Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why milk instead of water 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.

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.

To help your meatloaf stay together add things such as eggs, bread, crushed croutons, oatmeal, crackers, and breadcrumbs, these are all key ingredients that help meat stick together. I hope that this helps to answer your question. What are the secrets to a firm, sliceable meatloaf that slices and won't fall apart?

Sure, egg yolks add some rich flavor to a meatloaf, but the real reason we need eggs is for structure—to help bind the meatloaf together. This is especially important since we're making a free-form meatloaf, or one that you shape by hand, versus using a loaf pan.

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.

Overall, ketchup adds a touch of sweetness and acidity to the meatloaf, so when you're looking for substitutions, you will want to use something that captures one or both of those tastes to really round out your dish.

The Basic Meatloaf Formula

All recipes for meatloaf start with the same basic formula: 2 pounds of ground meat and a “panade” made of bread or crackers soaked in milk. Along with a few eggs, this panade helps to hold the ground meat together and adds some essential moisture to the mix.

While both are great options for cooking your meatloaf, each has its own advantages and you will get slightly different results. Sheet pans have more surface area which exposes more of the dish's surface area to the oven's direct heat to create a crunchier crust that's nicely browned.

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.

What can I use instead of breadcrumbs in meatloaf? ›

The answer is: it depends. Onions are a great addition to meatloaf because they add a lot of flavor and moisture. Raw onions have a strong, pungent flavor and will give the meatloaf a sharper taste. However, if the onions are cooked before adding them to the meatloaf, they will become sweeter and milder.

To prevent a soggy bottom, Bangor Daily News suggests draining the grease from the loaf pan 15 minutes before your cooking time is up; this helps guarantee all sides bake to perfection.

When the meatloaf is done, remove the loaf pan from the oven and let the meatloaf rest for 10-15 minutes. Drain the extra fat and liquid off of the meatloaf and discard. Slice the meatloaf and serve.

Yes, you may make cakes with milk instead of water. Because fat provides richness and solidity to the cake, milk can increase the cake's moisture content and flavor. 1) Use the same quantity of milk as water called for in the recipe.

It adds nutritional value to baked goods. Mainly protein, calcium, and vitamin B12 which are all necessary for a heathy diet. But we don't only look for the nutritional benefits when using milk in our bread dough. The fat and lactose in milk help with tenderizing the crumb of the bread making it softer and sweeter.

You would enrich the dough with milk proteins and fat. You will need a bit more milk than the amount of water required (because of the milk solids). The dough will be softer, the crumb less open. You will have to bake it at lower temperatures than a lean bread.

As noted by Lifehacker, dairy has a pretty magical effect on meat, tenderizing it without making it mushy, and helping it stay juicy when cooked. And although ground meat doesn't need any additional tenderizing — grinding takes care of that aspect — it certainly can benefit from extra moisture retention.