Classic Meatloaf Recipe

This easy meatloaf recipe is the ultimate comfort food. It uses few ingredients and is guaranteed to bring smiles to your table. To this day, this is still one of my wife’s all-time favorite dishes and is constantly made all year round.

Even though I’m a classically trained chef, I’m a comfort food cooker. I want to eat things like Wedding soup or boeuf bourguignon. These simple things can be consumed in large quantities and comfort the soul.

Meatloaf

Meatloaf is a simple recipe for ground beef bound together with vegetables and seasonings and baked. Many folks, myself included, like to add a glaze to the top before baking it, creating a salty-sweet-umami combination of flavors.

If you’re like me and weren’t a fan of meatloaf growing up, I believe this recipe will help you break through those torturous childhood dinner tables. Meatloaf is meant to be simple to prepare and highly flavorful. It can have several variations, but in its basic form, there are a few ingredients consisting of:

There are countless variations in meatloaf, including the ingredients that go into the mixture and different glazes or toppings. You could include some great things in it or on it, such as being wrapped in bacon, mushrooms, or cheese.

History of Meatloaf

Meatloaf has been around since the fifth century and is said to have been created in medieval Europe, where people combined minced meat with seasonings and cooked. It has been altered many times since its inception but didn’t gain popularity in America in the late 19th century.

It was meant to be an easy-to-make recipe and used chopped meat from any animal protein along with other vegetables or meals, like from corn, and cooked.

Ingredient and Substitutions

• Beef — You can use any ground beef with any lean-to-fat ratio. I personally prefer to use 90/10 since I occasionally use bacon.
• Bread – Any bread can be used for this recipe, including plain white bread or an artisan loaf.
• Onions — Red, yellow, white, or sweet onions may be used. In addition, whole garlic cloves are used.
• Peppers – You can use a red, yellow, orange, or bell pepper. Add some spice to the meatloaf with chiles like serranos, jalapeños, or habaneros.
• Eggs – Large eggs at room temperature or chilled will work. These are to help bind the meatloaf.
• Seasoning – Coarse salt and freshly cracked pepper were used.
• Ketchup — Any brand or homemade ketchup adds flavor to the glaze, which also helps it stick to the meatloaf.
• Sugar – Granulated, light, or brown sugar works for the glaze.
• Soy – I like to use a full-sodium shoyu, but a lower-sodium soy will work.

Meatloaf Glaze

You can put several different glazes on top, but I prefer a sweet, tangy glaze. It should complement the meatloaf, not overpower it, and provide a little acid to enhance the flavor of the beef. My simple breakdown of ingredients consists of:

• 1 Part Ketchup
• ½ Part Brown Sugar
• ¼ Part Soy Sauce

How to Make Meatloaf

Submerge the bread completely in water until it becomes soft and wet, about 5 minutes. I’ve also seen this done with milk, but I don’t see the benefit from a flavor standpoint.

Squeeze out as much liquid as possible before adding it to the bowl with the meat, vegetables, and seasonings.

Add the vegetables, ground beef, wet bread, eggs, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper to a large bowl and thoroughly mix until well combined.

Transfer the mixture between 2 non-stick sprayed 9×5 loaf pans and press down to compact.

Add on the glaze and bake in the oven.

Rest the meatloaf for 3-4 minutes before removing from the pan, slicing, and serving.

Try serving the meatloaf with mashed potatoes, green beans, or polenta.

Make-Ahead and Storage

Make-Ahead: You can make this up to 1 hour ahead of time.  Wrap in foil and keep warm in the oven at 200°.

How to Store: Cool and cover in plastic for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. It will freeze well and be covered for up to 3 months. Thaw for 1 day in the refrigerator before reheating.

How to Reheat: Place your desired amount of meatloaf in a pan or on a tray with 2 tablespoons of water, cover with foil, and cook at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until hot. You can also heat in the microwave.

chef notes + tips

• This recipe makes enough for 2 loaves and will feed 6 people per loaf.
• You can swap the brown sugar for regular sugar or honey in the meatloaf glaze.
• Press the meatloaf into the loaf pans to compact it so that it does not fall apart when sliced after it is cooked.
• Make sure the meatloaf reads 165° internally using a thermometer before removing it from the oven. It’s okay if there’s a little pink in there; it’s like eating a medium-well hamburger.
• While most recipes call for breadcrumbs, I believe this leads to drying out the meatloaf. Breadcrumbs need to be reconstituted, and when mixed into the meatloaf, it will draw out the moisture from the eggs and ground beef, causing it to be dry.
• The secret to keeping it moist is to mix in water-soaked bread that is squeezed out and added to the beef, vegetables, and seasonings. I do this exact same process when making meatballs as well. My grandma used to call it “wet bread.”
• The size of the loaf of bread doesn’t matter. It will not affect the recipe if it’s a little bigger or smaller than the one I used. Please do your best to eyeball it. I used about 10-11 inches of a 16-inch loaf if you need specific details.
• I usually keep the bread submerged by a few plates.

More Comfort Food Recipes

• Beef Stroganoff
• Stir-Fry
• Loco Moco
• Ham and Green Bean Stew
• Chicken Parmigiana

Video

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Country Style Meatloaf Recipe

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5 from 55 votes

This easy meatloaf recipe is the ultimate comfort food, made from few ingredients and guaranteed to bring smiles around your table.

Servings: 12

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Equipment

• loaf pan

Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

For the Meatloaf:

• ¾ loaf of bread
• 1 seeded medium-diced red bell pepper
• 1 seeded medium-diced green bell pepper
• 1 peeled small-diced yellow onion
• 4 finely minced cloves of garlic
• 3 ½ pounds 90/10 ground beef
• 4 large eggs
• 1 ½ tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• sea salt and pepper to taste

For the Glaze:

• ¾ cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 375°.
• Add the bread to a pan and completely cover it in water and keep it submerged.
• Add the squeezed out wet bread to a large bowl along with the peppers, onions, garlic, ground beef, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly until completely combined.
• Divide the mixture between to 9×5 prepared loaf pans and pack it in tight. You can line one of the pans with bacon as I did in the video for extra flavor if you prefer.
• In a small bowl mix together the ketchup, brown sugar, and soy sauce until combined and add it to the top of the meatloaf and spread around to coat the top.
• Bake in the oven at 375° for 50-60 minutes or until cooked throughout and reads 165° internally.
• Rest for 3-4 minutes, slice, and serve.

Notes

Make-Ahead: You can make this up to 1 hour ahead of time.  Wrap in foil and keep warm in the oven at 200°.

How to Store: Cool and cover in plastic for up to 4 days in the refrigerator. It will freeze well and be covered for up to 3 months. Thaw for 1 day in the fridge before reheating.

How to Reheat: Place your desired amount of meatloaf in a pan or on a tray with 2 tablespoons of water, cover with foil, and cook at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until hot. You can also heat in the microwave.

This recipe makes enough for 2 loaves and will feed 6 people per loaf.

You can swap the brown sugar for regular sugar or honey in the meatloaf glaze.

Press the meatloaf into the loaf pans to compact it so that it does not fall apart when sliced after it is cooked.

Before removing the meatloaf from the oven, make sure it reads 165° internally using a thermometer. It’s okay if there’s a little pink in there; it’s like eating a medium-well hamburger.

While most recipes call for breadcrumbs, I believe this leads to drying out the meatloaf. Breadcrumbs need to be reconstituted, and when mixed into the meatloaf, it will draw out the moisture from the eggs and ground beef, causing it to be dry.

The secret to keeping it moist is to mix in water-soaked bread that is squeezed out and added to the beef, vegetables, and seasonings. I also do this exact same process when making meatballs. My grandma used to call it “wet bread.”

The size of the loaf of bread doesn’t matter. It will not affect the recipe if it’s bigger or smaller than the one I used. Please do your best to eyeball it. I used about 10-11 inches of a 16-inch loaf if you need specific details.

I usually keep the bread submerged by a few plates.

Nutrition

Calories: 569kcalCarbohydrates: 28gProtein: 28gFat: 38gSaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 148mgSodium: 542mgPotassium: 573mgFiber: 2gSugar: 19gVitamin A: 503IUVitamin C: 23mgCalcium: 47mgIron: 4mg

Course: american, english

Cuisine: entree, main, main dish

Author: Chef Billy Parisi