Is there any better comfort food than this old fashioned meatloaf recipe? Especially a meatloaf that’s perfect in texture and flavor. Who needs a cozy blanket when you’ve got comfort food like this. This recipe uses 2 pounds of ground beef, perfect for serving that hungry family. Let’s take a look.
What Makes A Really Good Meatloaf?
We’ve all had some old fashioned meatloaf recipes that are swimming in grease, meatloafs that fall apart and meatloafs that are dry. And that’s exactly why meatloaf gets such a bad rap at times.
Here’s a recipe that will guarantee a perfect texture meatloaf. A reliable simple meatloaf recipe you can be proud to serve your family.
I’m a sucker for a good meatloaf. Something happens when you mix ground beef, herbs, seasoning, bread crumbs, celery and onion. Smear that sweet and tangy glaze over the top and I’ll swat your fork away to get at a slice first.
I make old-fashioned meatloaf recipe just like my mom did. Just right seasoned ground beef, topped with a sweet and tangy glaze.
I’ve made this meatloaf for about 40 years now, using no recipe. I simply learned the technique and the process to know how to know the feel of the meat to get the texture just right,
A meatloaf recipe with a just-right firm texture of tender and juicy without falling apart, great flavor and a perfectly sweet and tangy glaze. This is a 2 lb meatloaf recipe, perfect for feeding that family. That’s what makes a great meatloaf.
Note for those who need to know, this is a meatloaf recipe without milk.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Ketchup
- Panko Bread Crumbs
- 2 Eggs
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Thyme
- To mix into 2 lbs. Lean Ground Beef
Ingredients Substitutions
- Ketchup: Your favorite mild flavored BBQ Sauce makes a good substitution here.
- Mustard: Dijon mustard adds a unique depth of flavor, but if you don’t have Dijon, use plain prepared yellow mustard. My Mom always did.
- Panko: A great substitution and one my Mom always used is crushed saltine crackers. Just place saltines in a plastic zip lock bag and press the air out of the bag. Using a rolling pin, smash the saltines into a fine crumb. You can also use a food processor. You’ll need about 1 sleeve of saltines to make 1 cup. Voila, you’ve got meatloaf with saltines.
- Ground Beef: Substitute ground turkey. Purchase a mix of dark meat and white meat. I’ve never had good luck making meatloaf with ground turkey breast or ground chicken breast. It’s just too dry.
Ingredients To Make Meatloaf Glaze
- Ketchup
- Tabasco Sauce or your favorite hot sauce
- Dijon Mustard, or regular yellow mustard
- Brown Sugar, dark or light will work well here
Step by Step Instructions, It’s Easy
Step 1: Practice you knife skills here and chop the celery, onions and garlic as small as you can. Small pieces will mix better with the raw ground beef. Large pieces may cause the meat to separate and fall apart.
Pro Tip Knife Skills: Always keep the hand that’s gripping the knife clean and dry. A wet hand could cause slips resulting in nicks or worse a nasty slice on your hand.
Step 2: Sautee the celery and onions in a fry pan until just tender. About 5 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and cook until fragrant. About 1 minute. Remove from heat.
Step 3: In a large bowl, add the ground beef, sauteed vegetables, catsup, mustard, eggs, thyme, Worcestershire Sauce, salt and pepper.
Step 4: Using your very clean hands, gently toss the ingredients until well blended. Hands are always the best tool for mixing meatloaf. Using a large spoon will crush everything together, creating a tighter mix, which can cause the meatloaf to be dry and too dense in texture.
Step 5: Shape the meat mixture into a loaf. I like the sheet pan meatloaf method. Simply turn the mixed ground beef onto a sheet pan that’s been coated with non-stick spray or a sheet of parchment paper. Start shaping the loaf pushing in with your hands rotating from side to side until a loaf is formed. I usually create a loaf that’s about 2 – 3 inches thick and about 11-ish inches long.
Step 6: In a small bowl, add the ingredients for the glaze and using a fork blend the glaze well. Using a brush, liberally slather the glaze on top of the uncooked loaf. You’re ready to bake. If you’d like, take a sharp knife and score the top of the meatloaf before spreading on the glaze. It’s just provides more nooks and crannies for the glaze to penetrate.
FAQ’s And Tips For Making Meatloaf
I’ve never mixed meatloaf ingredients any other way than with my hands. Don’t overwork the meat mixture. Overworking makes for a mushy combination and a tough end result. And coat our hands with a thin layer of oil. This will keep the mixture from sticking all over your fingers.
With your hands. You can shape a meatloaf using a loaf pan or casserole dish. I actually prefer making sheet pan meatloaf without a loaf pan. Simply dump the meatloaf mix onto a greased or parchment lined sheet pan. Using your hands start gently pressing the meat together until a loaf is formed. Press down or push together cracks in the loaf for a smooth meatloaf that will stay together. Using the sheet pan method, with the loaf fully exposed to heat, the end result is an ever so slight crusty effect on the loaf because it’s directly exposed to heat. A loaf pan, with its high sides will produce more of a steamed product. And the meatloaf will look more like a loaf of bread.
Don’t go too lean on the beef. Meatloaf needs a little fat content to help with that moist texture and flavor. 15% fat is a good ratio. I’ve never been successful making meatloaf out of lean chicken or turkey. 20% can be too greasy.
Do you cover meatloaf with foil when baking? No. Cook the meatloaf uncovered. If you cover the meatloaf, you’ll get more of a steamed end result. An uncovered meatloaf, especially if making sheet-pan meatloaf will result in stickier glaze and the meat will garner a “crust” leaving the inside tender and delightfully perfect in texture.
That all depends on the thickness of the shaped loaf. To be safe, use a digital read thermometer and cook the meatloaf until it registers a 160 degree temperature in the center of the loaf. That usually takes around 50 minutes.
Always consistently small dice your vegetables and cook them before mixing with the raw meat. This is one step towards a meatloaf that doesn’t fall apart after it’s cooked. Also, a fine consistency of the bread crumb mixture is very important. Once everything is mixed together, take a small piece of the meatball mix and roll it in the palm of your hands like you’re forming a meatball. If the mixture readily forms a meatball, you’re good to form your meatloaf into a loaf.
Glaze, glaze, glaze. Yes! A meatloaf wouldn’t be the same without it. What you see in the recipe below is an old-fashioned meatloaf glaze of catsup and mustard. Make it yours, get creative with ingredients, but never cook a meatloaf without it. It’s all about that complimentary sweet/savory flavoring for the end result.
As with most meat recipes, meatloaf likes to rest before serving. A 10 minute rest tented with foil, will yield a more sliceable product. Trying to slice the meatloaf when it’s just out of the oven, will cause the slices to crumble and fall apart. Also, the ratio of binding (bread crumbs and egg) is more than likely not correct.
Ever thought about dividing that large classic meatloaf into smaller individual meatloaf servings? Great idea. Use a 1-cup measuring cup to scoop out the meatloaf mix. Form into balls, then smash down slightly so they stay in place on the roasting pan. Glaze and cook until an instant read thermometer inserted into the middle of one of the loaves reads 165 degrees.
In Conclusion
I’m of the opinion that you can’t serve meatloaf without mashed potatoes for a side dish. And this Old Fashioned Green Bean recipe is also a good choice.
I hope you give this traditional old fashioned meatloaf with panko a try. And if you do, please come back and let me know how you liked it and give the recipe a star rating.
And I hope you find these step by step instructions helpful.
And if you’re looking for more beef recipes for dinner, take a look at my Beef Category. You’ll find lots of great dinner ideas, including the most popular on my site for Crockpot Cola BBQ Beef Brisket. It’s another great recipe for feeding that hungry family.
Related Recipes
Simple Classic Old Fashioned Meatloaf Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons oil
- 2 stalks celery cleaned and diced
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic diced
- 2 pounds ground beef 15% fat
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup catsup
- 2 Tablespoons dijon mustard
- 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon dried thyme
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs or crushed saltine crackers
- For the Meatloaf Glaze:
- 1/4 cup catsup
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon Mustard heaping
- 3 shakes Tabasco sauce
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.
- Heat fry pan over medium high heat. Add oil until hot. Add onion and celery and cook until tender. About 5-6 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Remove from heat.
- In a large bowl add the ground beef, salt, pepper, onion, celery, garlic mixture, catsup, mustard, Worcestershire, thyme, eggs and panko. With your hands blend mixture until well mixed.
- In a small bowl, combine the catsup, mustard, Tabasco and brown sugar to make the glaze. Stir well until blended.
- Form the mixture into a loaf using either a loaf pan, sheet pan or oven safe casserole. Smear the loaf with the glaze mixture. Bake 50 minutes or until thermometer reaches 160 degrees.
Notes
Nutrition
Old Fashioned Meatloaf Recipe …It’s what’s for Dinner.
I do have to admit that I’ve never been a fan of meatloaf. My mother made them all of the time because she loved using the leftovers for sandwiches. So many I just got tired of them as a kid. Don’t know. I’ve only made one meatloaf since I’ve been married (47 years), so Bobby used to order it when we we went and it was on the menu. I guess that satisfies him. 🙂 I do like you topping with the Tabasco and dijon. That sounds like a tasty addition. It’s a gorgeous loaf and I’m sure quite good, just like everything else you made.
I almost never make meatloaf for some reason. Now you have me hungry for it! This looks terrific — nice, classic recipe. Thanks!
Hi Lea Ann,
Just a quick question what kind of brown sugar do you use the light or dark in the glaze? I make my meatloaf like yours except instead of cooking the celery, onions and
I also add 1-2 Tablespoons of bell pepper, I process them in the food processor until it is liquid then add to the meat mixture. Instead of Panko I use 10 saltines and 5 tbsp of Italian breadcrumbs crushed to a powder. Then I add 2 beaten eggs to the 2 lbs ground beef, (I use half ground sirloin and half ground chuck) and mix with my hands and form into a loaf.
Thanks
Katherine
There is nothing better in the whole world than a great meatloaf! This looks fantastic!
I make basically the same meatloaf recipe but instead of catsup I use a small can of HERDEZ red salsa, gives it little zing. I use what ever I have on hand such as ground soda crackers, oatmeal or crumbled bread for the stuffings, all soaked in the HERDEZ
I bet there are a lot of us out there whose mom’s (and grandmother’s) never wrote down these kind of recipes. Kudos to you! Happy New Year!
Lea Ann, sign me up for a hefty slice of that perfect meatloaf! AND the mashed potatoes and peas. Then set me up on the sofa with the cozy blanket and tea and cookies.
Done! 🙂 Happy New Year to You Jean.
I love meatloaf, especially the sandwiches that follow. This looks like a great meatloaf with a delicious glaze.
Those sandwiches that follow are most certainly a highlight. Thanks for stopping in and taking the time to comment.
Isn’t it interesting how some dishes are never as good as mom made – I have a few of those myself. Yours sounds delicious and the texture looks just the way I like it – not too soft and not too firm but just right. Now you have me craving meatloaf and Bev makes it like your mom and I don’t think we’ve ever written it down. Hope you guys have a very happy New Year – I just read about it next morning.
Us too. Osso Buco, a movie and to bed by 10:00. Just the way we like it.
Hi Lea Ann, love a good meatloaf and especially the sandwich the next day. Love the glaze you made. Wishing you a Happy New Year, take care!
It’s not meatloaf without a glaze – in my humble opinion. Happy New Year Cheri.
LOVE meatloaf and the sandwiches that follow! I am going to try this one because it has some different seasonings than my recipe. I make the same glaze but haven’t used Tabasco in it … another great idea. Happy New Year, Lea Ann!
Happy New Year Vickie! Here’s to a delicious 2017.