Basic Meatloaf made with lean ground beef, finely minced onion, green onion, celery, and green pepper, and shown here with a Brown Gravy.

Basic Meatloaf

Don't believe for a minute that you cannot get a nice, moist meatloaf without using a high fat ground beef like ground chuck. I love ground chuck and use it exclusively in burgers for the best flavor, or in recipes where I can drain off the excess fat. Is it tasty and delicious? Yes! But, let's face it.

Ground chuck is also a very high fat beef and really not ideal for a baked meatloaf, unless you don't mind all the accumulated fat the meat swims in during cooking. Plus, all that grease makes it more messy to deal with and your meatloaf will be so saturated in fat, it will likely crumble.

This recipe uses a leaner ground sirloin, but with the addition of vegetables - onion, celery, bell pepper and mushrooms - not only adding great flavor, but also keeping the meat nice and moist, not at all dry and not drenched with all that fat. It's a delicious basic meatloaf recipe - nice and moist and plenty flavorful. The key here is including vegetables, either minced with a food processor or finely minced by hand- and your kids won't even know that they are in there.

As far as glazes go, I prefer the classic and simple ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar glaze with my meatloaf as shown in the picture below - I just happen to like the tangy contrast personally - my husband prefers it with a homemade gravy, as pictured above because he likes the gravy with the typical side dish mashed potatoes. I also have used my Rotel sauce that is just delicious with this meatloaf that you might like to try. Serve your meatloaf with some Homemade Mashed Potatoes and a green veggie like steamed broccoli, southern green beans or a nice mixed garden salad.

It's a great basic meatloaf and I hope you enjoy it! Here's how to make it.

If you think this sounds yummy, I'd sure ♥ it if you'd click to pin it, tweet it, stumble it, or share it on Facebook to help spread the word - thanks!

Share

Tweet

Recipe: Basic Meatloaf

©From the Kitchen of Deep South Dish

Prep time: 15 min |Cook time: 2 hours |

Yield: About 4 to 6 servings

Add this recipe to ZipList!

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 pounds of ground sirloin
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium sweet or yellow onion, minced
• 3 green onions, minced
• 1 stalk celery, minced
• 1/2 of a green bell pepper, minced
• 4 slices of white or whole wheat bread, torn in chunks and ground
• 1/2 cup of mushrooms, minced
• 1 cup chicken broth or stock
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning (like Slap Ya Mama), or to taste
• Hot sauce, to taste

For the Glaze:

• 1/2 cup of ketchup
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Instructions

Put ground beef in a large mixing bowl. Add in the remaining ingredients, mix gently and place into a large 10 x 5 loaf pan, pressing mixture in lightly. Place meatloaf pan on top rack in oven and place an aluminum covered baking pan on the rack underneath to catch any overflow drippings.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 1 hour 30 minutes to 2 hours or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. If extra time is needed, you may tent with aluminum foil to prevent burning and continue baking until done. For glaze, combine the ketchup, mustard and brown sugar and stir well. Brush glaze across the top of meatloaf the last 10 minutes of cooking. Alternatively, serve the meatloaf with a brown gravy instead of glazing.

Allow to rest 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with rice, or Homemade Mashed Potatoes and a green veggie or salad.

Cook's Notes: Shape into two smaller loaves if desired, and check temperature at the earlier time. I use a food processor to mince all of the vegetables. Pulse garlic cloves first, cut the onion, green onion, celery, and green pepper into chunks and add to the garlic, processing about 10 seconds. Add the vegetables to the ground beef and then process the bread and mushrooms together about 10 seconds and add to ground beef.

Use a leaner ground beef like sirloin as noted in the recipe, rather than a higher fat beef, like chuck. The minced vegetables provide plenty of moisture to make for a very tender and juicy meatloaf, and any higher fat beef will likely not hold together well. May also use a mix of ground beef and sweet Italian sausage, or a product sold as "meatloaf mix" which typically is equal parts of ground beef, veal and pork.

Source: http://deepsouthdish.com

PRINT THIS Requires Adobe Reader - download it free!

©Deep South Dish

Adapted from the Food Processor Bible

☛ Are you on Facebook? If you haven't already, come and join the party! We have a lot of fun & there's always room for one more at the table.

Check These Recipes Out Too!

Creole Meatloaf in Tomato Gravy
Slow Cooker Meatloaf
Sweet and Spicy Rotel Sauce for Meatloaf

Posted by Mary on September 16, 2010

Images and Full Post Content including Recipe ©Deep South Dish. Pinning and sharing links is welcomed and encouraged, but please do not repost or republish elsewhere such as other blogs, websites, or forums without explicit prior permission. All rights reserved.

Material Disclosure: Unless otherwise noted, you should assume that post links to the providers of goods and services mentioned, establish an affiliate relationship and/or other material connection and that I may be compensated when you purchase from a provider. You are never under any obligation to purchase anything when using my recipes and you should always perform due diligence before buying goods or services from anyone via the Internet or offline.

.