Best Meatloaf Recipe (Classic)
- Preparation 15 min
- Cooking 60 min
- Servings 8
- Freezing Absolutely
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🍖 A genuinely good meatloaf, not a slab of shoe leather
This is exactly what I wanted and exactly what I got! No frills, no cheese hidden inside, no complicated sauce. Just a proper old-school meatloaf, and it’s delicious. Put it on the table with some vegetables on a Tuesday night and everybody is happy. People are wary of meatloaf because they’ve eaten dry, bland ones. This one isn’t, and you’re about to see why.
🥛 The panade is what keeps it juicy
Breadcrumbs soaked in milk before they go into the meat isn’t a way of stretching the recipe. It’s technique. The swollen starch traps water and stops the meat proteins from binding too tightly, so the texture stays tender instead of tightening up like an overworked meatball. Add medium ground beef plus pork and you have a meatloaf that doesn’t dry out. Don’t skip this step, and don’t compact the mixture.
🌡️ One hour, and the thermometer settles it
One hour on the nose at my place and it was perfect. But if you own a thermometer, use it: 160°F in the centre and you’re done guessing. The ketchup glaze comes out properly cooked and glossy, exactly the way it should. And the ten-minute rest before slicing is NOT optional: cut it right away and your loaf falls apart on the plate. Ten minutes, and it slices clean.
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🍞 Loaf pan, not a baking sheet
Plenty of recipes have you shape a free-form loaf on a sheet pan. I use a loaf pan, plain and simple, and it’s easier for everyone: the shape is perfect on the first try and the slices come out even. The one thing to know is to slide a sheet pan or a piece of foil onto the rack below to catch the fat that spills over. Your oven stays clean and there’s nothing to scrub.
🥛 Let the breadcrumbs really drink the milk
Don’t stir the crumbs and milk together and move straight on. Let it sit while you sweat the onion, that’s exactly the right amount of time. You want a soft paste, not damp crumbs. That paste is what holds water through the hour in the oven and gives you a tender meatloaf instead of a brick.
🤲 Mix with your hands, and stop early
A wooden spoon won’t do the job here, you’ll crush the meat without ever distributing anything. Hands are faster and gentler. And stop the moment it’s evenly combined: every extra turn tightens the proteins and moves you closer to sausage texture. A mixture that looks barely mixed always gives a better result than a perfectly mixed one.
🌿 Plain breadcrumbs plus Italian seasoning
You can buy pre-seasoned breadcrumbs, but I prefer plain ones with a teaspoon and a half of Italian seasoning stirred in myself. That way you control what’s in there and the dose stays the same no matter the brand. And no, it doesn’t turn the dish Italian: it disappears completely into a classic meatloaf, you couldn’t name it if you tasted it.
🌡️ One hundred and sixty degrees, and no more guessing
An hour works, that’s what I did. But a thermometer saves you from the only real risk here, which is overcooking out of caution. Probe the centre, look for 160°F, pull it. A meatloaf that sits ten extra minutes in the oven loses exactly what we just worked to keep. It’s a twenty-dollar tool that settles the question forever.
📅 Getting ahead
This one takes well to prep. The night before: onion and garlic chopped in a labelled container, breadcrumbs and milk stirred and refrigerated, eggs out. You can even build the whole mixture, press it into the pan, cover it and keep it in the fridge. The next day you brush on the ketchup, slide it in, and you have an hour to spend with your people instead of at the stove. Add five to ten minutes of baking if the pan goes in cold.
🫙 Frozen in slices, separated with parchment
This is how I handle leftovers and it’s a game changer. Slice the cooled meatloaf, slip a square of parchment between each slice and put the stack in a freezer bag. Pull two slices for a kid on a weeknight, a few vegetables alongside, and supper is handled. In the fridge it keeps three to four days.
✅ What to serve with my classic beef and pork meatloaf
Mashed potatoes, always. My Boursin garlic and herb mashed potatoes are the ones I reach for most often with this, and a sharp arugula salad on the side cuts the pork fat. Plain vegetables do the job too, this is a dish that doesn’t need help. And the next day, the best thing you can do with leftovers is a sandwich: two slices of white bread, one cold slice of meatloaf, ketchup, nothing else. If you want a less well-behaved meatloaf, go look at my General Tso’s meatloaf.
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Ingrédients
- 1 cup (250 ml) plain breadcrumbs
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) whole milk
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
- ¼ cup (60 ml) ketchup
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) Worcestershire sauce
- 1 ½ tsp (7 ml) Italian seasoning
- 1 ¼ tsp (6 ml) ground black pepper
- 2 large eggs
- 1 lb (450 g) medium ground beef
- 1 lb (450 g) ground pork
For the glaze
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) ketchup
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Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Set a rack in the middle and slide a baking sheet or a piece of foil onto the rack below to catch the fat that drips.
- In a large bowl, stir the breadcrumbs and milk together. Let them sit until the crumbs have absorbed all the liquid.
- Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sweat the onion with a good pinch of salt for about 7 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Let it cool slightly, then add it to the breadcrumb bowl.
- Add the ¼ cup of ketchup, the Worcestershire sauce, the Italian seasoning, the pepper and the rest of the salt to the bowl. Mix well.
- Add the eggs, the beef and the pork. Mix gently with your hands, just until everything is evenly combined. Don’t compact it: overworked meat turns dense and dry.
- Press the mixture into a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and smooth the top. Brush evenly with the remaining ⅓ cup of ketchup.
- Bake for about 1 hour on the middle rack, until a thermometer inserted in the centre reads 160°F (71°C).
- Let it rest 10 minutes in the pan before slicing. This step isn’t optional: it’s what keeps the loaf from falling apart.
Three things, and all three matter. The panade first: breadcrumbs soaked in milk, which hold water through the bake and stop the meat from tightening. The meat second: medium ground beef plus pork, never extra-lean beef, which gives you a dry loaf by definition. And the bake last: pull it at 160°F in the centre instead of leaving it in out of caution. A dry meatloaf is almost always an overcooked meatloaf.
Extra-lean beef, first and foremost, because there’s no fat left to keep it tender. Too many wet ingredients, which turn the mixture into a paste that won’t hold its shape. And too much handling, which isn’t an ingredient but ruins more meatloaves than anything else. I’d also skip the pile of add-ins: peppers, mushrooms, three cheeses. A classic meatloaf is beef, pork, panade, onion, garlic and glaze. That’s the whole point of it.
Both work and it’s a fair question. On a sheet pan the fat runs off and a crust forms all the way around. In a loaf pan the shape is even and the slices look good, which is simpler when you’re feeding people. I use the loaf pan, with a sheet pan on the rack below to catch the fat. That’s the best of both: you keep the shape and your oven stays clean.
Because straight out of the oven it’s still soft in the middle and the juices haven’t redistributed. Cut it immediately and the slice falls apart while the juice stays in the pan instead of in the meat. Ten minutes is enough, it isn’t long. It’s the same principle as resting a roast, and you see the difference on the very first slice.
Extremely well, it’s one of the best dishes for it. The trick is to slice it once cooled and slip a square of parchment between each slice before bagging the stack. You pull exactly the number of slices you need without thawing the whole block. Reheat gently in the oven or a skillet. Raw, pressed into its pan and well wrapped, it freezes too.
Yes, use 2 lb of medium ground beef instead of the mix. You’ll lose a little tenderness, because pork brings a softer fat that melts differently and keeps the loaf moist. It’s not a disaster at all, and if beef is what’s in your fridge, go ahead. Just avoid extra-lean: with that, the panade won’t be enough to save the texture.
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