Meatloaf is a favorite in our household. For such a simple recipe, it is one of those dishes that takes a lot of time to get to the plate, but oh boy is it worth it! Meatloaf is a wholesome comfort food that goes well with just about every type of side. Whenever I make this, I often get requests to make it for dinner again the next night… which I happily oblige to!
Serves: 2 big eaters or 4 smaller eaters
Prep Time: About 10-15 minutes
Cook Time: About an hour
Notes: This meatloaf is a little less dense and more moist than a lot of traditional meatloaf recipes because that is just the way my family likes it. If you want more dense loaf just mix your ground meat with one egg yolk (on top of the two whole eggs in the recipe) and about 1/3 cup extra of your breadcrumbs, and make sure to “set” your loaf (see recipe step 3).
Ingredients for meatloaf glaze:
- 3/4 cup of ketchup
- 1 teaspoon of vinegar (apple cider preferred, but white vinegar works great too)
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar (loose, not packed in measuring spoon; light or dark ok)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Ingredients for meatloaf:
- About 1.5 lbs. of lean ground beef
- 1 cup of finely diced onion
- 2 cloves of garlice, finely minced
- 3 Tablespoons ketchup
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Italian basil (you can also use Italian Seasoning if preferred)
- 1 teaspoon oregano (omit if using Italian Seasoning)
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika (either sweet or smoked ok)
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 cup breadcrumbs of choice (I like panko but you can use plain. If you use Italian breadcrumbs please omit basil and oregano as the flavors will be overpowering)
- Optional: 2 Tablespoons parsley (fresh preferred, but dried works fine too)
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and blend the glaze ingredients together well, in a small bowl then set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine ALL of the meatloaf ingredients (keep the glaze set aside). To be clear, that’s the ground beef, minced garlic, diced onion, bread crumbs, milk. eggs, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings.
- Transfer your meat mixture into a parchment paper-lined baking dish or bread/loaf pan (I use a little 5×10 but any small baking dish or loaf pan will work). At this point, if you want a more dense meatloaf set it in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight. Otherwise, go ahead and bake in your 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes is up, remove the meatloaf from the oven and spoon the glaze evenly over top of the meatloaf. If you’re really hungry at this point, allow the meatloaf to rest for 5-10 minutes then go ahead and slice some pieces up to serve. If you want to “set” your glaze so that it is a true glaze and not a sauce then you will want to raise the oven temperature to 400 degrees and bake the meatloaf – with glaze on top – for an additional 15 minutes before letting it rest then slice and serve.