An Easy Meatloaf Recipe For A Busy Cook

There are as many meatloaf recipes are there are cooks. This one is my favorite, an easy meatloaf recipe that can be varied to suit your tastes. Start with the basic recipe and add seasonings from the list below to suit your family. You can vary the meats used and the seasonings.

To keep my meatloaf recipe easy, I use ground beef. Many cooks use a combination of ground beef, ground pork or ground veal. Some use sausage in their mixture. If you desire a mixture of meats, use 1/2 to 3/4 pound of pork, veal or sausage to 1 pound of beef. Using the seasoned Italian style bread crumbs seasons the meatloaf, making this recipe easy and quick to prepare. I don't actually even measure anything. I just dump the ingredients together using a reasonable amount of each. If the mixture is too moist, add more bread crumbs. If too dry, add more ketchup. It really is an easy meatloaf recipe that is foolproof.

Basic Easy Meat Loaf Recipe

1 1/2 pounds ground chuck

3/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs

2 eggs

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon each garlic powder and onion powder, optional

1/4 cup catsup + more for top if desired

2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, optional but good

1. Preheat oven to to 375 degrees F.

2. In a large loaf pan or ovenproof baking dish, mix all ingredients.

3. Shape into loaf shape.

4. Bake at 375 for 1 hour or until done.

5. I like to cover the top with more catsup during the last 20 minutes of baking.

You can try additional seasonings such as diced bell pepper, chopped celery leaves, minced parsley and thyme. If using sausage, try adding finely diced apple, and eliminate the garlic, onion powder and Worcestershire sauce. Small diced vegetables such as potato, carrots, or peas can be added if you like. Some cooks add chopped olives or chopped pickles or hard boiled eggs. You can substitute canned soup for the catsup, pouring more over the top as it bakes. The variations are endless.

If you are blessed with leftovers of this easy meatloaf recipe, this makes a delicious sandwich filling the next day, but don't count on it. My family eats this up.

Cooking Meatloaf the Newbie Way

When you were a kid, your mom never failed to amaze you with her cooking. In fact, your favorite treat was that terrific crockpot meatloaf recipe she cooks whenever there are special occasions in the family.

Indeed, nothing is more palatable than to have a crockpot meatloaf recipe on the table. It makes every holiday worth celebrating and an ordinary day special.

Now that you are already a grown up, you want to learn cooking as well and of course you want to start with a delicious meatloaf recipe. However, what bothers you is that meatloaf can be complicated to cook. In fact, as far as you can remember, your mother has used several spices and aromatic ingredients to make her every meatloaf recipe captivating.

Perhaps, this is not the ripe time for you to aim for the most complicated meatloaf recipe. You are just a newbie thus you can settle for an easy-to-make yet delicious meatloaf recipe. Here is an example...

In this meatloaf recipe, you will need the following:

1 ½ pounds ground beef

1 cup bread crumbs

1 cup milk

1/3 cup ketchup

1 egg

2 tablespoons prepared mustard

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 onion (chopped)

salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

2. In a bowl, combine the beef, bread crumbs, onion, milk and egg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Place the mixture in a lightly greased 5x9 loaf pan or shape it into a loaf and press it into a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish.

3. In a separate bowl, mix sugar ketchup and prepared mustard. Mix well. Glaze the mixture over the meatloaf.

4. Bake it for 1 hour at 175 degrees Celsius.

This meatloaf recipe is so easy that it will only take you an hour and 10 minutes to prepare and cook it. Isn't that wonderful? Your delicious meatloaf recipe that makes up 8 servings is now ready to be devoured.

Another easy meatloaf recipe is the meatless meatloaf. Perhaps you will be asking, is there something like meatless meatloaf? Certainly, there is. And it is also one of the easiest recipes that you can cook.

Gather the following ingredients to get started:

3 tablespoons dry vegetable bouillon

2 pints cottage cheese

1 cup pecans, chopped

½ cup milk

½ cup butter, melted

½ cup onions, chopped

5 eggs, beaten

7 ounces Special K

1 tablespoon Accent

1 tablespoon green bell pepper, chopped.

Here is what you should do. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix all ingredients. Bake it in a 9x5 loaf pan for an hour. That's it, your meatless meatloaf is done! In a little more than an hour, you can already savor your first meatloaf recipe.

If you want a no fail newbie meatloaf recipe, the aforementioned recipes can be what you are looking for. They will neither keep you too long nor keep your tasters waiting. They can arrive smoky on the table too soon that they can expect it.

After you have learned the basics in cooking, you can start experimenting different recipes. You can even make your own version of a tempting meatloaf recipe.

Cooking has never been this easy. Your qualms are stopping you then, you never imagined it could be this exciting and engrossing.

Cooking the Best Meatloaf Recipe

Meatloaf is a popular American meat dish. In order to enjoy the best meatloaf recipe that is comparable to a Belgian, Dutch and German treat, a meatloaf is best served when baked or smoked. For home cooking, searching for the best meatloaf to enjoy at home is a challenge. Local restaurants sometimes even have their own recipe in making meatloaf which they often market as the best meatloaf in town.

Sometimes, people have the notion that a meatloaf is just a big and hard lump of pork meat that does not look appetizing and does not look healthy. In reality, a meatloaf can be served with lower fat, lower carbohydrates and there are healthier meatloaf recipes to enjoy such as turkey meatloaf which is grounded and wrapped in bacon. The usual meatloaf recipe has oatmeal which is always the favorite one.

Here's a recipe that best presents the steps in making a meatloaf. The recipe also includes some significant ingredients to enhance the aroma and flavor to enjoy the best meatloaf recipe.

Ingredients Needed

The basic ingredients needed in making the best meatloaf recipe are the following:

Ground beef
Bread crumbs
Green bell peppers

Other ingredients needed to enhance the outcome of the meatloaf are the following:

Garlic powder
Chopped onions
One egg
Ketchup
Tomato Sauce
Worcestershire sauce
Brown Sugar
Dijon Mustard
Beef Stock
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and pepper

Instructions to Make a Meatloaf

Use a clean bowl and put in the following ingredients: tomato sauce, ketchup, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard and brown sugar.

Add in the beef stock and Worcestershire sauce. Mix and blend all the ingredients then let the mixture to settle for a few minutes.

Get another clean bowl then put in the following ingredients: ground beef, green bell pepper, onions, egg, bread crumbs, and garlic powder. Add the salt and pepper for seasoning. Mix and blend well.

Next thing to do is to combine the two mixtures and mix well.

Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees. Get and clean a loaf pan. Sprinkle some oil in the loaf pan. Then, pour in the meatloaf mixture in the pan.

Put the loaf pan inside the oven and let it cook for less than an hour.

Take out the loaf pan and make another tomato sauce mixture. Pour in the tomato sauce mixture in the meatloaf and put in the meatloaf again in the oven. Wait for 15 to 20 minutes and then remove the meatloaf.

Immediately serve the meatloaf since it is more tasteful while still hot.

Remember that there are several ways to cook a meatloaf. A meatloaf can be baked in an oven and it can be cooked using a crock pot. A crock pot also makes the meatloaf a lot more delicious although it may take some more time to cook than an oven. However, to enjoy the best meatloaf recipe, it is worth the entire wait.

Microwave Meatloaf

Many people hesitate to cook meat in the microwave. However, if done correctly it works fine. It is nice in the summer so you don't have to turn on your hot oven. I recommend using a silicone loaf form to make the meatloaf in the microwave. You can purchase a silicone loaf pan in specialty cooking stores. You may also find one at a Department Store such as Mervyns. Silicone is a nice way to go because they are very easy to clean. All you have to do is turn them inside-out to get all the leftovers that store themselves in the corners of your loaf pan. Another thing I like about silicone pans is you can fold them up for easy storage. Hence, they work great if you have limited cabinet space. If you are unable to locate a silicone loaf pan, or simply don't want to purchase one, you can try a glass loaf pan. My only complaint with glass loaf pans is that they tend to dry the meatloaf a little.

Ingredients

1 lb lean ground beef

1/2 cup barbecue sauce

1/4 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1 egg

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine ground beef, 1/4 cup of the barbecue sauce, onion, bread crumbs, egg, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir until well blended. Press mixture into microwaveable loaf pan. Spread remaining barbeque sauce over mixture.

Microwave on high 5 minutes; rotate 1/4 turn. Microwave an additional 5 minutes; rotate another 1/4 turn. If necessary, repeat until center is done.