When was the last time you thought of meatloaf as being amazing? Did a dust-bowl of overdone meat and baked-on ketchup just enter your head? Did you shudder at the thought?
Ponder that horror movie no more. I promise that this will be the best meatloaf you have ever eaten. So good, in fact, that you will find yourself trying to come up with a new name for it. Someone at work a couple of nights ago mentioned meatloaf and the nurse sitting next to me honestly did shudder as the words “dry” and “disgusting” and “overdone” came out of his mouth. I mumbled to myself, “Not my meatloaf. It has never been dry.” I almost said those words out loud, but I realized that it would have been useless because obviously he has PTMSS (post traumatic meatloaf stress syndrome) from his past experiences with meatloaf. So sad. I hope that he is able to find help for his condition.
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In contrast to that nurse’s unfortunate experiences, last night the most wonderful smokey sweet smell of bacon started filling my house within minutes of putting this meatloaf in the oven. Pretty soon it was joined by the spicy sweet odor of the best sauce I have ever tasted. The sauce is not my own recipe; I got it long ago from a cookbook that came with my first microwave oven. The cookbook (and the microwave) is long gone, it’s only saving grace was the sauce recipe. The meatloaf is my own creation, except for wrapping it in bacon, which is an idea that I have gotten from reading other recipes for meatloaf.
I know that these are big promises for something as humble as a meatloaf, but if you had been here for dinner last night, you’d be nodding in agreement with me right now that this is quite an amazing little meatloaf. Hmmm…I wonder what a meatloaf would taste like made out of Kobe or Wagu beef. Is it reprehensible that I would even consider using that kind of beef for a meatloaf? If I was very rich would it be considered reprehensible or just ridiculously lavish?
Amazing Meatloaf
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1 cup chili sauce generally found in the condiment aisle at the grocery store
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice, bottled is fine
- 2 teaspoons mustard
For the Meatolaf
- 3 slices bread
- 2 pounds ground beef (extra lean is okay, but don’t use super lean ground beef)
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup minced fresh parsley, flat leaf recommended for flavor
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
- 1½ teaspoons granulated onion
- 6-7 slices bacon don't use thick sliced bacon
Instructions
For the Sauce
- In a small bowl, mix together sauce ingredients. Set aside.
For the Meatloaf
- Take the three slices of bread, stacked on top of each other, and hold them under a slow stream of tap water, moving them around to wet them. Gather the bread into a ball and gently squeeze out the excess water. This makes a moist binder for the meat.
- In a large bowl, mix all meatloaf ingredients together, EXCEPT the bacon. I use my hands for the mixing.
- Gather the meat mixture together and place it in a baking dish. Form into a loaf shape with a rounded top. The shape should be similar to what it would be if it was in a loaf pan.
- Wrap the meatloaf with the bacon slices by placing the slices side by side across the meatloaf. Tuck the ends under the loaf. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven, pour off any grease that has collected in the pan. Cover the meatloaf well with half of the sauce. Return to oven and bake for another 30 minutes. Pour remaining sauce over meatloaf and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.
- Remove the meatloaf from the oven and allow to sit for about 10 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition
I stumbled across this after googling “Amazing Meatloaf” I did not even think it would be as amazing as it is!!! I cannot express to you how unlike meatloaf this is, I couldn’t wait to eat leftovers for lunch the next day! I served it with some red potatoes mashed with cream cheese and it was delish I went to work today and not only gave all the women a copy of the recipe, but a link to your page. I made the cinnamon roll cake too 🙂
Thank you so much for the taking the time to come back and leave such a sweet comment! I’m so glad that the recipe worked well for you. The mashed red potatoes with cream cheese sounds like a perfect accompaniment for the meatloaf.
Id like to try this, however nobody I cook for eats bacon, are there any alterations required to compensate for removing the bacon? Or is making sure its moist good enough.
There’s no problem at all with skipping the bacon. For many years I made this meatloaf without the bacon and it has always been very good. The meatloaf is moist and flavorful and the only reason I added bacon was because bacon is so popular right now. There are no compensations that need to be made to the recipe. Follow the instructions as they are, just simply leave off the bacon. Thanks for dropping by and asking a question. It’s always nice to hear from readers. ~Terri
Thanks for responding, I certainly didn’t expect a response anywhere near that fast. Good to know about the bacon, I plan on making it this weekend to prove to my boyfriend that safeway meatloaf is not the best in the world as he believes.
You go girl!
This looks and sounds amazing. One thing I have to know is…Will the bacon be brown? I don’t like to see white strips of bacon. Anyway I am going to try this TODAY and will be back to let you know what the results are
Denise
I tried it and my family loved it. I think next time I will fry the bacon partially so that it will be browner and to get some of the grease off. Other than that….it was awesome.
Thanks so much!!
dkland1980@gmail.com
Denise
Hi Denise. I’m so glad that you and your family enjoyed the recipe! Let me know how the recipe works with giving the bacon a little precook. Another suggestion would be to make the meatloaf with the uncooked bacon, as written, and cooking the meatloaf longer before adding the sauce. That would allow the bacon to get cooked more and maybe get browner. Anyway, let me know how your experiments work out!
Wow! Meatloaf used to be a scary word in my house! My kids ate so much… I have a few delicious pieces left for myself!! The sauce is amazing!! Thanks so much for adding a new favorite recipe for my picky eaters!! 🙂
Ohhhh.. And maple bacon was my special sweet touch 🙂
My mouth just watered when I read “maple bacon” and I had to slurp before I drooled on myself!
Wahoo! Passing the kid test is the ultimate gold medal in cooking. 🙂
Definitely read all the way through this before ‘mixing all ingredients’! I have to learn this. The bacon is an ingredient on the list and luckily I did not just stick it in the loaf mixture. For us ADD folks, we need to see the words ‘except the bacon’ at that particular line. thanks!
Dang. Sorry Meg. Please excuse my own ADD when I wrote this recipe a few years ago. I have been going back through my old recipes and updating them one by one. Sometimes I am shocked at how I used to write recipes and want to run for cover. I have added the words “EXCEPT THE BACON” to the instructions. Thanks for pointing out the error. I will review this recipe and update it to read a little better. Again, so sorry. Writing recipes can be tricky. Every time I think that I have written something perfectly and I send it off to Tasty Kitchen, they always manage to find something that needs fixing. I review the corrections that they make and say to myself, “Oh. That makes more sense than how I wrote it.” 🙁 It’s a good learning experience for me.
Can you half the recipe? Just wondering if I were to use 1lb of meat would I use half of all the other ingredients.
For everything except the sauce. I’d keep the sauce ingredients in the stated amounts.