15 Classic Meatloaf Recipes For a Cozy Meal
Everyone loves meatloaf night!
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Meatloaf is comfort food at its best. It’s delicious, easily adaptable to your taste, and can effortlessly feed a crowd in a pinch. And while meatloaf might have a bad rap for being dry and tasteless, we’ve rounded up 14 meatloaf recipes that are anything but. From Stuffing Meatloaf With Marmalade Glaze to Upside-Down Barbecue Meatloaf, these protein-packed recipes won’t disappoint.
Keep reading for more than a dozen classic meatloaf recipes to add to your weekly meal rotation!
Related: 18 Easy Ground Beef Recipes to Make for Dinner Tonight
Parmesan Meatloaf
To prevent this meatloaf from being dry and bland, we’ve added grated Parmesan, bread crumbs, and tomato paste to the mix. To make this dish even more delectable, pick up some ground beef with a higher fat content when grocery shopping. The added fat ensures the final product won’t be dry and brittle.
Stuffing Meatloaf With Marmalade Glaze and Arugula Salad
Put your Thanksgiving leftovers to good use with this clever meatloaf recipe that calls for a sizable helping of cooked stuffing. The stuffing, which is joined by ground beef, an egg, and salt and pepper, subs in for the breadcrumbs you might see in a more traditional meatloaf recipe. Additionally, a simple marmalade glaze keeps the meal from getting too dry.
Easy Boarding House Meatloaf
Believe it or not, this simple yet always satisfying meatloaf requires just 10 minutes of hands-on work. The ground beef is mixed with bell pepper, onion, oats, and more, but the real star here is the meatloaf sauce, which is a mix of fresh veggies and pantry staples such as ketchup and apple cider vinegar. What’s more? Since this recipe serves six, you’re almost guaranteed to have some tasty leftovers for another meal.
Old-Fashioned Meatloaf
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If you’re worried about cooking a meatloaf that’s void of flavor, give this recipe a go. While the list of ingredients is a tad long, the final result makes it all worth it. Inside you’ll find Worcestershire sauce, seasoned breadcrumbs, and tomato sauce, but the real stars are a duo of spice blends—Creole seasoning and Greek seasoning. Though that pair might sound odd in meatloaf, we promise it works!
Southern Meatloaf
PHOTO: STACY ALLEN; FOOD STYLIST : KAREN RANKIN; PROP STYLIST: LINDSEY LOWER
What makes a Southern meatloaf, you ask? This variety includes a handful of staples in Southern cooking, such as diced pimento peppers, smoked paprika, and brown sugar and dry mustard, which are both mixed with ketchup. Serve this flavorful meatloaf with mashed potatoes and green beans and you’re good to go.
Instant Pot Meatloaf
Yes, you can make meatloaf in the Instant Pot, and yes it’s as easy as it sounds. Simply mix your meatloaf ingredients together, form a loaf, top it with a flavorful sauce made with ketchup, balsamic vinegar, and Dijon mustard, and cook. An hour later, dinner will be ready.
Turkey Meatloaf
PHOTOGRAPHER: JENNIFER CAUSEY FOOD STYLIST: EMILY NABORS HALL PROP STYLIST: AUDREY DAVIS
While meatloaf is traditionally made with ground beef, you can also make it with ground turkey for a leaner meal. Since turkey isn’t quite as flavorful, be sure to find other ways to up the flavor factor. In this recipe, ground turkey is combined with ground turkey Italian sausage, and a ketchup-like glaze tops the whole thing for a hearty dose of sweetness and acidity.
Related: Why Does Turkey Make You Sleepy? The Thanksgiving Staple Is Actually Not to Blame
Gluten-Free Beef, Turkey and Mushroom Meatloaf
FREDRIKA STJÃRNE
Since meatloaf typically contains flour and/or breadcrumbs, it can be tricky to find a gluten-free meatloaf recipe that’s worth trying. This one, however, deserves to be bookmarked. For this dish, chef Rocco DiSpirito utilizes a mixture of puffed rice cereal, ground mushrooms, beef, and turkey for a moist, flavorful final product.
Classic Meatloaf With Oatmeal
The Spruce Eats / Diana Chistruga
For a standard take on meatloaf that’s just a little different, give this recipe a whirl. Here, rolled oats are used as a filler to help keep the texture of the meatloaf light. The oats also help retain moisture, thus preventing the meatloaf from becoming dry. Opt for quick-cooking oats over old-fashioned rolled oats or steel-cut oats, which would render the meatloaf inedible.
Classic Lipton Onion Soup Meatloaf
The Spruce
Giving meatloaf a flavor boost courtesy of dry onion soup mix in nothing new, but it’s a well-known hack for a reason. Here, the soup mix (preferably Lipton) is joined by eggs, water, ketchup, breadcrumbs, and ground beef. To add even more flavor to the finished dish, mix in a dash of thyme and sage, Worcestershire sauce, or freshly cracked pepper.
Kid-Friendly Turkey and Beef Meatloaf
The Spruce Eats / Victoria Heydt
Listen up, parents! This meatloaf is kid-friendly thanks to a combination of ground beef and ground turkey, as well as familiar flavors such as ketchup and mustard. You can also rest assured that your little ones will get a hefty serving of vegetables from this meal, because the meatloaf also includes chopped onion, green bell pepper, and mushrooms.
Mini Meatloaves with Green Beans & Potatoes
Eating Well
If you’re looking for a meal that’s slightly more balanced, allow us to suggest this recipe. Here, mini-meatloaves made with ground beef, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce are paired with seasoned potatoes and healthy green beans.
Brown Sugar Meatloaf
This brown sugar meatloaf comes together in an hour, and calls for just 20 minutes of hands-on work. As the recipe name suggests, the star ingredient here is brown sugar. The baking staple, along with some ketchup, line the bottom of a loaf pan to create a meatloaf with a ketchup and sugar crust. You can rest assured that this dish won’t be too sweet, since the meat mixture calls for saltine cracker crumbs as well as more than a teaspoon of salt.
Related: 34 Best Dinner Ideas With Sausage for Fast Weeknight Meals
Upside-Down Barbecue Meatloaf
wsmahar/Getty Images
This recipe also dictates that you line a pan with some sauce, only this time you’ll use barbecue sauce for a Southern twist. Serve with mashed potatoes and peas for a complete meal.
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