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!
- 3 lbs. 85 or 88 lean ground beef (I like Costco’s 88% lean beef or Giant’s 85% lean beef)
- 2 Eggs
- ¼ Cup Hunts Ketchup
- 2 tbs. Fresh grated yellow onion
- 1 tsp. McCormick Garlic powder
- 1 tsp. McCormick onion powder
- 1 tsp. Kosher salt
- ½ tsp. fresh finely ground pepper
- 1 Heaping cup of ground plain hot dog or hamburger rolls (about two rolls give or take)
- ¼ cup of milk
- 4 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- ½ cup or Italian seasoned bread crumbs
- 8-9 slices of bacon
- ¼ Cup Hunts Ketchup
- 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- In a coffee grinder, grind the hot dog or hamburger rolls into a fine chop till you have a heaping cup of crumbs, place in small bowl and add milk stirring with your finger to combine, set bowl aside.
- In a second large bowl place the ground beef and break it up so that it is not one big blob and has some surface area to work with. Sprinkle in evenly the garlic powder, onion powder, dry bread crumbs, salt, pepper, 4 tsp Worcestershire Sauce, ¼ cup Ketchup, 2 eggs, grated onion (I grate the onion with a hand grater) and the milk soaked bread crumbs.
- Using you hands mix all the ingredients into the meat very well, you want every bite to have every flavor in it.
- Once you are confident it is mix well enough form into a large ball and place on a foil lined sheet pan or a baking dish ( I use my large Rachel Ray dish ) and form into a loaf. You what to make sure it is the same width on all sides. I make mine kind of oval shaped.
- In a small bowl combine ¼ cup ketchup and 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce and mix it well to make the glaze. Using half of the glaze cover the loaf and set aside the remaining glaze for later (you just want a thin layer on the top and sides).
- Take the pieces of bacon and lay them on top of the loaf so they overlap slightly and you have even amounts hanging on each side. Then lifting the loaf up on its side tuck the bacon under and repeat on other side so both ends touch.
- Add the rest of the glaze to the top and sides on top on the bacon.
- Bake in a 375 degree oven for approximately 1hr 15min or until internal temp reaches 165 degrees and bacon is browned. If your bacon starts looking over done before the meatloaf reaches temp then cover with a loose piece of foil until for the last few minutes.
- Remove the meatloaf from the oven and using two spatulas remove the meatloaf from the baking dish and place on a large serving dish (I don’t like to leave it in the fat and I find it slices easier), let meatloaf rest for 10 minutes or so before slicing.
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