Somehow, in the last eight years we’ve been together, I had never gotten around to making a meatloaf for Southern Honey until this week. I’m not really sure how that happened or why I’ve been avoiding what tends to be a really common dinner dish, but I’m working on remedying the problem now. And it really was a problem, because I didn’t have a recipe!
Normally when that happens, I just find one that looks decent online somewhere and give it a shot, but this time I was feeling adventurous. I decided I had a pretty good idea of what normally goes into a meatloaf, so why not make the rest of it up on my own?
Since I almost never do something like this without some kind of baseline, I was thoroughly surprised and pleased to find Southern Honey going back for seconds and asking that this be made more often. I do think I’ll modify the recipe a bit in the future, but I was really pleased with how the meatloaf turned out for a first try.
Homestyle Meatloaf (a Southern Sugar original, but not like Mama used to make)
Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1/2 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 egg
1/2 c bread crumbs
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
Salt
Pepper
2 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp ketchup
Topping ingredients
1 Tbsp Worchestershire sauce
3 Tbsp ketchup
Preheat oven to 375*. Combine all the meatloaf ingredients in a medium bowl and integrate thoroughly , which will probably be easiest to do by hand. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray and mound the meatloaf in the pan. Bake for 45 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine the topping ingredients and mix thoroughly. After 45 minutes, remove the meatloaf from the oven and spread the topping along the top. Place back into the oven and turn on the broiler. Broil for 3-5 minutes or until topping starts to glaze over.
Looks good and how you never made meatloaf in all this time is definitely a mystery. LOL This is practically a staple at our house. When we were 4 instead of 3 I had to make at least 2 lbs at a time one topped with a country glaze (ketchup and brown sugar mixed together) and the other topped with bbq sauce. Next time make up 2 loaves and freeze the other one cooked or uncooked either way is good. Uncooked you can pop frozen in oven and cooked you can thaw and heat and eat for dinner.
I finally figured out why I hadn’t made it before: I didn’t have a loaf pan until a couple of Christmases ago! I might have to try that version of a glaze for the next time; I’ve had it recommended twice today. I think I might also use a muffin tin so we’ll have individual servings to freeze and reheat — makes them perfect for taking to work for lunch.