Tender Juicy Meatloaf

 As part of my project to improve my cooking skills I decided to try to find the reason that everyone seems to hate meatloaf. And I don’t mean the Musician known as Meatloaf.  

Photo credit- Internet

I made a meatloaf Sunday. I was in the mood for meatloaf sandwiches so made a small one just so I’d have the left overs. (Like a good hamburger, meatloaf is there – you know you sang it) Anyway, while it was in the oven I was perusing Facebook and saw one of their many “Lists”.  It was foods  Boomers should get rid of or something like that and there was the lowly meatloaf. The Comments were eye opening.

Meatloaf should Never be Dry

Photo credit- Flickr

Everyone talked about their mother’s meatloaf. How it was this dry lump of ground meat.  And you know what? They were right! After I thought about it I remembered I didn’t like meatloaf when I was growing up either. One of the first things I did when I was on my own and realized it was learn to cook or starve was to learn to make a juicy, tender meatloaf. 

I am a purist in that I use hamburger meat. I don’t mix it with pork or veal or any other kind of ground meat. You can if you want but I don’t. Next I hate slicing into a meatloaf and seeing lumps of bread. You get that when you just shred up some bread and soak it in milk. No I liked to use the bread to add a bit of flavor. My choice for breadcrumbs? A package of stove top chicken stuffing. But the real trick is the sautéed onion and green pepper. 

To keep the meatloaf from falling apart the onions and green pepper need to be chopped very fine then softened by sautéing for about 4-5 minutes so they will not be crunchy bits. 

If I have chicken broth I use that for the liquid instead of water for a fuller flavor. 

Here’s my Easy, Peasy Meatloaf Recipe

What you need

• 2 lb ground beef
• 1 package of Stove top Stuffing mix  (16 oz) for chicken
• 1 Cup water or chicken broth
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 1/2 C Barbecue Sauce or catsup (divided)
• 1 small yellow onion
• 1 small green pepper

Instructions

Heat oven to 375 F

1. Chop onion and pepper into small pieces and sauté in a little oil at low heat for about 5 minutes. Don’t let them burn. Set aside
2. Place meat, stuffing mix, water (broth) and 1/4 cup Barbecue sauce/catsup in a bowl.
3. Gently mix with your hands until just blended.
4.  Add the Sautéed veggies and blend 
5.  Line a sheet pan with foil or parchment paper
6. Shape into a loaf
7.  Top with remaining sauce/catsup
8.  Bake 1 hour or until done

Photo Credit- Flickr

I like to try different things with my meatloaf- maybe a dash of Worcestershire Sauce or maybe A1 Sauce for a little extra flavor. I always use onion but sometimes I skip the green pepper if I don’t have one handy. Maybe add some cheese in the center of my loaf. If your bread crumbs aren’t seasoned don’t forget the salt and pepper. When using the Stove top as bread crumbs I skip the salt and pepper. There’s enough in the stuffing mix.

I hope you never have a dry meatloaf again!