I don't have a recipe written down, but I use ground turkey, since my brother will not eat beef or pork. Turkey requires a few different ingredients, such as mushrooms (fresh or dried & reconstituted), baking soda (about 1/4 tsp), and gelatin - I use one packet. I also use a panade made with the mushroom soaking liquid, chicken bouillon granules (I use Knorr brand) instead of salt, and a couple of eggs plus some fresh bread crumbs - enough to soak up the liquid. For spices, I use freshly ground black pepper (or smoked Habanero hot sauce), oregano, dried basil, and thyme. I also usually add some minced onion and a bit of olive oil.

I never use anything sweet in a meatloaf, and if I want a tomato flavor, I put Italian marinara sauce on top, but generally I never add any tomato to meatloaf. I have added leftover cooked potatoes, however, which I dice and carefully add to the mixture at the end.

The baking soda and gelatin help the texture of the ground turkey and help it stick together after being baked. I bake this meatloaf until it has an internal temperature of 165°, however long that takes.

I had friends in Louisiana who would add whatever leftover vegetables they had to their meatloaf (which was made with beef), and that was good also. That's where I got the idea to add leftover cooked potatoes. The baking soda and gelatin I learned from ATK.

I like the base part of this recipe mozzarella stuffed cheese recipe. MEATLOAF LINK. I'm not a fan of this glaze. I just mix together brown sugar and ketchup. I think you can use barbecue sauce or something else if you like.

I have never used a recipe either. I typically include a small amount of ground pork sausage as well as ground beef and use bread crumbs, not oatmeal or crackers. Seasonings tend to be whatever moves me at the time but minced onions, S&P, Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard and thyme are almost always involved. I often include some sort of chutney as well. Have also been known to include goat cheese or blue cheese crumbles from time to time :-)

I grew up without any tomato or ketchup topping on my meatloaf and don't care for that version at all.

And when I was married, my DH would not eat red meat so I made turkey meatloaf. I made it exactly the same way although I did amp up the seasonings as ground turkey is so bland and tasteless.

I would just add that since I add Italian seasonings to my meatloaf, I often cut it into cubes to add to pasta sauce, in place of meatballs.

I don't use an exact recipe either. Ground beef, fine cracker crumbs, egg, Worcestershire Sauce, a bit of ketchup, salt, pepper, parsley and summer savory. Mixed by hand only as much as necessary to get everything incorporated. After forming loaf, top gets a thin coating of ketchup. I line my roasting rack with foil, poke some holes, spray lightly with cooking spray then put my loaf on that. All the grease drains down into the pan (lined with foil also.) Not greasy and much easier cleanup.

I use fresh bread crumbs with ground beef and a sprinkling of dried Italian bread crumbs, egg, onion and green pepper, s&p and a dash of garlic powder. Sometimes I top it with ketchup/mustard/brown sugar but only a teaspoonful of the brown sugar.

My meatloaf is pretty simple, burger, eggs, crackers, ketchup, mustard, S+P and if I have it I toss in cooked bacon. Yummy!!

I use my grandmother’s recipe: mixture of beef, egg, milk, bread crumbs, mustard, brown sugar, onions, green pepper, and top with a ketchup glaze. I bake it in a loaf pan.

For winter night comfort food, I cook meatloaf in a pie pan, drain well, spoon cooked mashed potatoes all over, sprinkle grated cheese on top, cook until cheese is melted.

This is DH’s favorite. I think it came from a Jewish cookbook.

Applesauce Meatloaf

1 cup soft bread crumbs( 2 slices white bread, crust removed cubed)

1/2 cup applesauce

1 lb ground beef

1 egg slightly beaten

2 TBS finely chopped onion

1 tsp dried celery flakes

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp salt

black pepper

Topping

1 TBS brown sugar

1TBS vinegar

1/2 cup applesauce

Combine all the ingredients well. Shape into a loaf

Spread topping over the top

Bake 350 for one hour

I use equal parts ground beef, pork, and veal (often available as 'meatloaf mix' at the butcher), about 2 lbs all together.
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
One large egg
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce
Onion and/or garlic powder to taste

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, beat the egg lightly with all ingredients except the meat and breadcrumbs. Add the meat and breadcrumbs and combine the mixture using your hands. Don't overwork it.
Shape the mixture into an oval and place in a 9x13 pan. Bake for just over an hour, depending on how large the meatloaf is. The larger pan allows some of the fat to run out so that the meat doesn't 'steam', but rather bakes, and comes out with a delicious crust on it. It's especially good the next day, cold with mayo on rye. :-)

I have two.

Italian Meat Roll:

2eggs beaten

3/4 c bread crumbs

1.2 c tomato juice

2T parsley

1/2 t dry oregano

1/4 t salt/pepper

1 clove garlic minced

2lbs lean ground beef

8 think slices of boiled ham

6oz Mozzarella cheese, shredded

3 slices Mozzarella halved diagonally

Combine eggs, bread, juice, parsley oregano salt and pepper. Add beef, mix well. On waxed paper pat out into 12x10" rectangle. Arrange hap a top of meal, leaving a small margin around edges. Sprinkle on cheese. On short end foll up meat. Seal edge and ends. Place roll seam down in pan. Bale 350 for 1.5 hrs. Last 5 minutes arrange cheese on roll.

Teriyaki Meat Loaf:

Mix together first:

1/2 c canned cream or milk

4 slices bread, cubed

Then add:

1/2 c sugar

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 c celery, chopped small

1 med. onion diced

1/2 c grated carrot

2lbs ground beef

3 eggs

2 clove garlic, minced

1 piece ginger, chopped.

Mix together well put in loaf pan bake 350 for 1.5 hours.

** Disclaimer I never use bread crumbs or bread I always substitute rolled oats when making any meat loaf.

I like to use the el cheapo dry stuffing mix [$1/box} rather than bread cubes. I like the pork or chicken spice stuffing mix; also like panko ....

Add eggs and both diced onion and peppers with ground turkey ... or use a ground pork/ground beef mix.

One of the true comfort foods which lasts for a couple days for sandwiches or to go with mashed potatoes.

No recipe here either, just make it the way my mom used to. Ground beef, chopped onions, sometimes a green bell pepper chopped (most of the time not), salt, pepper, one egg, sometimes Whorcestershire sauce (most times not), and either bread crumbs, oats or pieces of bread I have on hand. Sometimes I'll put cheese in the middle, sometimes not. Catsup on the top always. Now I want to make a meatloaf.

Wow, so many yummy sounding recipes! I have always used this recipe from Epicurious. I usually use BBQ sauce in place of ketchup in the loaf and also on top. My family devours this!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/moms-meat-loaf-2480/amp

I like to do a quick saute of onion and thyme, remove from heat, then add a splash of Worcestershire, beef stock and a dab of tomato paste. Let cool and add to the ground beef, along with s&p, bread crumbs and egg.

This is a version I like from Ina G. that I've made a few times now.

https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/1770-house-meatloaf

Thanks, everyone. These all look great. I don’t make ML very often and sort of wing it when I do. It’s good to have a device for keeping dripped oil away from the finished loaf. The last ML I made, I tried topping it with a “cap” glaze that was a tomato something. It was good.

ETA Over the years, I’ve had the good fortune to dine at some city hospital cafeterias that served incredible meals for a good price. One has garnered accolades and culinary awards. People purposefully go there to dine. Some of the meals I’ve enjoyed over the years were, super flavorful, healthful dishes such as: pot roast, meatloaf, chicken cacciatore, pepper pot soup, the world’s best real molasses bran muffins with raisins,...

one of these cafeterias used to serve stuffed green bell peppers with some fantastic piquant red sauce. Ahh.

You guys are fancy! I just mix ground chuck, bread crumbs , onion, egg and milk. Squish it all together into a loaf shape and bake at 350 until thermo pen says 170. I wrap it in foil and then open the foil for the last 15 minutes. Serve with ketchup or in a sandwich made with white bread and mayo. I will try some of these recipes.

Chloebud - my husband uses Ina's recipe. He adds diced green bell pepper. We've stopped looking for any other recipe for meatloaf! We make 3 smaller loaves on the sheet pan and put a ketchup based glaze on top instead of making the garlic sauce. There are 2 vacuum sealed in our freezer now.

I asked this question on the cooking forum forever ago and got a booklet's worth of answers. They were all great!

Here's a link to one that I learned about from that thread, Paul Prudhomme's Cajun meatloaf. It's a meatloaf for people who think they don't like meatloaf.

https://www.food.com/recipe/paul-prudhommes-cajun-meat-loaf-412134

seagrass, I looked at that 1770 recipe for a long time before trying it. Not sure why...so good!

Meat Loaf

1 onion, minced, 1 1/2 lb. ground beef, 1 C. oatmeal (or fresh bread crumbs - I use oatmeal), 1 egg, slightly beaten, 4 oz. tomato sauce, 1 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper. Combine all ingredients with hands and shape into loaf. Put in baking dish and top with Barbecue Sauce: 12 oz. tomato sauce, 1/2 C. water, 3 T. vinegar, 3 T. brown sugar, 2 T. yellow mustard, 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce. Whisk till well blended pour over meat loaf. Bake 350 1 hour basting occasionally.

A neighbor gave me this recipe back in the 60's. Before this recipe, DH never liked meatloaf. Now, one of his favorites.

I came down with appendicitis in Sonoma one Thanksgiving and therefore had to have my appendix removed in a hospital in Sonoma. It has the best hospital food I've had, and it also had the best wine list.

I'm not going to dig the exact recipe out just now (all mine are currently in a box awaiting organization into a new binder), and I haven't made it for a long time but I can tell you the basic mix is a 2:1 proportion of lean ground beef to Bob Evans sausage (yes the brand is important!), torn white bread (nowadays I might try it with a whole wheat though), milk enough to just moisten and bind the bread to the rest of the mix, chopped onions, grated carrot, chopped green pepper. My mother would often put other vegetables in as well, such as peas. I don't recall using egg off the top of my head. Mix, form into a loaf or mini loaves, lay more sliced green pepper across the top, cover with catsup and bake.

Everyone who has ever had this version has raved about it. When I lived in CA, I would freeze a couple of chubs of the sausage to bring home from family visits in Ohio. The brands available in CA then were ok but not as good.

Incidentally this is the only time I use green pepper in cooking. I don't seem to like it in any other dish! But it is essential IMO on meat loaf!

I don‘t have a favorite recipe for making meatloaf, but my favorite way to eat it is as a sandwich the next day, cold, sliced, with ketchup, on light rye.

Interestingly I just came across this recipe and thought it sounded good. Never tried it but I will.

https://www.beeflovingtexans.com/recipe/smoked-meatloaf-with-bbq-glaze/

The meatloaf I usually make is very untraditional. No catchup, no tomato sauce. It is stuffed with fresh diced Roma tomatoes and onion. Topped with a white cheesy sauce. I am pretty sure I posted it on kt before so it might turn up in a search.

I never have enough left for sandwiches.

My fave way to make a meatloaf sandwich is sliced, warm, a little ketchup and some cheese. Best are home made hamburger buns or sliced home made white bread, warmed but not over toasted .

Interesting that I wrote almost the exact same things today that I did a year ago. I must be in a rut!

Thanks for posting the old one, for comparison.

Mine is very simple--beef, onion, seasoning, oats or matzah meal, eggs. I often add some carrot and/or peppers, but only onion is essential.

The back of the Quaker Oats container.

https://www.quakeroats.com/cooking-and-recipes/prize-winning-meatloaf

So, what do you all prefer, made in a loaf pan or blimp-shaped in a jelly-roll pan? I grew up with and always made it in a loaf pan, but changed to the blimp. Much easier to slice.

I don't really have a recipe - I just eyeball it a mixture of ground turkey, dry bread crumbs, an egg, finely chopped onion (sometimes I use dehydrated), worcestershire, ketchup, dry mustard, garlic powder, chili flakes, salt and pepper.

After that is all mixed up and the texture feels right, I set it aside and make the filling which consists of chopped mushrooms and chopped spinach. Saute in hot frying pan, season with salt and pepper. Drain well if needed and set aside.

While spinach mixture is cooling spread meat mixture in rectangular shape on plastic wrap or wax paper to about 1/2 inch thick. Spread spinach mixture over meatloaf. Use the plastic or wax paper to roll the loaf jelly roll style. If you use a bamboo sushi rolling mat, you can place it under the paper to help with the rolling. Pinch ends together to form a loaf.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until browned on top and juices run clear. Remove from oven and let stand 10-15 minutes. Slice and enjoy the cool looking pinwheel design.

My mother used to make Rotel Meatloaf

I make mine like Kathsgrdn (and as my Mom did) except instead of a sauce I top it with a few slices of bacon. It's been too hot to bake but it'll be one of the first cool weather items I bake (along with some bread), can't wait for a meatloaf sandwich with ketchup on white bread, with crisp french fries and a dill pickle. :)

I like them all, but no sugar, glaze or ketchup topping.

Loaf pan.

Blimp style. I never called it that 😁 but it works. I could never get it the right size for the loaf pan.

I guess mine would be called a blimp shape in a roasting pan with lid. It will always have potatoes, carrots and onions around it. The drippings can be made into gravy. I do have the loaf pan with the lift out rack but have only used it a couple of times.

Sue

I prefer a free form loaf on a sheet pan since it gets a nice crust. I have a small baking rack I put under the loaf...if I remember.

Finally found my recipe - but I really do not measure everything that precisely:

Meatloaf

2 - 2 1/2# ground beef or turkey

2 - 3 eggs

1 clove garlic, minced finely

2-3 Tbs. fresh parsley, minced

1 Tbs fresh marjoram, minced

1 - 2 Tbs. minced green onion

3/4 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. salt

2 Tbs. smoked paprika

1/8 heaping tsp. nutmeg

1 cup stuffing mix crushed fine - I use Arrowhead Mills

ketchup

Oven 350F

Pack well into oiled loaf pan, and bake 50 minutes .

Cover top w/ ketchup and bake for 8-10 minutes more.

Let cool 10-15 minutes before cutting.

8 - 10 servings

And my mom used to make meatloaf surrounded with rice in 1 big pan. It was 1 of our faves as kids - the rice would get all crispy on top and soft underneath and soak up the the juices (and grease) from the meatloaf - sooo yummy!

I've done it that way myself, but my rice always seemed to come out much harder to chew than my mom's version. Maybe it's just that my teeth aren't as hardy as they used to be, or maybe she used instant rice...?.

I don't have a recipe to recommend but I do suggest putting some shredded cheddar cheese on top at the end of cooking.

I always use the Lipton Onion soup mix recipe, can be found at their site. Basically it's just an average meat loaf recipe with the package of soup mix added for taste. We like it! I have started to sub tomato sauce in the mix, for the ketchup. I do put the ketchup on the top though. We like brown gravy over it when served. I can't remember how much ground beef the recipe calls for but I always make mine with 2 lbs, it takes longer to cook than the recipe says also, probably because I use more ground beef. It takes almost 2 hours to cook!

I'm curious about the different binders in meatloaf. What do oats and cracker crumbs do to meatloaf?

For years I used dry bread crumbs but now I use soft crumbs, or rather, a combination of soft and dry. I was trying to improve the texture of my meatballs and thought I'd try the traditional white bread and milk recipe again. It did make a difference in the texture--a little moister and smoother. For every pound of meat, I use about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of dry crumbs to one slice of bread. The dry crumbs help
crumb the bread into small, even crumbs in the Cuisinart. I can keep pulsing until I get the size crumb I want without it gumming up the fresh bread or leaving big pieces. I now use that combo of crumbs in meatloaf too.

I started using oats when the kids grew up and left home back in the 80's only because I didn't have any bread or bread crumbs in the house and figured that would work as a binder, It was just a convenience thing for me. Now I see a lot of recipes calling for them.

Everytime I made meatloaf it tasted like a hamburger. A bland hamburger. Then I tried this recipe. DH, my kids, brother in law and his wife and another brother in law (who is hands down the best cook I know) love it.

2 lbs. burger (1 lb. 90/10 and 1 lb. 85/15)

1/2 c. quick oats

1/2 c. Italian seasoned panko bread crumbs

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. chopped parsley

1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese

1 t. garlic salt

S&P

1 egg

1/2 c. ketchup

3 T. worcestershire

3 T. soy sauce

Combine all dry ingredients and add to meat. Combine all wet ingredients and add to meat.

Line baking dish with parchment paper. Form into loaf.

Bake at 400 for one hour or til 160 degrees in center.