Beefloaf

Growing up, the only kind of meatloaf I had was the frozen dinner kind. My mom worked so making meals from scratch was not something there was much time for. Food needed to happen and it needed to happen fast. I was not yet the lover of food that I am so I could not give my mom a much needed hand in the kitchen:)

Meatloaf was something I didn’t really eat or give much thought to in my early adult years, partially because I was not feeding a family on a budget and because I was not really using my kitchen all that much. But once I had a lovely man and hungry, growing boy on my hands, meatloaf floated back into my universe

Many of the recipes I found online call for a “meatloaf mix” of different ground meats or a pre-purchased mix from the grocery store. Almost 100% of the time, the only ground meat I have on hand is beef, so I decided to mix up a loaf using only beef as the meat. Someday I may get around to trying the mixed meats, but for now, this beefy and tasty loaf will feed my people and fill our bellies quite nicely.

Beefloaf

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes | Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

For the Beefloaf

• 2 lb. ground beef
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon salt
• fresh ground pepper, to preference
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 1/4 cup dried onion
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder

For the Topping

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2-3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. In a large bowl, combine beef, salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder, oregano and diced onion using a spoon or your hands
3. Make a well in the beef mixture and pour milk and egg into center. Add breadcrumbs and Worcestershire sauce and fold beef mixture around the well, then thoroughly mix to fully combine all ingredients. It is best to do this with your hands as the mixture will be sticky and ingredients will stick to the spoon
4. Place beef mixture into a medium sized baking dish, molding it into a loaf shape with your hands (I use a bread loaf pan for this)
5. In a small bowl, combine ketchup, brown sugar, mustard and Worcestershire sauce until just mixed and gently pour over the top of the loaf, ensuring the whole top is covered
6. Bake in oven for 50-55 minutes or until browned and cooked through (temperature should be 160 degrees)
7. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving with your favorite sides.

Tips

• Beef is messy. Especially if you get beef with a bit of fat (I recommend 85% ground beef). To try and help keep the mess to a minimum, I line my baking dish/pan with aluminum foil, ensuring the whole pan is covered and there is some overhang on both sides of the pan. Then when it is time to remove the loaf from the pan, I simply grab the overhang and carefully move the loaf to a cutting board or flat surface to slice and serve. If you have excess fat, you can gently tip the foil before moving to drain it into the loaf pan for easier disposal.
• If you have some extra time, this loaf can go to even meatier places by the addition of 2-3 slices of cooked bacon, finely chopped, sprinkled over the ketchup mixture. I’m still working on perfecting the art of cooking bacon on the loaf as mine always ends up soft on some parts of the bacon and charred on other parts.