Few foods are more comforting than good ol’ meatloaf. My mom made this Classic Meatloaf Recipe all the time when I was growing up. It’s pretty much perfect, and it’s incredibly easy to mix up. If you want to take this Classic Meatloaf up a notch, try this Stuffed Meatloaf.
More Comfort Food Recipes
Workman’s Roast (Crock Pot Recipe)
The Best Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese
Sausage and Sweet Potato Tortellini Soup
Mom’s Sunday Pot Roast
Chicken and Mushroom Wild Rice Soup
Slow Cooker Hobo Dinner
Truth be told, I’m always a little shocked by how excited my kids get when I make meatloaf. I mean, it’s meatloaf. Isn’t there a rule somewhere that kids aren’t supposed to like it? I always thought I was just one of those weird kids who actually liked it.
Apparently, I was wrong, because it’s definitely a hot commodity at our house. There’s never even a tiny piece left in the pan, and there may or may not always be a fight over the last piece.
If you love easy comfort foods, you will also love my Easy Baked Pork Roast.
how to make classic meatloaf recipe
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine ground beef, oatmeal, milk, egg, onion, salt, and pepper in a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Using your hand, incorporate everything into the meat. This only takes 30 seconds or so. You do not want to over-mix.
Transfer meat into a large loaf pan and press it down evenly into the pan.
For the glaze, mix ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard in a small bowl. Pour evenly over meatloaf.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and drain off excess grease.
Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
I love that the recipe calls for oatmeal, a little added fiber. If you don’t have any or are a little freaked out by adding oatmeal, you can use crushed soda crackers or bread ripped into tiny pieces.
The sweet ketchup-based glaze that goes on the top is optional. We love to serve meatloaf with baked potatoes and broccoli or green beans. We love butter and Homemade Ranch Dressing as a topping on our baked potatoes.
Yum! Just thinking about this meal has me drooling. It’s such a great no-fuss dinner that comforts you to the core. And,seriously, you also need to try this Easy Baked Pork Roast. It’s fabulous!
Meatloaf pans are the bomb! They drain the fat themselves so you don’t have to. I’m hoping Santa brings me one.:) Meat Loaf Pans on Amazon
Frequently Asked Questions about making Classic Meatloaf
what substitutes can I use for the oatmeal?
Using the same measurement as the oatmeal, you can use breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs.
for the glaze, what can i use in place of the ketchup?
If you don’t have ketchup, you can try adding tomato sauce to the brown sugar and mustard, or you can spread salsa on top.
If you don’t have a loaf pan, form the meatloaf in the shape of a loaf and place it in the center of an 11×17 pan. If you want to soak up the grease, put a couple of pieces of bread under the meatloaf before cooking.
what is the best way to drain off the grease?
You can buy a meatloaf pan that helps drain the grease. If you don’t have one, carefully drain the grease by pouring it out of one corner of the pan. Be careful! Also, you can put bread slices under the meatloaf, which will help soak up the grease.
Lots of beefy goodness in this perfectly seasoned classic meatloaf. Topped with a tomato-based glaze that adds just the right amount of sweetness and tartness to this amazing comfort food.
Author: My Mom
Recipe type: Dinner
Cuisine: Comfort Food
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
1½ lbs ground beef
¾ cup quick oatmeal
¾ cup milk
1 egg
½ cup onion, finely diced (or grate it if your kids will freak out if they see a piece of onion)
1¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
GLAZE
⅓ cup ketchup
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp mustard
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine ground beef, oatmeal, milk, egg, onion, salt, and pepper in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Using your hand, incorporate everything into the meat. This only takes 30 seconds or so. You do not want to over-mix.
Transfer meat into a large loaf pan and press it down evenly into the pan.
For the glaze, mix ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard in a small bowl. Pour evenly over meatloaf.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and drain off excess grease. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
If you like this meatloaf recipe, do yourself a favor and try my WORLDS EASIEST SLOPPY JOE RECIPE. You will LOVE it!
DOn’t Forget to Pin this great recipe to your favorite PINTEREST board!
All recipes for meatloaf start with the same basic formula: 2 pounds of ground meat and a “panade” made of bread or crackers soaked in milk. Along with a few eggs, this panade helps to hold the ground meat together and adds some essential moisture to the mix.
Milk and other dairy products, like heavy cream and buttermilk, contain both water and fat, adding two types of moisture to our meatloaf. There's a long-held theory that milk can tenderize ground meat, and this is the reason often cited for cooking ground meat in milk to make a Bolognese-style ragù.
To help your meatloaf stay together add things such as eggs, bread, crushed croutons, oatmeal, crackers, and breadcrumbs, these are all key ingredients that help meat stick together. I hope that this helps to answer your question. What are the secrets to a firm, sliceable meatloaf that slices and won't fall apart?
Should I cook my meatloaf covered or uncovered? The meatloaf can be cooked uncovered. However, if you are concerned about it burning, you can cover the meatloaf with foil for the first 45 minutes and uncover it for the final 15 minutes to allow the meatloaf to brown on top.
No bells and whistles - just a few ingredients including beef, egg, bread crumbs and a simple tomato-based topping. Use a gentle touch with ground beef. Over-mixing will result in burgers, meatballs or meatloaves with a firm texture.
The oven temperature is typically set at 350 degrees F for making meatloaf. That's the temperature you want to be sure to use so the meatloaf cooks and doesn't dry out. Too high, and the outer crust will burn before the interior is cooked all the way, too low and you don't get that delicious crust.
Every meatloaf recipe requires a binder, otherwise, you don't get the same moisture retention and tenderness when you cook it. Most recipes require bread crumbs soaked in moisture as the binder to improve the quality of your meatloaf, but there are plenty of other options.
Whether you slather a thick layer of ketchup on top of the meatloaf before it goes into the oven, add a few tablespoons to the ground meat mixture, or serve extra ketchup on the side, this tangy-sweet, umami-rich condiment balances out the richness of the beef, making it an essential part of the dish.
Sure, egg yolks add some rich flavor to a meatloaf, but the real reason we need eggs is for structure—to help bind the meatloaf together. This is especially important since we're making a free-form meatloaf, or one that you shape by hand, versus using a loaf pan.
You can simply substitute vegetable, chicken or beef stock for the milk in any recipe, soak the bread in that, and then add it to the mix. You can also just use some water, but that won't add any flavor, and meatloaf is all about flavor.
Use Extra Egg: Eggs act as binders and provide moisture. Add one or two eggs per pound of meat for a moist texture. Make Use of Milk: Soak breadcrumbs in milk before adding them to your mixture. This will keep your meatloaf moist during baking.
A neat trick to soak up the grease under your meatloaf is to line the bottom of the pan with bread slices. The bread soaks up the grease as the loaf bakes. When the meatloaf is done, you can either throw out the bread or bake it to make some truly indulgent toast.
Gordon Ramsay's meatloaf recipe is made with ground beef, although you could use ground lamb, pork, veal, venison, or poultry as well if you like. When your meatloaf is cooked, you can slice it like a loaf of bread to make individual portions and serve them to your family or guests.
For an average meat loaf, use 1/2 to 3/4 cup fresh, soft bread crumbs to every pound of meat. When using fine, dry crumbs, use half as much. Other Ingredients: Eggs bind the mixture, add flavor and increase browning, but too much egg will make a meat loaf tough and rubbery.
Overall, ketchup adds a touch of sweetness and acidity to the meatloaf, so when you're looking for substitutions, you will want to use something that captures one or both of those tastes to really round out your dish.
Introduction: My name is Francesca Jacobs Ret, I am a innocent, super, beautiful, charming, lucky, gentle, clever person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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