This is filling enough to serve as a supper on its own but would also be wonderful as a side.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 5 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
| Yield: | 10 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- ¾ cup diced carrots
- ¾ cup diced onion
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 cup lightly packed fresh spinach leaves
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 large pinch chopped fresh thyme
- 1 large pinch chopped fresh parsley
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 2 ⅔ pounds lean ground beef
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 3 slices bacon, cut into 10 pieces
Instructions
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir carrots and onion in hot oil until slightly softened, 3 to 7 minutes. Add tomatoes, spinach, garlic, thyme, parsley, salt, and black pepper; bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until flavors combine, about 20 minutes. Cool slightly, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Puree vegetable mixture using a stick blender until smooth. Alternatively, pour vegetable mixture into a blender no more than half full. Cover and hold lid down; pulse a few times before leaving on to blend. Puree in batches until smooth.
- Mix pureed vegetables, ground beef, and egg together in a bowl with your hands until evenly combined. Divide meat mixture into 10 equal portions; form each into a mini-loaf and place on prepared baking sheet. Place 1 bacon piece on top of each loaf.
- Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the center, 40 to 45 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).
- You can substitute avocado oil for the coconut oil, if desired.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 291 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 5 g |
| Cholesterol | 106 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 280 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 18 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Made in muffin tins and served over a cauliflower and carrot mash. Delicious!
They tasted good enough and I liked pureeing the vegs. But it felt very odd…pasty…in my mouth. it needs texture. A rare miss for me on this site.
My whole family enjoyed it, paleo-friendly, too! A little soft but I covered the veggies to help them cook faster so there may have been extra water in the recipe. We will definitely hold onto this recipe.
Made exactly as recipe shown and they turned out amazing! I used thick cut peppered bacon and it gives a little kick to it. Made them for this weeks lunches..perfect!
Both my kids under 5 cleaned their plates! Best meatloaf I have ever made. You don’t miss the ketchup or breadcrumbs at all.
This was such an easy recipe, and an extremely clever way to bind meatloaf without using oats or bread crumbs. I love how healthy it is, and how delicious the meatloaf is! The house smelled amazing as well! Awesome recipe, and thank you so much for sharing!
A perfect dish for serving up small portions. Was a big hit with the husband which means it was good!
I made these with Elk meat, and they are delicious. They are an easy meal to grab or pack. We had them with spaghetti squash and the combination was terrific.
We loved these little guys! I didn’t have spinach so I substituted kale and added mushrooms and some red bell pepper. They were wonderful and will definitely make them again. I used 1pound of hamburger and halved all the remaining ingredients. It made 6 small loaves.
I made this a little different from the recipe and the whole family loved it! I used chopped onion and celery as well as chopped red pepper – I cooked all those ingredients together in the first step and then followed the rest. I have 3 kids 10 and under and they all ate it. I am definitely going to make this again.
Made a small portion using cherry tomatoes. Really rich and flavourful. well worth making again, even for non-paleo/gluten intolerant people. A new favourite!
The first time I made this I followed the recipe exactly except I made one big loaf instead of the little ones. The 2nd time I added one more egg and just skipped the bacon. It tasted just like the meatloaf we made pre-paleo. What a hit with our family. We’ll be making this again! Thank you.
This was delicious and very moist! I used a total of 3 pounds of ground meat (2 pounds turkey and 1 pound lamb). I increased the eggs to 2 and increased the veggies to 1 cup and added 1 cup of diced mushrooms to the mix. I didn’t have fire roasted tomatoes on hand so I just used regular diced tomatoes. It was still fantastic. I cooked mine for 40 minutes as suggested and the internal temp was 194 degrees Fahrenheit. Next time, I will reduce the cooking time to 30-35 minutes. Thanks for the recipe!
Loved it added three jalapeños for a little kick
Loved it! However I didn’t make it in cupcake form, traditional loaf. Sliced bacon & spread on top, baked. DELICIOUS! Served with diced squash. Had seconds!! Unfortunately I was too eager to try it that forgot to take a pic once done 🙁 Now there’s not much left haha
You are totally right about the wooden spoon. The wooden spoons are especially useful when stirring on a non-stick surface. Metal spoons can scratch nonstick coatings, while smooth wooden spoons will not harm non-stick surfaces. Even when stirring in a regular pot, metal spoons can leave scratches, and they make a scraping noise that can become bothersome over time. Again, wooden spoons to the rescue. They won’t scratch your copper, aluminum or stainless steel pots and are nice and quiet to use.
I will make this again!! I used ground elk meat instead of beef as that is what my freezer is full of! Other than that I followed the recipe and it is so super delicious!!!
Very savoury and tasty meatloaf. I halved the recipe, at least I meant to. I used 500 grams of ground beef but halved almost all the other ingredients by mistake, so I think my vegetable purée to meat ratio was off a bit. I still used a whole egg though. It came out moist and delicious and the loaves held together well. In the end, I got 828 grams of final mixture, therefore I made each mini loaf about 135 grams (give or take) before cooking. I then used an entire slice of bacon on each, just because, and the result was a moist and tender meatloaf, full of flavour. After 30 minutes the whole house smelled of this zippy tomato aroma that made you wish you could speed up the oven. I served these with zucchini noodles and it was almost like eating a spaghetti and meatball dinner. Kids and adults agreed that the flavour is unique and inviting and should enter into the monthly rotation at home. Thanks Bibi for this new twist on meatloaf, thought I’d seen them all. 🙂