-and-never-getting-anywhere mode. As such, allow me to present you with my Dynamite recipe.
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Woonsocket Dynamite a la Jim
A “spicy” meat sauce for sandwiches or pasta
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword backyard barbecue, dynamite, rhode island, woonsocket
Prep Time 30 minutes minutes
Cook Time 3 hours hours
12 hours hours
Total Time 15 hours hours 30 minutes minutes
Servings 30 or more sandwiches
Calories 330kcal
Ingredients
Sauce ingredients
- 3 lbs ground beef
- 3 lbs green bell peppers diced
- 3 lbs yellow onions diced
- 1.5 lbs red bell peppers diced
- 28 oz diced tomatoes canned
- 28 oz tomato sauce canned
- 8 oz tomato paste canned
- bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- dried oregano & basil totaling around 1 tbsp
- salt and pepper
Other ingredients
- hoagie rolls
- spaghetti noodles
- macaroni noodles
- a bunch of shredded cheese
- tortilla chips
- I don’t know tamales? The possibilities are vast
Instructions
Brown the hamburger then remove from pan, leaving rendered fat.
Sauté the onion and bell peppers and garlic in the hamburger fat until soft
Add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, bay leaf, red pepper flakes, and cooked hamburger back to the pot. Simmer for an hour, covered.
Add tomato paste, oregano, and basil, simmer for 2 more hours uncovered, stirring occasionally. Season to taste, then chill overnight.
Reheat in crock pot and serve with hoagie rolls, maybe some potato chips.
Notes
- Total Time:hours and hours and days
- Yield: enough to feed a damn army
Additional Steps:
- Reheat some of the remaining sauce for sandwiches for lunch the next day
- Reheat some of the remaining sauce and serve with spaghetti noodles
- Reheat the rest of the sauce, mix with 2 lbs cooked macaroni, put into 9″ x 13″ casserole pan and top with shredded cheddar cheese. Heat in oven at 350° F for 15 minutes for another quick dinner and to finally get rid of the stuff.
- Spend another 3 days bringing leftovers of this casserole to work for lunch.
You might have gotten the impression that I was annoyed by having so much of this sauceon hand. Quite the opposite. With a family of 5, anything you can make that will feed them for most of a week has to be put into the “win” column.
And frankly, I thought it was really tasty. Mindy loved it too. Damian and Max both enjoyed it. Ian, the 8-year-old… well I probably shouldn’t have let him see me preparing it. He saw how many onions and peppers went into the sauce and developed a phobia of it. He cried when I told him he had to try the sandwich (even though I let him have it on a regular hamburger bun with barbecue sauce) and refused. He literally said hecould not put it into his mouth. I had better luck getting him to try it in casserole form, but he still would not eat the whole bowl.
But how were the sandwiches? Sloppy. Maybe not as sloppy as a Sloppy Joe–as long as you don’t split the hoagie roll all the way through, you’ve got a bowl-like container for your meaty sandwich sauce. But the sauce soaks into the bread, the bread compresses when you bite it and squishes the sauce out the top, and if you have a beard like yours truly, well, after a few bites your face smells delicious.
I think my favorite application might have been the spaghetti though. (horrors!)
I might top my spaghetti like a clueless Midwesterner (hint: Iam a clueless Midwesterner) but with some cheap spaghetti, cookedal dente, the sauce made a terrific meal that stretched it further than any of the other uses.Without the sweet/tangy notes you normally get in a Sloppy Joe sauce, it’s simply a natural over pasta. It was great in the macaroni casserole too.
I may not have gotten the optimal Woonsocket Dynamite experience–standing in line in the church basem*nt, sauce being ladled out of vast steam table pans onto waiting torpedo rolls, my foam plate buckling under the weight, a mortifying spill, hastily stammered apologies, etc.–but I feel like I get the gist of things. And if it weren’t for an 8yo boy who refuses to eat anything but PBJ & breakfast cereal, I’d probably make it monthly.
1 Rhodeside Diaries. Dynamite: a saucy blast from Woonsocket, by Christopher Martin.
2 Disclaimer: I have never been in, or near, Rhode Island, and as such I am completely unqualified to have made this. I’m pretty sure I nailed it though.
3 “little Rhode Island” did you see what I did there? Oh, you did? Right.
Tags: bell pepperscasseroledynamiteground beefhoagieleftoversrhode islandspaghettiwoonsocket
Jim Behymer
I like sandwiches.I like a lot of other things too but sandwiches are pretty great
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Roger L says:June 30, 2016 at 11:05 am
Hello Jim,
Being born and raised in Woonsocket RI, I grew up eating Dynamites on a regular basis. They were the go to food for all forms of fundraisers (all you can eat dynamites, all you can drink beer, $15) and social events. As such, I enjoyed your article on the background, process and cooking. It was also nice to see a new article spring up in an online search. I will state, however, putting “(sloppy joe)” in your headline, and calling it “a hoagie-ized version of the Sloppy Joe” does the Dynamite a disservice. There are similarities, but they are not the same. In fact, the origin of the Dynamite was traced to the 1920’s, while the sloppy joe was not created until the 1930’s, so you could say the sloppy joe is a modified version of the dynamite! Please note that any true Rhode Islander worth his salt would argue the difference, much like the residents of Wisconsin would politely describe the difference between a well cooked Brat compared to a sausage. Thanks again for highlighting and showing the versatility of a rarely known, but very delicious subculture of Rhode Island food.Reply
- Cassie says:
December 30, 2018 at 1:47 pm
Right on!
Reply
- Rita D says:
March 11, 2019 at 10:43 am
Very well said Roger! Jim your Dynamite looks amazing, but only a true born Woonsocket citizen such as Roger and I are would be able tell you how it compares to the rest. I myself prefer the saucy type. I don’t believe that this is the way the recipe first started out though. I may be wrong! So please don’t quote me on that one! I will be trying your recipe out soon and I’ll let you know what my family of testers think! By the way Woonsocket also has a small bread bakery that bakes and sells the rolls that we use specifically for our Dynamites.
Reply
- Jim says:
March 11, 2019 at 10:45 am
I tried to construct this recipe based on many recipes I read online but I’ll be honest, I don’t think you’ll find it spicy enough. I’d love to see some real recipes from Woonsocket, if you feel comfortable sharing any.
Reply
- Dave says:
August 18, 2019 at 10:39 am
Jim, it was a joy to read your article…. being that I’m from the Woonsocket area. The crushed red pepper is the key to it – you can adjust how spicy by adding a LITTLE at a time so you don’t over do it…. and the onions and peppers are normally cut a little larger than you would in say a spaghetti sauce.
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- Sarah says:
February 13, 2020 at 1:53 am
You came really close with this recipe. Some things I’d change are: (1) you want the pieces of onion and pepper to be pretty large when you chop them, probably 1-1.5 inches square. (2) don’t sauté the onion and peppers. Dump them into the tomato/meat sauce and let that simmer for about an hour and they will soften and shrink while also giving their flavor to the sauce in a way they don’t if you sauté them. You cannot add too much of the green peppers, they make the sauce. Can also add some celery. (3) need more red pepper flakes and also Tabasco or Frank’s red hot sauce. (4) I prefer to make this a day ahead, put whole pot in fridge and then reheat next day – the flavors are better. This can also easily be made vegan by adding Beyond Meat or other meat substitute.
Reply
- Sarah says:
February 13, 2020 at 1:58 am
One other thing- we never use garlic in ours.
- Tina Jalette says:
December 10, 2022 at 1:07 pm
I feel like I’ve commented before but I do it again lol This post is quite old….anyway born in Woonsocket and a canook (100% french) as I’m making my dynamites now,I always go looking to see if anyone out there needs a little correction to their dynamite recipe. And you my friend do. No way do they take 15 hours. I grab a huge pot one for boiling a lot of pasta or make to make a stew. I throw into that pot about 3 pounds of burger meat lean because you don’t want to much grease and about 1 pound of ground sausage meat for added flavor and cook on very low. Your not trying to brown it or char it because it will cook more throughout the whole process 2 large yellow onions 2 cut,chopped or sliced green pepper and 2 red peppers cut anyway you’d like. A 28oz can of diced tomatoes 28oz can of tomato sauce. Oregano, pepper, salt according to your taste and a bit of sugar to cut down the acidic taste. So easy and you just throw it together and voila. Dynamite!!! You will know your dynamites are done when the onion is pretty translucent and bell peppers go limp. Everyone’s favorite. Honestly you can’t mess this up ever lol
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- Dave says:
August 18, 2019 at 10:33 am
You mean Dupra’s yes no?
Reply
- Dave says:
August 18, 2019 at 10:48 am
OOPS…. my bad….. it’s Calise bakery….. I used to live across from Dupras so I was using their rolls.
Reply
- Darlene says:
November 13, 2023 at 7:53 am
What is the name of the bakery?
Reply
- John Murray says:
September 20, 2019 at 8:10 pm
Grow up in Woonsocket I ad jalapeno to give a better kick.
Reply
- Diana M says:
October 12, 2022 at 12:17 pm
Im from Woonsocket RI as well. This recipe looks more like a pepper filled spaghetti sauce with bay leaf, oregano and basil. When the Castle restaurant was open, i went in the early 90s to ask how to make them. The chef laughed and said im not telling you my secrets! and laughed. But after a chuckle i explained that I want to make them at home once in a while. He told me equal amounts of pepper, onion and hamburg. I figured out how much sauce on my own but mine wasnt quite the same. Now theres internet, and old french church cookbooks filled w dynamite recipes. I add the hot pepper flakes too.
Jim, I’m glad you found your niche in dynamite making, but nothing beats the true taste of an old classic dynamite in Woonsocket RI.Reply
- Jim Behymer says:
October 12, 2022 at 12:54 pm
Hi Diana,
Thanks for the comment. I don’t pretend to be an expert on this particular sandwich, and I would certainly enjoy trying a real one in Woonsocket. Maybe I’ll try making it again sometime. Have a great day!
Reply
- Ter says:
November 27, 2016 at 6:13 pm
We ate these Dynamite sandwiches every summer that our RI friends visited. Yummy memories!
Reply
- Jim says:
December 5, 2016 at 8:59 am
I’d love to know how close I got, if you have any recipe critiques!
Reply
- Brenda says:
July 2, 2017 at 3:51 pm
You missed a key ingredient… Celery! I’m not a fan of celery but it is a must for a dynamite. My 87 yo Mom still makes them for family gatherings.
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- Jacqueline Paré says:
October 22, 2021 at 10:07 am
I totally agree. You NEED celery or it just doesn’t taste right.
Reply
- Dave says:
October 22, 2021 at 11:49 am
You got me….celery does belong in there…. not chunks though…..1/8 in slices is what my mom does…..
- Evamarie says:
May 24, 2022 at 11:57 pm
Yes celery is a must ty
- Tina Jalette says:
December 10, 2022 at 1:11 pm
Noooooo way!!!! Don’t use celery. How terrible that would be to ruin such an awesome sandwich that’s so easy to make….
Reply
- Christopher says:
April 6, 2018 at 8:39 pm
Hi Jim,
I haven’t tried your recipe, but I would drop the yellow peppers, add a few ribs of celery, and add a bit more beef. Most ‘recipes’ (I don’t think anyone in Woonsocket actually measures when they make dynamites) would probably have closer to a tablespoon of pepper flakes, but personally I like the spice, so I’d add twice that. Don’t forget to butter the rolls before you put the dynamite in! Also, never (and I do mean NEVER!!!) tell anyone from northern RI that you called for hoagie rolls: you should only use dynamite rolls, ideally from L’il General or Calise.
CD
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- Ron Morris says:
December 8, 2018 at 1:09 pm
NO YELLOW PEPPERS WERE IN HIS RECIPE…MAYBE YOU SAW YELLOW ONIONS INSTEAD
Reply
- Louise Peloquin says:
June 19, 2023 at 10:39 am
I was born and blowing up in Rhode Island and hours also included celery. Like others have commented the vegetables were always left pretty chunky. I miss being able to get the correct “torpedo” rolls to serve this in.
Reply
- Terry Pedace says:
December 6, 2016 at 8:21 am
I will ck with Mom as to whether she has the original recipe. Regrettably it’s been almost 40 yrs since I last had a Dynamite!
Reply
- Ron Morris says:
December 8, 2018 at 1:12 pm
CUT BACK ON THE 28OZ CAN OF TOMATO SAUCE AND 28OZ CAN OF DICED TOMATOES…SAUCE NEEDS TO BE A BIT THICKER
Reply
- Dave says:
August 18, 2019 at 3:14 pm
OK I’m from Woonsocket and so is my mom. I asked her and she said vidalia onion, green and red peppers (more peppers than onions), steak hamburg, celery, crushed tomatoes, one small can of Contadina tomato paste, TABASCO (which I didn’t know until she said it) and crushed red pepper. amounts of ingredients are kinda of “shoot from the hip” according to my mom, but generally 2 large cans of crushed tomatoes with 2 to 3 lbs of burger is a good starting point…..it’s ok if it’s kinda loose at first – you will boil off some liquid during simmering…. veggies should be chopped not diced.
I’m actually simmering a batch on the stove as I type this and it’s coming out yummy!
The Tabasco apparently is what makes the spiciness linger in your mouth for a while, which is what an authentic dynamite should do.Reply
- Debbie says:
September 30, 2019 at 9:05 pm
Dave. You have the same recipe I have. We always used crushed tomatoes and Tabasco sauce. Brings back old memories when I was growing up in Woonsocket
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- Cassie says:
December 30, 2018 at 1:52 pm
Yup you are right – these are supposed to be stiffer since they really are NOT ‘sloppy’ joes at all. And as mentioned by another person – the dynamite name comes from the crushed red pepper – it needs to make a statement you remember for least 20 minutes after the last bite. 🙂 True dynamites are not for the weak of heart.
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- mikki Alberici says:
February 1, 2019 at 2:07 pm
I was born in RI, lived in Mass. My Mom’s sister, Beatrice Lebel Cloutier, made and brought dynamites to family parties ….. never called sloppy joes. make it now instead of Chilli because I don’t like beans. Her’s were a little hot. no yellow peppers. We ate hers with Saltine crackers. Yum Yum Yum
Mikki Von Flatern AlbericiReply
- Karen says:
July 29, 2019 at 9:30 pm
Oh Jim Jim Jim. I congratulate you on your courage to take on a RI recipe much less a Woonsocket RI recipe. I feared for you when I saw your suggestions of how to serve it. I couldn’t wait to read the reviews from fellow Woonsocketers. Rhode Islanders are funny about their recipes. Guy Fiore married a Rhodey and did a show on RI classics. My jaw dropped as he tried to alter recipes and then I laughed as he explained that he met some serious opposition from in-laws when doing so. In fact my mother just dropped off dynamites and there were mushrooms and a sneaky bit of chicken shredded into it and no spice! What is she thinking?!?!?! She did however include torpedo rolls from a Woonsocket RI bakery and I buttered them and devoured what I dubbed Polish torpedos. So good! Mom is half French and half Polish and moved to Woonsocket after marriage. She had a little slip and we forgive her but if she ever dropped off the dynamite sauce with pasta, tortilla chips or shredded cheese much less a hoagie roll I’d have to ask her from refrain from using the word dynamite in my presence. However I am going to make a big vat of it and try it on elbow macaroni. Shhhh
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- Jim Behymer says:
July 29, 2019 at 9:45 pm
Karen, I like your style. Sadly, sometimes I have to make do with what I have to hand, which is why my Donkey Burgers didn’t have any actual donkey in them, and why I’m unable to use real torpedo rolls, as they are not really a thing here in Illinois. I’d actually love to try a real Dynamite in Woonsocket some day, as it’s clear I have zero idea what I’m doing making them at home. Don’t knock eating it over spaghetti noodles until you’ve tried it though! 😉
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- Debbie says:
May 2, 2020 at 1:14 pm
We found your recipe after watching Episode 5 of Some Good News (John Krasinski) in which Guy Fieri does his twist on a viewer’s dynamite recipe (among other celebrity chefs making things – if you haven’t watched it yet, check it out on YouTube), and I just made some. It’s quite good! I’m also originally from the midwest (NW IN, really Chicago, OK?), but we live in MA now. Even though little Rhode Island is right down the road, we’d never heard of dynamites. Stuffies, quahogs, cabinets, sure, but not dynamites! Thank you!
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- Russ C. says:
May 2, 2021 at 6:26 pm
Bonjour! I grew up just outside of Woonsocket, “on the pike.” Both sets of grandparents were old school Woonsocketers (French Canadian). Dynamite was always present at large family gatherings, especially at summer barbecues. (Salt in your Naraganset beerI, anyone?) I am 69 and I can still picture the big pot of it on the picnic table. Badminton being played in the background Our version was not spicy hot, but rather sweet and quite chunky. Definitely had celery in there. I just made a batch tonight, tasted as I went along, and “got it right” by adding a wee bit of sugar and red wine vinegar at the end.
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- Jeannie says:
August 23, 2021 at 9:07 pm
Hi Everyone. I am so sad to report Dupras Bakery on Sweet Avenue is closed. That bakery had the best dynamite rolls ever. I would love to know where I can get good dynamite rolls now. Does anyone have a suggestion?
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- gremlin says:
September 7, 2022 at 9:34 am
Not from the area, but I am excited to read about a regional US sandwich that I have not seen covered in any other food media. I am from NC and I have been grumpy for quite awhile in how interest in our foodways has led to it been waterdowned & bastardized. In fact, hat tip to RI for keeping a lot of their non seafood food out of the spotlight. Only a silly short lived reality show that no one watched about a psychic lead me to read about their version of italian-American food which sounds fantastic. Enjoying your site.
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- Jim Behymer says:
September 30, 2022 at 5:11 pm
Thanks for the comment! By the number of people from Woonsocket who’ve commented here it does seem like there isn’t a lot of coverage of this sandwich. Which is too bad ’cause it’s tasty!
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- Stanley says:
March 30, 2023 at 2:14 pm
Too thin I make it thicker or chunkier, I use several different hamburg meats, about 5 or 6 packages (different). I used to live in Blackstone Ma. When I was there people running for public office and friends used to have beer and dynamites parties for fundraisers please no contact.
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- Dawn Brien Stutts says:
June 18, 2023 at 9:45 pm
I live in SC now, raised in Blackstone. Will introduce my new neighbors this week to Dynamites!
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- Edward says:
April 10, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Did you just refer dynamite as a sloppy joe? So can’t even! Disgraceful! Blasphemous!
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- Jim Behymer says:
April 13, 2023 at 9:27 am
You’re right, when I wrote this article many years ago I did compare Dynamites to sloppy joes and while there are certain similarities it’s not really fair to Dynamites to call them sloppy joes when they are much better.
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- Diane Godin says:
July 14, 2023 at 11:05 pm
Jeannie
Lil General stores are selling the dynamite rolls and the label says, Lil General dynamite rolls.The rolls are located by the deli area
A few months ago when I visited Lil General, they stated Casteros are making the dynamite rolls but did not want to label the packaging as such. Unfortunately whatever the maker / label of the rolls are.They do not compare to Sweets bakery.Im glad the rolls are named after the traditional dynamite rolls.Its a fun story and tradition to pass on to ” newbies” for our French heritage. Jim , thank you for introducing dynamites to the other towns and states.
DianeReply
Roger L 
Rita D 
Dave 
Sarah 
Tina Jalette 
Darlene 
John Murray 
Diana M 
Ter 
Brenda 
Jacqueline Paré 
Evamarie 
Christopher 
Ron Morris 
Louise Peloquin 
Debbie 
mikki Alberici 
Karen 
Debbie 
Russ C. 
Jeannie 
Stanley 
Dawn Brien Stutts 
Edward 
Diane Godin 