Meat Loaf Recipes

Meat Loaf Recipes

Meat loaf is one of those dishes that can be prepared so many different ways using so many different ingredients, if you asked 20 people for their favorite recipe, there is a good chance not one of the recipes for meat loaf would be the same.

Many meat loaf recipes call for a combination of ground beef, pork and veal however simple hamburger recipes using just ground beef will work on its own. Many stores don’t carry veal on a regular basis but if you can find it we found the best ground beef recipes to have a mixture of 2 part ground beef (chuck), 1 part ground pork and 1 part ground veal. If veal is hard to find then 2/3 ground beef and 1/3 ground pork would be our next choice.

I prefer not to use a loaf pan, the top and sides will brown nicely and cook more evenly. Baking the meat loaf free-form on a lined baking sheet gives nice results.

Meat Loaf with Glaze

Ingredients

GLAZE

1/2 cup ketchup

4 tablespoons white vinegar

4 tablespoons brown sugar

MEAT LOAF

1 medium onion, chopped

2 medium garlic cloves, pressed

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

2 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

1/2 cup whole milk

2 pounds meat mix (50% beef, 25% pork, 25% veal)

15 saltine crackers (crushed)

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

8 slices bacon (optional)

Cooking Instructions
Meat Loaf Recipes

1. Glaze; mix all the ingredients together in a small nonreactive saucepan. Bring the glaze to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer about 5 minutes.

2. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the oil in a skillet; add the onion and garlic, sauté about 5-6 minutes. Set aside to cool while preparing the remaining ingredients.

3. Mix the eggs with the thyme, black pepper, salt, mustard, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and milk in a bowl. Add the egg mixture to the meat in a large bowl along with the crackers, and cooked onion and garlic; mix with a fork until evenly blended and the mixture does not stick to the bowl. If mixture sticks add a little more milk.  

4. Wet hands and pat the mixture into a loaf shape approximately 10 by 5 inches. Place on a foil lined rimmed baking sheet. Brush on half the glaze, arrange the bacon slices crosswise over the loaf to cover it and use a spatula to tuck the bacon ends under the loaf.

5. Bake until the bacon is crisp and the internal temperature is 160 degrees about 1 hour. Cool 20-30 minutes. Simmer the remaining glaze over medium heat about 1 minute, slice the loaf and serve with the remaining glaze.

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