Kid-friendly meatloaf

Would yall believe me if I told yall I’ve never had meatloaf until I was in my 30’s 😳 My mother-in-law made it and oh my it was delicious! Since we’ve moved over 700 miles away, I still have a hankering for it every now and then. Today, however, it wasn’t a matter of a hankering, but a matter of worry. The age ole question, “what’s for dinner?” Suddenly, I am left scrambling at what’s in the fridge. Since we will be moving back in less than a week, we didn’t want to spend alot of money at the grocery store nor did we want food to go to waste.

So the only thing I had left in the fridge, meat wise, was a pack of pepperoni and ground turkey. Well, to think of it, i did use a little of the ground turkey the other day to make breakfast sausage for the boys. Oh well! Here I am rambling.

Off to Pinterest I go searching for recipes. The recipes listed were not very kid-friendly. Lettuce wraps?? I mean do they know toddlers??! If it’s green, it’s mean😒 Then it hit me! Meatloaf! I can make meatloaf just substitute the meats. Brilliant idea and about an hour to complete. Perfect for us moms!

Kid-Friendly Meatloaf

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Ingredients

  

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tbsp dry Italian seasoning

For the Topping

• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 2 tbsp packed brown sugar
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar or mirin

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
• Whisk the egg and milk in a separate bowl first
• Combine turkey, onions, bread crumbs, ketchup, onion powder, italian seasonings, Worcestershire , salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Mix with hands to make sure everything is well seasoned.
• Take a silicone spatula and transfer everything into a loaf pan. Use the spatula to make sure everything is evenly spread.
• With the topping sauce combined, spread evenly on top of meatloaf
• Put in oven for 1 hour
• Take a butter knife and go around the edges to loosen the meatloaf first. Then take 2 sturdy spatulas and lift up to transfer to a plate to cool before cutting.

Notes

1. We like the sauce so much that i actually doubled the recipe of the topping sauce. If you like it extra saucy like we do, double the topping sauce recipe. 
2. Then pour half of the topping sauce on the meatloaf and cook for 45 minutes. 
3. Then take it out of oven. Pour the rest of the sauce on it and continue to cook for the rest of the 15 minutes. 

*** You do not have to use ground turkey for this recipe. In fact you can use ANY ground meat. We have used ground pork and ground deer meat before. I am not too sure about ground chicken, but will have to test this out 🙂 

Trust me, you will NOT be disappointed!