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Active Time
25 minutes
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Total Time
1 hour, 50 minutes
This ultimate meatloaf recipe took rounds and rounds of testing to get just right. Our final version incorporates an ideal blend of seasoned ground beef and pork, aromatics, and breadcrumbs and bakes in a freeform loaf on a baking sheet instead of in a loaf pan for maximum browning. The result is a loaf that is savory, tender, and juicy, yet holds together well when sliced. It's perfect warm or served cold in a meatloaf sandwich.
Ingredients
8 servings
Step 1
Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet or 13x9" shallow baking dish with foil. Soak breadcrumbs in milk in a large bowl until ready to use.
Step 2
Pulse onion, celery, and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped. (Alternatively, you can finely chop by hand.)
Step 3
在一个大煎锅中热油。加入洋葱mixture, 1 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in Worcestershire, and scrape into bowl with breadcrumb mixture. Add beef, pork, eggs, 1/4 cup ketchup, and remaining 1 1/4 tsp. salt and 1 tsp. pepper, then mix with your hands to combine.
Step 4
Form meatloaf mixture into a long, well-packed, approximately 5"-wide loaf shape on prepared baking sheet. Brush top of loaf with 1/4 cup ketchup. Bake meatloaf until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 155°F, 60–75 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes before slicing. Serve with more ketchup alongside.
Do Ahead
Step 5
米eatloaf can be made 3 days ahead; wrap in foil and chill, or freeze for up to 3 months.
To make fine fresh breadcrumbs, preheat oven to 300°F. Place 6 slices white sandwich bread on a wire rack set into a baking sheet. Bake until completely dry and just beginning to turn golden, 15–20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then pulse in a food processor until fine crumbs form.
Leave a Review
Reviews (80)
Back to Top米ade exactly as written, but sadly, this was not a hit at our house. Family prefers something denser and drier than this. I also thought it was too sweet.
Anonymous
Seattle, WA
4/19/2023
I made this last night. It's really tasty and moist! I made enough to can some in wide mouth jars and I had some for supper. Really delicious!
L C Lyons
St Petersburg Florida
6/25/2022
This is very close to the old recipe in the red check cook book from the 60's, my mom's fav meat loaf. My dad always put 1/4 lb of veal into his meat balls so I add that also. Nice touch adding the ketchup or paste to the mix. Love leftover meat loaf sandwhiches. Froze well also.
J. Todd
Yacolt Wa.
4/25/2022
I was not a fan of meatloaf until I met this recipe. It is a never fail delicious dinner when this recipe is cooked up. My family was given the choice of eating out or having this meatloaf and they all chimed in "meatloaf". I cook it in my Cuisinart air fryer, which I use for everything. It cooks hotter, so I cook less time and at 350 degrees.
Judy Peeples
La Jolla, California
1/9/2022
Not my first meatloaf. In fact, it’d been awhile, and I was helping someone make dinner, so we consulted and followed this recipe. What a good meatloaf! I am sure that sautéing the onion/celery/garlic made the difference, as I don’t recall that step. Every step is worth it. Even the risk of messy fingers. Ditching the loaf pan was such a common sense idea that also seemed to pay off in texture and flavor. We rarely eat red meat. This is perfect for a once-in-a-while indulgence.
Anonymous
Seattle
11/15/2021
Okay, this serves WAY more than 8. But oh my, it is absolutely DELICIOUS! I've been looking for a really good meatloaf recipe and this fits the bill perfectly. I made it exactly as written (I almost always do that at least the first time I make a new recipe). LOVED IT!
Anonymous
Barto, PA
10/19/2021
Huge hit with everyone in my house! Even my kids (6,8,9.) This will very likely be my new go to meat loaf recipe.
Danielle
NJ
9/5/2021
This meatloaf is perfect.
lindavh1
Georgia
12/13/2020
Well, we didn't have any pork, so we used 1 14 lb 93% lean hamburger and 3/4 lb ground lamb. Also didn't have any ketchup so we used tomato paste inside and on top. We also reduced the salt by 30-40% and will reduce it more next time -- we don't usually cook with any salt! Personal preference. It was fairly fatty when raw and soft and moist when blending but made a great loaf about 5 x 11" and 2-3" tall. A lot of fat cooked out of it and was easy to clean up on the alum. foil. Cooked in exactly 60 min. on a shallow sided baking pan. Let rest, and wow it was yummy!!! Moist, tender, flavorful, yet simple. Served with a good Barbera and honey/basil sauteed carrots and it was a fabulous dinner. We froze 2 chunks of it for future (2 servings each) and will also eat it again tomorrow night. Very simple, quick and tasty. It was fine with lamb, but then, we love lamb! For bread crumbs I food processed a left over piece of baguette that I found in the freezer. Only took about 5" of baguette to produce 1 c. of fresh fairly fine breadcrumbs.
pultzfolli
Colorado
12/9/2020
I love this recipe. My question for everyone else: how many pieces of bread did you need for 1 cup of bread crumbs? I only needed 3. I think the other times I’ve made this recipe, I must have used store-bought bread crumbs.
lisamichellek
Kingston, WA
10/13/2020
I made this a few times. It's good. The first time I made it, we had no ketchup (I know!), so I used a quarter cup of tomato paste in the meatloaf mix instead. The second time, I followed the recipe as written, and decided that I definitely prefer the more savory and tangy tomato paste in the body, and now use ketchup only on the crust of the meatloaf. The sweetness of the ketchup and the tang of tomato paste harmonize really well.
wmallen3
Los Angeles, CA
8/25/2020
米y family loved this!
Vancouver, Canada
5/24/2020
I give this recipe a solid 3 stars. My daughter really wanted to make meatloaf and I had never made it before so we chose this recipe. I don't love ketchup, so next time I'll use tomato paste instead. The whole family was shocked at how good it was. I cooked it for 65 minutes and it was done perfectly - very tender.
esteebella
Chagrin Falls, OH
5/1/2020
Really good, flavorful meatloaf. I love the texture - processing the vegetables really works well, especially with vegetable-averse family members, and aids slicing. Using top quality beef and pork is a must, by the way.
ngalbraith
Cape Cod
4/30/2020
米ade this tonight. Added 3 oz. of chopped brown mushrooms to the veggies, oil-sprayed the skillet and cooked them to almost dry. Used 1 1/2 cups good panko crumbs for the right consistency, then onto the sheet and, after 100 minutes out it came. Really, really good. (First time not using a loaf pan, and never will again. So much better w/o all that liquid in the pan. Yuck.) It measured 11 x 5 x 2, so we've got plenty to help us through the virus shutdown.
mikekelley
Newbury Park, Ca.
4/14/2020
