For some people, the word meatloaf conjures up unappetizing memories. I must say I ate my fair share of nasty meatloaf as a kid. Despite the name of the post, my mom made a pretty good meatloaf, but somehow I was forced to eat greasier versions at other houses with unidentified crunchy chunks.
Now that I have you reliving all of those terrible meatloaf experiences, I wanna introduce this recipe. My mom found this recipe in Cooking Light magazine and I fell in love. It’s delicious! The perfect amount of moisture without grease. A delicious flavor from sauteed onions and garlic. And best of all, they’re already in individual portions! So whether you’ve had an aversion to meatloaf in the past or you love meatloaf, you’ve got to try this recipe.
The recipe calls for lean ground beef. However, since I’m humbly inching towards my “bikini by summer” goal, I decided to try the recipe with ground turkey instead. I’ve gotta say…it wasn’t bad. But if I’m being honest, I prefer the beef. Turkey is just so much leaner (hence it being better in the attack against my love handles), which means that it’s not as juicy as the ground beef.
I made some mashed potatoes. I know, not the healthiest side on the planet. I used a pastry bag to pipe a little bit of mashed spuds on each meatloaf. Wouldn’t this be great for kids? How fun for a kid to have a “cupcake” for dinner.
Diner Meatloaf Muffins
Recipe adapted from Cooking Light
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 cup onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup carrot, finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey or extra lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup ketchup, plus more for topping
- 1 cup saltine crackers (about 20), finely crushed
- 2 Tbsp mustard
- 1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 2 eggs
- cooking spray
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrot, garlic, and oregano to the skillet and sauté a couple minutes. Set veggies aside to cool.
In a large bowl, combine beef, ketchup, crackers, mustard, Worcestershire, and pepper. Add the cooled veggie mixture and eggs, mix all together.
Coat 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray. Divide meat mixture evenly among 12 cups. Top each muffin with a drizzle of ketchup (or BBQ sauce). Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a thermometer reaches 165°.
Serve with creamy mashed potatoes.
Such a cute idea!
Thanks! You have got some amazing looking recipes on your site. I will definitely have to try some.
Ha, love it! Forget kids, though. I'm the one who finds it exciting to have a "cupcake" for dinner…
I make a ground turkey muffin using oats and chopped apple..I've been wanting to try this with the mashed potatoes on top for awhile.
So true!
You definitely should! I've heard that some people use oats in meatloaf, but I've never tried it. I've definitely never tried apples…interesting twist.
Just wanted to let you know, I made these meatloaf muffins the other night for me and the Hubs, and oh my goodness! They were awesome! It was so much more fun eating them in cupcake form than just a typical loaf. Thanks for the great idea. We'll definitely be having these again… and again… and again. I think I might try whipped sweet potatoes for the "icing" next time, although the regular were pretty great! Thanks again!
I'm so glad you enjoyed them! Ooo I love me some mashed sweet potatoes. You could throw some chipotle peppers in adobo into the sweet potatoes and then use BBQ sauce instead of ketchup for the meatloaves. I think I might have to try that!
I did not use the Worcestershire sauce and added onion powder, garlic powder and salt and it was delicious! Made enough to bring to work for lunch and it was a hit! Forwarded your recipes to others to enjoy. Thanks for sharing!
Tried this tonight, and it was super delicious! Will absolutely make again and again!
Thanks so much for spreading the word! 🙂
I'm so glad you liked it! It's a definite easy go-to dinner.
Love this dish! I used thyme instead of oregano, Dijon mustard, and no Worcester sauce, and it was delicious! Will definitely be making this again!
Could I freeze these for later?
Good question. I'm not sure, I've never tried to freeze them. I would imagine they should freeze just fine. Let me know if you try it and how they turn out.
Omg! This is by far the coolest, funniest, most delicious recipe ever! I absolutely love this idea! My husband loved them! I just wanna eat them all but I am so full that I can't! I drizzled bbq sauce instead of ketchup, but so so so amazing!
I made these and LOVED them! Thank you so much! I hope you don't mind that I share them on my blog (giving you all the credit with a hyperlink attached to your blog, of course!). Thanks again! 🙂
🙂 Glad you loved them! They're one of my favorite go-to dinners on a weeknight. My husband loves the BBQ sauce way more than ketchup too.
Of course not! Share away! 🙂
Such a great recipe! My children loved them too…
Thanks for sharing.:)
My husband's one request when we got married 8 years ago was to never make meatloaf. I've honored that request… Until I can across this recipe. I made with half ground turkey and half sausage. He walked in and said it smelled delicious. He was not happy when I told him it was meatloaf in the oven. He graciously took a bite to humor me and LOVED it! He said he would definitely eat them again in the future. Thanks!
Just mades these tonight–they are delicious! I added a little red pepper and some grated cheddar cheese. I skipped the mashed potatoes and served sweet potato fries. Thanks for the recipe!
Yum! I love sweet potato fries! Glad you liked them.
Love that! There are some things I LOVE to eat, but my husband doesn't. Luckily, he always eats them anyway if I make it, even though he claims to not like it. He's pretty easy. I'm so glad that your husband is now a meatloaf believer. I just might try doing half sausage next time.
I made these tonight with some minor modifications.I used ground turkey and instead of just oregano I added thyme, rosemary and a dash of cayenne pepper for some heat.I also make my own ketchup and I think it makes a big difference in the flavor. These were absolutely amazing and my family gobbled them up!
I made this for dinner tonight. It was Yummy. I changed up the spices, I am not a big oregano fan. I added fresh parsley and a basil sundried tomato mixed seasoning. I also increased the amount of carrots and used baby sweet peppers. I topped half with ketchup and the other half with Paula Deens sweet bourbon glaze. Thank you! Great recipe I will make it often!
HI Ashley, I have a bad hip and have to lose just a few pounds and thought this was a very good idea. Once I make them I will freeze them and pop one in the mic as needed. Will check out the calorie count and go from there. Yes you can freeze almost anything. Just look it up on internet if you are not sure. Great little muffins. Thanks