Deliciously Easy Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Recipe

This is a great recipe that you can feed a crowd with or just have some awesome leftovers to use for easy meals throughout the week. I know it seems like a crazy amount of meatloaf but I truly feed my family of four with this on a Sunday, and then again during the week. I love that it heats so well in the microwave and makes for a delicious work lunch or easy dinner to come home to.

Well, let’s get you started on your way to meatloaf yumminess!

Ohh, by the way did I mention that it is wrapped in bacon? Nothing brings the family running to the dinner table faster than the word BACON!

 

But there are a few secrets I need to share with you before you roll up you sleeves and get cooking.

Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Recipe Tips and Tricks:

Tip #1:

First you will notice in the recipe that I call for a 1/2 cup of ground hot dog or hamburger roll. Sounds weird I know, but it is a surefire way to keep the meat nice and moist. A little trick I use is to buy the cheapest store brand rolls and grind them in small batches in a coffee grinder (this is the same little trick that I use in my meatballs recipe). But be sure that you use a grinder that you don’t use for coffee beans… I actual have a grinder set aside just for this purpose and works great for seasonings too.

Tip #2:

The next little trick is the mixing of the meat… don’t be shy here, get in the bowl with your hands and really mix everything together. After all your hands are your best kitchen utensils and the more you incorporate all the ingredients into the meat mixture the more consistent each slice of meatloaf with be. Don’t be gentle here, we are not making pie crust and over kneading the meat will not make for a bad meatloaf but a great meatloaf by getting all the yummy ingredients mixed together.

Tip #3:

Use a hand grater to grate up the onions in the recipe instead of chopping them… this way no one gets a big piece of onion as they are gobbling up all the goodness.

Tip #4:

Throw away your meatloaf pan and invest in a good backing dish, that’s right we are not stuffing this delicious meatloaf in a meatloaf pan or pound cake pan – we are going to form our meatloaf by hand for a less oily, less fatty and more tasty dish…  and nothing is worse that dropping your meatloaf on the floor due to a flimsy foil pan. I use a Rachael Ray baking dish that I absolutely love and have had for years. The price is reasonable and you will find yourself using it for all sorts of dishes.

Tip #5:

Glaze your meatloaf not once BUT twice! We want to keep the meatloaf nice and moist so the first glaze sitting under the bacon will give moisture and lots of nice rich flavor. Be sure to cover the full loaf like this:

Then after you wrap the meatloaf in bacon you want to glaze it a second time to give the bacon a nice rich bacon and caramelized flavor. This step REALLY bring out a nice rich depth of flavor to the dish. Once glazed for the second time your meatloaf should look like this:

Tip #6:

And finally, I have a few little tips for that ever crucial step of wrapping the meatloaf with bacon. It can be a daunting task but is simple once you get the hang of it. The first step is to drape the bacon width wise across your meatloaf like this:

Then you want to slightly lift each side and tuck the back under:

Until your meatloaf is wrapped like this:

Hopefully you found these tips helpful… now without further babbling on my part here is the recipe you have been waiting for. Enjoy!

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