Mini Meatloaf
Easy Mini Meatloaf made in a muffin tin for thorough cooking and easy serving, and rivals any meatloaf out there! Flavorful, fun, great for lunches or dinners.
Serve with Smashed Potatoes or Easy Rice Pilaf for a complete meal.
Mini Meatloaf
©Eazy Peazy Mealz by EazyPeazyMealz.com
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Let me start this post by saying that my husband DOES NOT LIKE MEATLOAF. Not very much anyway. Too many meatloaf dinners growing up or something.
I can only remember eating meatloaf maybe ten times in my whole life, so I don’t mind it too much. However, when your husband doesn’t like something, chances are you don’t make it very often. That is the case for classic meatloaf at our house. However, the hubs travels a lot for work, so he isn’t at home all that often for dinner. So I figured I would try it. I kept seeing recipes for meatloaf on Pinterest, and liked the idea of making meatloaf in muffin pans, faster cooking, individualized portions, etc.
What goes in Meatloaf?
A traditional meatloaf recipe has ground beef, some kind of filler like bread crumbs or crackers, some spices, egg, and a meatloaf sauce or topping. The ingredients can vary, but the idea is always the same, a mixture of meat and seasonings, shaped into a loaf, and cooked so it can be cut into slices.
These mini muffin tin meatloafs use a similar idea, and the same ingredients, but are made into individual portions instead of a loaf.
How do you make meatloaf moist?
Make them mini: One of the main reasons I opted for mini meatloaf made in a muffin tin is so I could make sure my meatloaf stayed nice and juicy. When I was doing my research it seemed like to get the interior to cook properly you basically overcook the exterior. Ugh! When made in a muffin tin, these little meatloafs are able to cook perfectly.
Don’t over mix: Another trick to moist meatloaf is not over mixing it when you are making it. You want to combine the ingredients, but if you work it too much it will become tough.
Rest before slicing: When the meatloaf is done cooking, let it rest for about 5 minutes before you cut into it. This will give any juices a chance to redistribute.
What you need to make Mini Meatloaf in a Muffin Tin:
Making mini meatloaf in a muffin tin is super easy, you basically need a muffin tin. However, using muffin tins lined with silicone muffin molds or a silicone muffin pan makes clean up so quick and easy! If you have that option, I recommend it.
I finally decided to give Meatloaf Minis a try, and to my surprise, they were delicious. I enjoyed it so much for dinner the first night, that I made it again for lunch the next day so my husband could try it. (I also made a little extra to stick in the freezer for nights I don’t want to cook).
Guess what?! The hubby loved Meatloaf Minis. He said it was nice and moist, and that the sauce on top (which in my opinion makes or breaks a meatloaf) was just right! Now, I am not making any claims to “world’s best” or anything like that, because honestly, I haven’t tried enough meatloaf to make that claim. But I will say it was tasty!
And that meatloaf sauce…it is magic.
It is sweet, so if you do not love sweet you have a couple options:
- Cut back on the brown sugar
- Add some apple cider vinegar.
But man, the horseradish and the sriracha with that sweetness makes it all pretty gosh darn good! Just the right flavor balance for my personal taste.
I recommend meatloaf minis be served with garlic green beans and some potato sausage bake.
More dinner recipes you might enjoy:
- Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie with Ground Turkey or Beef
- Braised Tomato Chuck Roast
- Lemon Butter Chicken
- Baked Coconut Shrimp with Cilantro Lime Rice
- Chicken Sausage and Peas Alfredo Pesto Skillet Pasta
Meatloaf Minis
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 c Italian bread crumbs
- 1.5 Tbs onion powder
- 1 Tbs parsley flakes
- 3 Tbs Worcestershire sauce
Sauce:
- 1 cup Ketchup
- 1/2 c brown sugar
- 1 tsp creamy horseradish
- 1.5 t Siracha or less or more depending on the kick you want
Instructions
- Mix meat, eggs, bread crumbs, onion powder, parsley flakes, and Worcestershire sauce together.
- Mix sauce ingredients together. Taste, and adjust to your liking.
- Divide meat mixture out into muffin pans.
- disposable muffin tins are great for freezing!
- Top with sauce.
- Freeze or Bake
- Bake 350 for 25 mins
Notes
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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Tamara Mooney says
Any advice for how to cook from freezer?
Rachael says
Hi Tamara that is a great question, if you do not have time to defrost, I would turn the cooking temperature down a little, and cook longer until the internal temperature of 160 degrees F.
vex 3 says
The meatball looks delicious and very attractive, thank you for sharing
Rachael says
Thank you! We love these mini meatloaf.
Sharon says
I love the look of these. Any idea of how long they’d be cooked if you use turkey or chicken instead of hamburger? Or would it be abojt the same?
Jamie says
Is this recipe just for 6 muffins?
Rachael says
No it makes 12
Bruce Snow says
Why? Portion control? Just eat slower. Just make a regular size meatloaf! Less fuss, more enjoyment.
Rachael says
My kids love these little easy ones, and it is just fun to mix things up sometimes.