Recipe: Classic Bundt Meatloaf (2024)

Recipes
Main Dishes
Meatloaf

Christine Gallary

Christine GallaryFood Editor-at-Large

Christine graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, France, and she has worked at Cook's Illustrated and CHOW.com. She lives in San Francisco and loves teaching cooking classes. Follow her latest culinary escapades on Instagram.

updated Jan 29, 2020

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Serves10

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Speed Things Up with a Food Processor

As counterintuitive as it seems, I like using a food processor when making meatloaf because I find that it speeds things up. Yes, I have to lug out my machine and wash it after, but it does an amazing job of really blitzing onion and garlic into tiny pieces. These tiny pieces cook directly in the meatloaf and don’t have to be precooked separately, which is what a lot of other recipes that use diced onion have you do. You don’t have to spend a lot of time chopping, nor do you have to spend time precooking, so it’s a win-win in my book.

The food processor also helps finely chop the key ingredient in this recipe: bacon. Bacon adds fat, flavor, and moisture to the meatloaf so you don’t end up with dry meatloaf, but it really needs to be finely chopped so you end up with chewy, fatty bites.

Baking Meatloaf in a Bundt

When baking meatloaf in a Bundt pan, there are a few things you have to do differently. Halfway through cooking, drain off the excess juices and then flip the meatloaf out. It finishes cooking without the pan on a baking sheet. The high sides of a Bundt cake pan means the meatloaf will never brown properly and will just steam, so flipping it out before it’s cooked through is necessary, as is draining out the juices. Once it’s flipped out, though, you can now glaze the meatloaf with BBQ sauce or ketchup so it develops a crispy crust, leaving you with a savory cake worthy of a photo.

Classic Bundt Meatloaf

Serves 10

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

Cooking spray
1/2 cup
dry or panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup
whole or 2% milk
1
medium yellow onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves
garlic, coarsely chopped
8 ounces
bacon, coarsely chopped
2
large eggs
1 tablespoon
Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons
fine salt
1 teaspoon
dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon
freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds
ground beef, veal, pork, or blend
1/2 cup
BBQ sauce or ketchup, plus more for serving

Instructions

Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350°F. Spray the inside and tube of a 10-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; set aside. Mix the breadcrumbs and milk together in a small bowl; set aside.
Place the onion and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment and pulse until finely chopped, about 10 (1-second) pulses, stopping and scraping down the sides of the food processor as needed. Scatter the bacon over the onions, separating any pieces that are stuck together, then pulse until the bacon is very finely chopped and the mixture becomes sticky, about 10 (1-second) pulses more; set aside.
Place the eggs in a large bowl and whisk with a fork to break up. Add the bacon mixture, breadcrumb mixture, Worcestershire, salt, oregano, and pepper, and stir to combine.
Working quickly to keep the meat cold, add the meat and mix with your hands until combined (don't squeeze or overwork the mixture). Transfer the mixture to the bundt pan and gently press into an even layer.
Bake until the meatloaf is just starting to set, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil; set aside.
Remove the pan from the oven and pour off as much of the accumulated liquid in the pan as possible into a heatproof bowl. Invert the foil-lined baking sheet over the bundt pan. Holding onto the baking sheet and the pan at the same time (use oven mitts or a towel, it's hot!), flip it over. Remove the bundt pan (you may need to use a fork or knife to pry the pan up to lift it off).
Brush the BBQ sauce or ketchup over the meatloaf and bake until the glaze darkens slightly and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 165°F, about 30 minutes more. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the meatloaf cool for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve with more BBQ sauce or ketchup if desired.

Recipe Notes

Storage: Leftover meatloaf can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

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Baking

Beef

dinner

Eggs

Ingredient

Main Dish

FAQs

What is the secret to a great meat loaf? ›

Use high-fat meat.

For a meatloaf made with a leaner beef or turkey, consider mixing in some ground pork and/or veal in order to achieve a moist, tender meatloaf. Chopping up bacon and adding it to the mix is always a great way to add fat. Oh, and covering it in bacon never hurts, either.

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What ingredient keeps meatloaf from falling apart? ›

When this happens, it's because you didn't use enough. Next time, try adding in an extra egg and/or some more breadcrumbs. Alternatively, rice, barley, corn flakes, crackers, and dried soup mix can also stand in as binding ingredients as well. Including larger quantities of these items should help solve the problem.

Why do you put bread slices at the bottom of a meatloaf pan? ›

Here's a simple trick to reduce the grease in your homemade meatloaf. When making meat loaf, line the bottom of your pan with slices of bread. Place the meat mixture in the pan and bake as usual. The bread will absorb most of the fat from the meat as it cooks.

Get More Info Here ›

Why don t you want to cook the meatloaf in the loaf pan? ›

By free-forming a meatloaf—not cooking it in a loaf pan—we get maximum surface area exposure, and therefore maximum flavor. So not only does it make it easier to slice and guard against sogginess, but mounding your meatloaf instead of panning it also makes your meatloaf literally tastier.

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Why do you put milk in meatloaf? ›

Milk and other dairy products, like heavy cream and buttermilk, contain both water and fat, adding two types of moisture to our meatloaf. There's a long-held theory that milk can tenderize ground meat, and this is the reason often cited for cooking ground meat in milk to make a Bolognese-style ragù.

Learn More Now ›

Is it better to bake meatloaf on a sheet pan or loaf pan? ›

Not only does sheet pan meatloaf bake up faster than its traditional loaf-shaped cousin, it also has more surface area, meaning every bite is laden with that deliciously caramelized topping.

Read On ›

What can you put under meatloaf to soak up grease? ›

A neat trick to soak up the grease under your meatloaf is to line the bottom of the pan with bread slices. The bread soaks up the grease as the loaf bakes. When the meatloaf is done, you can either throw out the bread or bake it to make some truly indulgent toast.

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Should meatloaf be covered or not? ›

Should I cook my meatloaf covered or uncovered? The meatloaf can be cooked uncovered. However, if you are concerned about it burning, you can cover the meatloaf with foil for the first 45 minutes and uncover it for the final 15 minutes to allow the meatloaf to brown on top.

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Are you supposed to drain the grease from meatloaf? ›

Let the loaf cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. If you baked the meatloaf in a loaf pan, carefully drain off the liquid fat before transferring the meatloaf to a clean cutting board.

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What temperature do you cook meatloaf in the oven? ›

The oven temperature is typically set at 350 degrees F for making meatloaf. That's the temperature you want to be sure to use so the meatloaf cooks and doesn't dry out. Too high, and the outer crust will burn before the interior is cooked all the way, too low and you don't get that delicious crust.

Find Out More ›

What can I line my meatloaf pan with? ›

Parchment paper is a great option to line your pan the next time you cook meatloaf. It prevents the meat from sticking to the pan resulting in a meatloaf that is evenly cooked all the way through and looks ready to eat.