Classic Meatloaf

The Best Meatloaf You’ll Ever Have

This Classic Meatloaf is an old favorite in our family. This recipe uses very few ingredients that when brought together, make the best tasting meatloaf you have ever had. People who do not even enjoy meatloaf love this recipe when I make this for them. It yields a tender slice of meatloaf with great flavor and texture. Serve with mashed potatoes, gravy and corn for the perfect comfort food Fall dinner.

The full, printable recipe is at the end of this post. There is also a Pinterest button for you to pin this to your Pinterest page. If you like using Pinterest, you can follow me over on there at The Tipsy Housewife. Hope to see you over there! This recipe is super simple, and pretty self explanatory. I will just share a few pictures below for those who need some clarification.

Cut Them Small

I highly recommend that you mince the green pepper and onions very small for this recipe. The biggest mistake I see with this loaf, is when people have huge chunks of the veggies throughout the slices. The load will not bake up correctly and the veggies will not soften the same when baking.

Double It Up, Or Make Two

I often double up this recipe so that I have a loaf for a friend or for the freezer. When I am just cooking for us two, instead of making one meatloaf, I make two smaller ones. This is when I make the standard recipe with the two pounds of beef. This makes it easier to portion and I will also freeze the smaller one lots of times.

Simple Ingredients

As you can see, this recipe has very, very simple ingredients. What is key, is how you prep the ingredients and how you carefully assemble them. You do not want to over mix this recipe as that is what makes the meatloaf dense and not very delicious. If you follow the directions exactly, you will have a perfect loaf.

Mashed Potatoes

The best side dish for this meatloaf are my mashed potatoes. You can get that recipe by CLICKING HERE. There are also no special ingredients for this mashed potato recipe, there are just some specific methods I used to make these awesome mashed potatoes.

Yield: 6 servings

Classic Meatloaf

Print

This Classic Meatloaf is an old favorite in our family. This recipe uses very few ingredients that when brought together, make the best tasting meatloaf you have ever had. People who do not even enjoy meatloaf love this recipe when I make this for them. It yields a tender slice of meatloaf with great flavor and texture. Serve with mashed potatoes, gravy and corn for the perfect comfort food Fall dinner.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of Ground Beef (other Ground Meat can be subbed) (I use an 80/20 mix)
• 1 Sleeve of Saltine Crackers, crushed up VERY fine
• 1 Egg, room temp
• 1 Medium Yellow Onion Minced
• 1 Medium Green Pepper Minced
• 1/4 cup of milk
• A couple of hearty shakes of Garlic Powder
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions

1. Before making your loaf, make sure you bring your ground beef out of the fridge and let sit on the counter for 30 minutes before assembling the meatloaf. This helps with not overmixing the meat when it is time to combine the ingredients which is what makes it tough. This also helps it cook properly.
2. Crush your sleeve of saltines up VERY, VERY finely. You want it a step above actual dust texture.
3. Make sure you finely mince your onion and green pepper. This is if you want a smooth texture slice of loaf. I sometimes like more texture to mine, so I do not totally mince it. You can do it how you prefer, you just do not want huge chunks of these because they will not soften in cooking.
4. In a bowl, whisk your egg with your milk, and add your garlic powder, salt and pepper. I use about a teaspoon each of the three. You can adjust the seasonings how you like. Note that the saltines have salt as well.
5. In a large bowl, add your ground beef, then your saltines, then pour the milk and egg mixture over the saltines.
6. Then add your onions and green peppers.
7. Mix your meat so that it is well combined, BUT DO NOT OVER MIX. This is what makes the meat tough when cooking.
8. Get out a cookie sheet and cover the pan with foil. Form your meat into an oblong loaf, and place on the pan.
9. Bake at 350 to 375 degrees for one hour.
10. I cover the top with ketchup at the one hour mark and let it cook 30 more minutes.
11. Let the loaf rest under foil, out of the oven for 20 minutes before slicing.
12. You can freeze this loaf raw or cooked. If you freeze raw, thaw before baking.
13. Please note that every oven is different, your loaf may cook slower or faster. You know the loaf is done when the center is firm when you press on it. If it is getting to brown on the outside. Lower the temp by 15 degrees, cover the top loosely with foil and continue to bake.