This Taco Bell-Inspired Doritos Locos Meatloaf Is Better Than the Drive-Thru

It's truly "Mythical."

If you like to laugh and you love food and cooking, then you probably already know about the "Mythical Kitchen" YouTube Channel. As a reminder, it’s the culinary spinoff of the wildly popular show, "Good Mythical Morning." The videos posted on "Mythical Kitchen's" channel are a hilarious mixture of cooking experiments, stand-up comedy, and celebrity interviews. After three(ish) years of cooking up a storm in the kitchen, the group is finally releasing a cookbook, "Rhett & Link Present: The Mythical Cookbook," out March 12. They kindly let us take a sneak peek and offered to let us share a recipe. Of course, we chose the Doritos Locos Meatloaf. It’s as delicious as it sounds.

The New 'Mythical Kitchen' Cookbook

Great news, the cookbook is easily the most entertaining and enjoyable cookbook I’ve ever reviewed. I read it like a book, flagging pages as I went and making mental notes about the recipes I wanted to try the most. Even the instructions for the recipes read like a good book, giving anecdotes and hilarious recommendations along the way. In the Fruity Pebble Pancakes recipe (flagged that one for sure), for example, the instructions read as follows, “Once your batter has rested, work on your shoulder strength and put those egg whites in a bowl and whisk them as much as your rotator cuff will allow...” See what I mean? Good stuff!

We Tried One of the Recipes

While there are plenty of amazing recipes (including mash-ups, family favorites, and spin-offs) in the book, with everything from Goldfish Pizza Rolls to Takis Grilled Cheese, we chose to explore the Doritos Locos Meatloaf. The header proclaimed we should “live más,” so that’s what we did while making it.

Like many meatloaves, this one starts with sautéing some onions with seasonings, but instead of traditional Italian herbs and spices, the recipe calls for a packet of Taco Bell seasoning—a good call since we are trying to be “más” here. Once the onions are softened, they’re transferred to a bowl along with ground beef, bread crumbs, dried oregano, crumbled Nacho Cheese Doritos, a couple of eggs, and some Taco Bell Fire Sauce. After mixing together in a non-aggressive way, the mixture is gently placed into a Bundt pan. It’s baked above a water bath (which you create using a roasting pan and some water) for about an hour before it gets flipped and topped with shredded Cheddar cheese. After one more quick trip to the oven, it’s drizzled with sour cream and topped with diced tomatoes.

I’m a big fan of old-school ground beef tacos and this meatloaf tasted just like them. I loved the swap of Taco Bell Fire Sauce for ketchup and the simple addition of Taco Bell Taco Seasoning Mix. Both solidly brought home that big taco flavor. And let's not forget those Doritos either. While you can’t discern them specifically in the loaf, you know they’re there, adding that orange-colored, cheese vibe you love.

As for the water bath—don’t skip it! It’s the key to keeping the meatloaf moist. And that’s a good thing for meatloaf. This dish is really as good as it sounds and we were lucky enough that we got to test it out, and share the recipe here:

'Mythical Kitchen's' Doritos Locos Meatloaf Recipe

"Serves 2 Joshes or 6 moms."

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 2 large yellow or white onions, minced

• 1 (1-ounce) packet Taco Bell Taco Seasoning Mix

• 2 teaspoons dried oregano

• 1/2 of a 7.5-ounce bottle Taco Bell Fire Sauce

• 2 1/2 pounds 80/20 ground beef

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 1 cup Italian bread crumbs

• 3/4 cup crushed Nacho Cheese Doritos (from at least a 9.25-ounce bag)

• 2 large eggs, beaten

• 1 1/2 cups shredded medium Cheddar (about 6 ounces)

• 1/4 cup sour cream, for serving

• 1/4 cup diced fresh tomatoes, for serving
  

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 10-inch Bundt pan.

2. Fill a roasting pan with water and place it on the bottom rack of the oven, leaving the center rack open for your loaf.

3. Heat the oil in a sauté pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions, taco seasoning, and oregano and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Transfer the onions to a large bowl and add 1 tablespoon of the fire sauce. Stir it around and then let cool to room temperature.

4. Okay, you are doing great. Now add the beef, salt, bread crumbs, Doritos crumbs, and eggs to the bowl. Use the best tool in the world (your hands) to gently but thoroughly mix it all together, being careful not to crush it down and compact it. Think about how much more difficult it is to work with a compacted, dense loaf, and use that knowledge to try to keep your loaf nice and fluffy, without pinching it.

5. Place the meat hunk into the pan. Use a pastry brush to paint the loaf with the remaining fire sauce.

6. Bake for 60 to 75 minutes, until it is cooked through (an internal temperature of about 160 degrees F).

7. Take the meatloaf out of the oven (keep the oven on) and let it cool briefly, then turn it out of the pan onto a baking sheet and sprinkle the grated cheese over the top. Return it to the oven and bake for about 4 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling. Take it out again and drizzle it with sour cream (ideally squirted through a squeeze bottle, or shot through a Taco Bell sour cream gun) and top with the tomatoes. Slice into that thing and live as más as you possibly can.

Recipe courtesy of "The Mythical Kitchen Cookbook."

Read the original article on All Recipes.