Photo: Renee Comet (photographer) · Public domain
Classic Meatloaf
The great American weeknight dinner: ground meat bound with a milk-soaked breadcrumb panade, shaped into a loaf and baked under a sweet-tangy ketchup glaze. One bowl, one pan, almost impossible to get wrong — and the leftovers make a legendary sandwich.
Ingredients
- Ground beef · or half beef, half pork700 g
- Onion · finely chopped1
- Garlic · minced3 cloves
- Eggs2
- Worcestershire sauce · or soy sauce1 tbsp
- Salt1.5 tsp
- Black pepper0.5 tsp
- Dried thyme · or parsley, optional1 tsp
- Panade (the key to moisture)
- Breadcrumbs · panko, or 2 slices torn bread1 cup
- Milk0.5 cup
- Ketchup glaze
- Ketchup0.5 cup
- Brown sugar2 tbsp
- Dijon mustard · or vinegar1 tbsp
Steps
Heat the oven to 175°C (350°F). Chop the onion and garlic as finely as you can — coarse pieces make the loaf crumble when sliced.
- ⏲ 5 min
Stir the breadcrumbs and milk together in a bowl and let them soak for 5 minutes. This panade is what keeps meatloaf moist.
- ⏲ 2 min
Add the ground meat, onion, garlic, eggs, Worcestershire, salt, pepper and thyme to the soaked panade and mix gently with your hands — just until combined. Overworking it makes the loaf tough.
Turn the mixture onto a lined sheet pan and shape it into a free-form loaf about 20 × 11 cm. Baking it on a sheet instead of in a loaf pan browns all four sides.
Whisk the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard into a glaze and brush half of it over the loaf.
- ⏲ 40 min
Bake at 175°C for 40 minutes.
- ⏲ 22 min 30 sec
Brush on the rest of the glaze and bake another 20–25 minutes, until deeply glossy and 71°C (160°F) in the center.
- ⏲ 10 min
Rest for 10 minutes before slicing — cut too soon and the juices run out and it falls apart. Serve in thick slices.
Tips & Variations
Variations
- Bacon-wrapped: Drape bacon over the loaf before baking for a salty crust that seals in the juices.
- Cheese-stuffed: Press in half the mixture, add a line of mozzarella, cover with the rest — cheese pull on every slice.
- Mini meatloaves: Divide into a muffin tin and bake just 25–30 minutes. Perfect for lunchboxes.
- Turkey meatloaf: Leaner with ground turkey or chicken; add 1 tbsp olive oil so it doesn't dry out.
- BBQ glaze: Swap the ketchup for barbecue sauce for a smoky finish.
Tips
- Don't skip the panade (breadcrumbs + milk). Without it you've just made one giant hamburger patty.
- Mix gently, by hand. Kneading the meat gives it a springy, sausage-like texture.
- Use a sheet pan, not a loaf pan — a free-form loaf isn't sitting in its own fat, so all sides brown.
- Times are a guide; 71°C (160°F) in the center is the real doneness test. A thermometer beats guessing.
- Rest 10 minutes. Slice it hot and it collapses.
- Mashed potatoes and green beans are the classic plate. Cold leftovers make a famously good next-day sandwich.
The basics behind this dish
- Salt: When You Add It Matters More Than How MuchThe same amount of salt either draws water out or seasons all the way through, depending on when it goes in. Osmosis, seasoning in layers, and why salt types are not interchangeable by volume.
- Browning and the Maillard ReactionMeat fails to brown for one of three reasons: it is wet, the pan is cool, or you put too much in at once. Plus how the brown film stuck to the pan becomes your sauce.
- Cooking Meat: Temperature, Resting, and Cutting Against the GrainDoneness is a core temperature, not a number of minutes. What resting actually does, how to handle a thick cut, and why the direction you slice changes the texture.
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