Meatloaf… Some people love it others hate it. If you are in the hate column, you probably have not had a meatloaf like this one! This is the most awesome meatloaf recipe you will ever make, I promise. It has great consistency, does not dry out, and has a great outer “crust”. Give this one a try.
Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 1 hr 30 min | Total Time: 1 hr 50 min |
Cuisine Type: American
Ingredients:
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 3 toes garlic (minced or garlic press)
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tbsp hot sauce (franks or comparable)
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp marjoram
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp parsley (can use ¼ cup fresh)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 ½ cups seasoned bread crumbs
For the GLAZE
- ½ cup ketchup
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Add olive oil and chopped onions to a pan over medium-high heat. Saute onion until translucent and tender. Add garlic and cook for additional two minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. Allow to cool for at least five minutes.
- Whisk together eggs, milk, hot sauce, and mustard in a small bowl.
- In a separate large bowl, add beef, pork, cooked onion and garlic, ¾ cups bread crumbs, marjoram, thyme, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour in milk/egg mixture. Now the fun part. Use your hands to mix everything up. Really get in there and get things mixed very well. (note – you can also throw all the ingredients into your mixer with the mixing paddle attachment and let it mix on low for a couple of minutes to reduce the mess)
- After you mix it all up, assess the mixture for wetness to dryness ratio. If the mixture seems too wet to stay in a loaf form on its own, add more bread crumbs. If the mixture seems too dry, add more milk. The type of breadcrumbs used and the environment of your kitchen have a lot to do with the consistency of the mixture. Use some trial and error…I prefer to keep the mixture a little more on the wet side as long as it will stay in a loaf shape on its own.
- You can cook this concoction up in a normal loaf pan, however I prefer a little more crust on my meat loaf. So…find a cooling rack, tin foil, and roasting pan. Line the roasting pan in tin foil, place the cooling rack on top of the pan, then cut a piece of tin foil to cover the length of the cooling rack. Poke holes all around the tin foil with a skewer through the cooling rack to allow the fat drippings to fall into the roasting pan. This setup allows for a larger surface of the loaf to be roasted without being steamed in a normal loaf pan, causing more crystallization and crust from the glaze.
- Take the meat mixture and form into a “loaf shape” on the cooling rack wrapped in tin foil. Now make the glaze in a separate bowl by whisking together the ketchup, brown sugar, and apple cider vinegar. Brush a uniform coat of the glaze onto the loaf of meat. You should have some leftover glaze that you will use shortly.
- Stick the loaf in your preheated oven and cook for 45 minutes. Pull it out, re-glaze, and stick back in for another 15 minutes.
- The meat loaf is done when the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. It should be awful close after the first hour of cooking, but could take another 20 minutes or more so it is imperative to check the internal temp to determine if it is done. ENJOY!
Adapted from A Feast for the Eyes. Thanks Debby!