Not Your Mama’s Meatloaf
Hello! Let’s talk meatloaf.
The word itself sounds boring and blah. It doesn’t really conjure up images of an exciting meal.
For me, meatloaf is a comfort food. Meatloaf, mashed potatoes and some corn. That’s a meal I can get behind, but only if it’s MY meatloaf.
My meatloaf always goes over well with people. I often hear things like, “this is better than my mom’s/ grandma’s/ wife’s”. I don’t think it really registered with me how good it actually was until I had a big group of friends coming home from Afghanistan.
I told the guys I’d fix them anything they wanted when they got back. They chose meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn. (Really??) I couldn’t believe that was what they wanted. So, I fixed a couple meatloaves for them. Y’all, I’ve never seen food disappear that fast!
Most of us got our recipe for meatloaf from our moms. I did! However, like me, my mom didn’t make boring meatloaf. I stuck with my mom’s recipe, but then I added my own spin to it. Everyone has a recipe for meatloaf. Here’s mine. It’s not your mama’s meatloaf, unless you’re one of my kids.
Here’s what you’ll need:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef (I use 93% lean)
1 medium size onion (diced)
1 medium sized green bell pepper (diced)
3 stalks celery (diced)
1/2 cup chunky salsa
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic pepper
1/2 garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp McCormick Hamburger Seasoning
1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
1/2 TBSP Frank’s Red Hot
2 TBSP Ketchup
2 TBSP BBQ sauce
1 egg
3 slices bread (torn)
Let’s do this!
Preheat oven to 350°
In a large bowl, break up ground beef. Season meat with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and hamburger seasoning.
Add salsa, Worcestershire, Frank’s, a good squeeze of ketchup and a good pour of BBQ sauce. (I don’t really measure the ketchup and BBQ sauce. Just get some in there)
Dice onion, pepper and celery (the holy trinity of southern cooking!) and place in bowl with beef.
Tear up 3 slices of bread and add to beef mixture.
Finally, add 1 egg.
Now get in there with your hands and squish it all together until well combined.
At this point you should check the consistency of the meat mixture. You want it to be a consistency that holds together pretty well. I check mine by grabbing a piece and holding it up to see if it holds. Mine usually holds well and if it falls apart, it’s slowly and in chunks. If your meatloaf doesn’t hold together add more bread.
The meatloaf pan I use is one that my mom got me. It’s got an insert that allows the fat to drain.
Spray your pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Place meatloaf mixture into pan. Pat it down and make sure it fills the pan evenly.
Place meatloaf in oven and bake for 45 minutes. I bet you are saying, “what about topping it with ketchup??” Don’t worry about that right now. We will get that on there later, I promise.
After 45 minutes, take meatloaf out of the oven. Top it with ketchup and BBQ sauce. Some people like a lot of ketchup, some people don’t. Use the amount you like, but cut that in half because we are also using BBQ sauce. I usually put the ketchup on in one direction and the BBQ sauce the other way. Mix the 2 together by spreading it with a knife.
Place back in oven and cook for 15 minutes.
That’s it! Slice it up and dig in. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and friends do!
Thanks for stopping by!
Not Your Mama’s Meatloaf
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs ground beef I use 93% lean
- 1 medium size onion diced
- 1 medium sized green bell pepper diced
- 3 stalks celery diced
- 1/2 cup chunky salsa
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp garlic pepper
- 1/2 garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp McCormick Hamburger Seasoning
- 1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 TBSP Frank’s Red Hot
- 2 TBSP Ketchup
- 2 TBSP BBQ sauce
- 1 egg
- 3 slices bread torn
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- In a large bowl, break up ground beef.
- Season meat with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and hamburger seasoning.
- Add salsa, Worcestershire, Frank’s, a good squeeze of ketchup and a good pour of BBQ sauce. (I don’t really measure the ketchup and BBQ sauce. Just get some in there)
- Dice onion, pepper and celery and place in bowl with beef.
- Tear up 3 slices of bread and add to beef mixture.
- Finally, add 1 egg.
- Now get in there with your hands and squish it all together until well combined.
- At this point you should check the consistency of the meat mixture. You want it to be a consistency that holds together pretty well. If your meatloaf doesn’t hold together add more bread.
- Spray your pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Place meatloaf mixture into pan. Pat it down and make sure it fills the pan evenly.
- Place meatloaf in oven and bake for 45 minutes.
- After 45 minutes, take meatloaf out of the oven. Top it with ketchup and BBQ sauce. Some people like a lot of ketchup, some people don’t. Use the amount you like, but cut that in half because we are also using BBQ sauce.Mix the 2 together by spreading it with a knife.
- Place back in oven and cook for 15 minutes.