Best Meatloaf Recipe (Tender & Juicy) (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to a great meat loaf? ›

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.

Eggs play a crucial role in meatloaf recipes. They add to its moisture and texture while binding all the other ingredients together.

By adding finely diced or pureed aromatic vegetables to your mixture, you are adding additional moisture into the meatloaf. Not only does this make your final product juicier, but it also adds lots of extra flavor.

Alternatively, rice, barley, corn flakes, crackers, and dried soup mix can also stand in as binding ingredients as well.

Mix ground beef, salt, pepper, onion, bell pepper, egg, tomatoes and oats together well and place in a baking dish. Shape into a loaf. Topping: Mix ketchup, brown sugar and mustard and spread on loaf.

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.

It brings out a sweetness and acidity that perfectly complements the dish, adding brightness to what might otherwise be a one-note dinner.

Another common reason meatloaf is mushy is too much filler, like breadcrumbs, bread, and oatmeal. Too much filler will stop it from baking correctly and becoming a fully formed meatloaf. So, just as you would reduce the amount of liquid you use, reduce the amount of filler you use.

Should you saute onions before adding to meatloaf? ›

I later learned how I could avoid this problem and make a fully smooth meatloaf by pre-cooking any vegetables, especially the onion, before adding them to the ground meat. This way the meatloaf gets the flavor without the rawness -- a method from the smart people at Cook's Illustrated.

The Basic Meatloaf Formula

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.

Additionally, metal pans can withstand higher temperatures than glass. Thus, metal pans are great for achieving nice, even browning (especially on foods that won't be in the oven long, like cookies or biscuits).

To prevent a soggy bottom, Bangor Daily News suggests draining the grease from the loaf pan 15 minutes before your cooking time is up; this helps guarantee all sides bake to perfection.

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.

Italian restaurant Rao's, however, has the perfect solution: Extra water. According to Food52, the restaurant uses a ratio of two pounds of meat to two pounds of water. As simple as it sounds, this will make your meatloaf lighter and more moist without reducing the texture to crumbles.

Beef or chicken broth works too but the bases has more flavor. It's way more flavorful than milk. Most liquids will help meatloaf stay moist so I love to use flavorful beef broth as much as possible. For even more flavor, one reader said she used 3/4 tsp of onion and garlic powder.

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.