The Best Meatloaf recipe that I’ve ever had! With a handful of easy ingredients and just a few minutes of prep, you’re on your way to comfort food heaven!
Meatloaf. What a word! It’s definitely not my favorite word. In fact, for most of my childhood and into early adulthood. I refused to eat the stuff … just because of what it was called. And the way it looks? Man, meatloaf just needs a makeover. So, I gave it one in the flavor department. I took my mother-in-law’s classic meatloaf recipe, which is totally delicious, but I kicked it up a notch because y’all know i’m a lil’ extra when it comes to flavor.
This meatloaf is drop dead delicious. I honestly can’t believe how much I love it! Eric begs met to make it because he can never get enough. I think Meatloaf gets a bad rep, honestly. Between it’s name and the way it looks. Poor loaf doesn’t stand a chance. I know it can be a “love it or hate it kind of meal”, but I hope if you’re kind of on the line of the “hate it” side and you think maybe you could like it with the right kind of recipe, I hope you’ll give this a try because it’s kind’a epic.
Epic meatloaf? It’s possible staying at home so much has gotten to me, but trust it’s REAL good.
One more thing, you absolutely cannot have Meatloaf without mashed potatoes. It’s comfort food rule number one. Google it. You should make my Homestyle Cauli-Tater Mash to throw on the side because after you do that you’ll love this meal so much you’ll wanna put a ring on it.
How to make The Best Meatloaf:
First up, you’re gonna chop up an onion and red bell pepper. Mince a few cloves garlic while you’re at it (or use the stuff in the jar, shh I won’t tell anyone). Throw the peppers and onions in a pan with 1 tsp of oil. Sauté over medium heat just until softened. When they’re about done add in the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds or until garlic is fragrant. Remove the veggies from the pan and set aside. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before adding into raw meat.
While waitin’ on the peppers and onions to cool off a bit. Grab a small bowl and add in 1/4 cup reduced sugar ketchup, and 1 tbsp red wine vinegar. Stir together well and set aside for lil later.
A little note about the glaze: I decided to include the ketchup glaze in this recipe because I do make it with the glaze more often than not because Eric loves it and it’s much closer to a classic meatloaf recipe that you all know and probably love. But, I prefer eating it without the glaze and I make a super quick brown gravy to pour over it when its finished. I’ll update this post with the official link to the brown gravy recipe soon, but in the mean time here’s what I do:
In a small sauce pan add 1-1/2 cups water and add 1 tbsp of better than bouillon beef broth base (you could also use a bouillon cube or two depending on the size of them) and let it come to a boil. While that reaches a boil in a small bowl add 3/4 cup water and then 1/3 cup all purpose flour. Whisk it extremely well (like your life depends on how well you whisk this mixture). When your done slowly pour it into the boiling beef broth while whisking constantly until thickened. And, voila! Easiest gravy ever and I honestly prefer it over most other kinds. It’ll probably be salty enough, but I like to add a little pepper. If it seems too thick for your taste add more water(little at a time) over low heat while whisking constantly. The end.
In a large bowl add in 1 lb of lean ground turkey (don’t use extra lean. It’s too dry for this particular recipe), 1 lb of lean ground beef, 1 cup oats (old fashioned or quick cooking will work), 2 eggs (beaten before added to the bowl), 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, and about 1/2 tsp pepper. Also, add in the sautéed peppers and onions once they’re cooled off.
One, two, three… mash it up! With your hands. It’s for the best. I know, it’s kind of yuck, but it’s meatloaf and it’s the easiest way to combine it without over mixing. Oh that’s a rule too… Combine it well, but take care not to over mix it because otherwise it’ll be dry and just not as good as it should be and you’ll hate me… especially if you’re not 100% team meatloaf in the first place and are trusting me to change your mind.
Now dump the meatloaf mix onto a sheet pan. I line it with aluminum foil for extra ease in the clean up department. There is gonna be some not so pretty stuff on the pan after it bakes and it’s best just to throw it in the trash and pretend it never happened.
Shape the the meat mix into… a loaf. Ha! This just keeps getting better. Some people put their meatloaves into a loaf pan, but I never have and I don’t know why.
Anyway, brush the ketchup-y glaze all over it and throw’r in a preheated 350 degree oven for an hour.
After it’s done let the meatloaf sit for about ten minutes before cutting into and serving.
As ugly as meatloaf is… this photo makes my drool! It’s the perfect plate of comfort in my opinion.
Time to dig in and enjoy! I hope y’all love it as much as I do. Let me know how it goes in the comments below.
The Best Meatloaf
The best tender, juicy, and flavorful meatloaf recipe!
Ingredients
Meatloaf
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 large red pepper diced
- 1 large yellow onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced (or 1 tbsp jarred minced garlic)
- 1 lb raw lean ground beef (93% lean, 7% fat)
- 1 lb raw lean ground turkey (93% lean, 7% fat)
- 1 cup oats (old fashioned or quick cooking work)
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 large eggs (beaten before added to the meatloaf mix)
- 1 tsp Lawry's Seasoned Salt
- 1/2 tsp Pepper
Ketchup Glaze
- 1/4 cup reduced sugar ketchup (I use Heinz)
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar (I've also used apple cider vinegar)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.
In a medium skillet heat olive oil over medium heat and add onions and red peppers. Cook until softened and then add minced garlic. Continue to cook for about 30 seconds or until the garlic becomes fragrant. Remove from heat and from the pan so they can cool off for about 5 minutes.
In a small bowl add ketchup and vinegar. Mix together and set aside.
In a large bowl add ground turkey and beef, oats, Worcestershire sauce, beaten eggs, cooked onions/peppers/garlic, and salt & pepper.
Mash together with hands until combined well, but take care not to over mix the ingredients otherwise you'll have dry meatloaf.
Dump the meatloaf mix onto sheet pan and form a loaf and spread glaze all over it.
Place into oven and cook for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let it sit for 10 minutes to let the juices distribute. Serve warm and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Serving size: 5.25 ounces (makes 9 servings)
WW Green: 5 Points | WW Blue: 4 Points | WW Purple: 3 Points | 209 Calories Fat: 9g, Saturated fat: 2.5g, Carbohydrates: 10g, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 2g, Added Sugar: 0g, Protein: 21g
Great meatloaf! I have never found a turkey meatloaf that I liked….but this one with the combo of turkey and beef is awesome! Only feeding 2 people..so I actually made this into 2 smaller loaves and frozen one for later without the glaze. Just heated up the frozen loaf and added the ketchup glaze ….it tasted just as delicious! Thanks for another great recipe!
Hey Star! I’ve made this recipe so many times and it’s so super delicious.
My question, I wanted to make this tonight but I don’t have beef, I just have 1 lb pork and 1 lb turkey.. do you think I could still make it the same way, and have it taste good?
Fantastic! I just used two pounds of 93% turkey since Wifey has an intolerance with beef. It was so delicious and I ate it every day at lunch for a week with the leftovers!
If I double the recipe, how long would you bake it?
If I were to double I would probably mix it all together, but make two loaves and bake for the same amount of time and check temp to make sure they are both done. The internal temp should be 160 degrees.
This was delicious! I must have not compressed it enough into a loaf because it kinda fell apart LOL. But that’s ok because it was tasty still. It was pretty good with the ketchup glaze but I ended up putting some sugar free BBQ sauce on the side and loved it even more with that!
This meatloaf is FANTASTIC!! The only change I made was to throw my oats in my bullet because my husband and son wouldn’t have liked the texture of the whole oats. It came out perfect! So moist and flavorful. We all gobbled it up! I will 100% be making this again and again!
This meatloaf recipe is SO good! I have a bit of an aversion for ground turkey, so was a bit leery, but followed the recipe so I could track calories properly and it is so tasty! Stayed nice and moist, had great flavour, and I couldn’t stop eating it!
OMG! This is amazing! I altered the recipe a little. Instead of beef and turkey, I used 2 lbs of 85/15 percent beef. I used regular ketchup rather than sugar free. I have been trying to find a meatloaf recipe for years. My husband normally takes a bite and runs, he hates meatloaf. He ate two pieces of this recipe, he loved it. So glad I gave it a try 🙂
Yum, yum, and yum! Just made this tonight. Thank you! I invited the boyfriend over for dinner without having made it before because I have that much faith in your recipes!
Best meatloaf I’ve ever made! The family loved it. Thanks for the recipe!
Do you think I can cut this recipe in half and make it in muffin cups? Thanks so much.
What might be a good egg substitute for this dish? My son is allergic is eggs.
This meatloaf is amazing!! I love so many of your recipes, so thank you for sharing them with the world! I made the meatloaf tonight, and let’s just say – I cannot keep my fork out of the Tupperware that the leftovers are stored in! So good!! Thanks again!!
I LOVE meatloaf and feel like I can’t say it without referencing wedding crashes.. This was an amazing recipe!! I just made this last night and am hooked!
Thank you for always making the best recipes. Each week I always make multiple recipes of yours! & this is another great one to add to our rotation!
WOW!! This recipe really lives up to its name!! My kids don’t like meatloaf but LOVED this one! They had no idea that it had turkey OR oats in it and were sure the glaze had brown sugar in it! It’s very filling and moist and I’m so excited I get to bring it for lunch this week too!!
Do you think this would be just as good with ground chicken??
I think that it should work well. Let me know how it went!
Thank you for this meatloaf recipe. Always game to try something new.
However, when making the gravy you said: “While that reaches a boil in a bowl add 3/4 cup water and then 1/3 cup water.” One of those water measurements should be a different ingredient to thicken the gravy?
I’m assuming in your instant brown gravy recipe you meant “3/4 cup water and 1/3 cup FLOUR,” not “3/4 cup water and 1/3 cup water” as the mini-recipe suggests. Hey, I was going with it until you suggest to add MORE water to make it thinner!
Will be trying this soon. Sounds yummy!
I just fixed it! Thanks so much for letting me know! No matter how many times I edit I feel like there’s always one thing I miss.
Question under the ketchup glaze – I don;t understand this:
While that reaches a boil in a bowl add 3/4 cup water and then 1/3 cup water.
In this paragraph.
In a small sauce pan add 1-1/2 cups water and add 1 tbsp of better than bouillon beef broth base (you could also use a bouillon cube or two depending on the size of them) and let it come to a boil. While that reaches a boil in a bowl add 3/4 cup water and then 1/3 cup water. Whisk it extremely well (like your life depends on how well you whisk this mixture). When your done slowly pour it into the boiling beef broth while whisking constantly until thickened.
Hi Dave! I just fixed it. Sorry about that. It’s 1/3 cup flour to the water, not water to water. My mistake!