This Italian meatball-inspired meatloaf’s main goal is to demonstrate what occurs when you prepare meatloaf the way your grandparents did. This style of dish was very common during the Great Depression as a way to make the limited amount of meat you had into a substantial dinner.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 1 meatloaf |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 onion, diced
- salt to taste
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 ½ cups very dry white bread crumbs
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 2 pounds ground chuck
- ½ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
- 3 cups tomato sauce, or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Heat olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onion with a pinch of salt in hot oil and butter until onion is golden brown and soft, 5 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Remove skillet from heat and cool onion mixture to room temperature.
- Place bread crumbs in a large bowl. Add milk and stir with a fork until combined. Let sit until all of the milk is absorbed into the breadcrumbs, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Combine ground chuck, cooled onion mixture, parsley, Parmesan cheese, eggs, 2 teaspoons salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper in a bowl. Grab a handful of breadcrumbs and squeeze very gently to remove excess milk. Repeat with remaining breadcrumbs, transfer breadcrumbs to ground chuck mixture, and discard excess milk. Stir ground chuck mixture until evenly combined.
- Turn chuck mixture out into prepared baking dish, and shape meat into a 3x4x10-inch meatloaf. Pour tomato sauce over the loaf and into the bottom of the dish.
- Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, about 1 hour 10 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Let meatloaf rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 286 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 19 g |
| Cholesterol | 86 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 1129 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 15 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I think this is the first time I’ve ever made meatloaf. I halved the amounts, since I’m cooking for just two. I mostly followed the recipe, but I did sauté some mushrooms along with the onions to add umami, and I added fresh basil from our garden along with the Italian parsley. I also used left-over homemade marinara sauce instead of tomato sauce. We had it on spaghetti with a side of Caesar salad with homemade dressing. Overall, it was excellent according to my wife, the resident food critic.
This was great
I have always hated meatloaf, but my husband likes it. I spotted Chef John’s meatloaf recipe and decided to give it a try in a moment of both weakness and faith. Chef John doesn’t disappoint. I did add some worchesteshire sauce to the meat mixture and chopped up some mushrooms to throw in with the onions. Since I was completely out of tomato sauce I grabbed the jar of pizza sauce on hand. I actually liked it, which is saying a whole lot. My husband thought the pizza sauce was a happy “accident.”
good
It’s so simple to make, and it is wonderful. My taste buds are dancing. Thank you so much
I loved this recipe. As did my family and friends. My son said this is his new favorite meatloaf recipe!
First, I have to say I never liked meatloaf growing up and so I never bothered to learn to make it until meat starting getting expensive AND I met someone who loves meatloaf. This is the only tender and delicious meatloaf I’ve successfully made and now is my go. Take or leave the pork for another lb of ground beef & I prefer to use ketchup on top before baking, or even no sauce at all. We love it-thank you Chef John!
This is my favorite meatloaf recipe and I’ve tried at least 1/2 dozen or more. It comes our moist and has become a family favorite. I did add some Worcestershire sauce for added flavor to the mix, but just a personal preference. Can’t go wrong with this one!
I’ve made this several times. I usually add one pound of pork to the one pound ground chuck. I only use 2 eggs. After everything is mixed, I take half of the mixture add some more white bread and make meatballs. LOVE this recipe and just about all of Chef John’s recipes.
Soooo good. I didn’t have bread, so I used saltines and just put 1/2 the amount milk so I wouldn’t have to squeeze it.
I made this recipe as directed with the exception of adding 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 turkey sausage. The flavor is really good, but the texture a little too bready for us. Next time we’ll do 1/2 the breadcrumb mixture.
Love Chef John’s recipes, followed it exactly and turned out great. I had issues with my home Made bread crumbs as I wasn’t able to squeeze out excess milk after soaking. I just didn’t use as much. I also made Chef John’s Meatloaf Mushroom Gravy with it. 3rd night in row eating this , ain’t tired of it yet. All in the gravy baby !
I normally love Chef John’s recipes and thought I’d try this one. It was too blah and tasteless.
Very good! We just made this recipe tonight and is was very tasty. We used one pound of ground Turkey meat and used half of the ingredients instead, and it still turned out to be quite delicious. We used a naturally sweet homemade Italian tomato sauce with some light herbs. The flavor did it indeed remind us of Italian meatballs. We will definitely make it again, but next time with some added veggies in the meat mixture such as: sautéed celery and carrots along with the onions. We will also have it with some pasta since it did taste like italian meatballs, and a light salad as opposed to mash potatoes and green beans.
I really liked the outcome with the few changes I made. I didn’t use parsley or the cheese. I also didn’t sauté the onions and garlic. I used canned plain bread crumbs and finely grated parm like you put on spaghetti. I also made my tomato sauce topping a little different. I used a can of tomato sauce, added a little sugar, salt, black pepper and garlic powder. It was a hit in my house. Thanks Chef John for the inspiration.
I’ve made this recipe many times. Absolutely the best meatloaf (or meatballs). Question for anyone out there who knows. At the top of the recipe page it lists prep and cook times and then it says “addition: 25 minutes”. Rest time is 10 minutes so I’m curious what I’m supposed to do for that extra 15 minutes?
Very good; very moist. I only added some chopped celery. Will make again. Chef John is the best.
I made this for dinner before my Bible study group, everyone loved it and some even asked for the recipe!!
I love meatloaf so I loved this recipe. Hubby did not care for this as much. If made again, would top with traditional ketchup, mustard and brown sugar.
I’ve made this twice. The first time, I followed the recipe and it came out too mushy for my taste (it might have been intentional). The second time I made this I used 1 pound Italian sausage, 1 pound ground beef, half the amount of breadcrumbs, and only 1/4 cup of milk. I served this one at a family get-together and they all loved it. Note: I also used Italian bread crumbs instead of plain.
My husband loved this meatloaf. I grew up with dry, bland meatloaf, which my mom made even less appealing by hiding one or two hard-boiled eggs in it. As a hater of eggs in most forms, I would pray that my slice would not contain any of it. But Chef John’s meatloaf is about as different from that as you can possible get. I liked it almost as much as my husband did.