Big Little Recipes
For Better Meatloaf, Use This Big Little Trick
You're five ingredients from dinner tonight.
A Big Little Recipe has the smallest-possible ingredient list and big everything else: flavor, creativity, wow factor. Psst—we don't count water, salt, black pepper, and certain fats (specifically, 1/2 cup or less of olive oil, vegetable oil, and butter), since we're guessing you have those covered. Today, we’re making your new favorite meatloaf.
Meatloaf has been an American favorite since the late 1800s. So it's no surprise that, over a century later, the number of meatloaf recipes is seemingly endless (or, over 30 million according to Google). From the meat to the mix-ins, anything is fair game.
Take this favorite Food52 recipe: Meatloaf, Plain and Simple by longtime Food52er Sdebrango. When it won our Your Best Dinner That Makes a Good Lunch recipe contest, Food52 editors described it as a “no-frills meatloaf” with “everything you love with none of the distractions.” Yet it still has 14 ingredients, including two meats (beef, pork) and various vegetables (onion, carrot, celery).
For what it’s worth, compared to a lot of meatloaf recipes, Sdebrango’s is relatively simple. This one uses three meats and comes with its own homemade blackberry barbecue sauce. This one throws in bacon and Parmesan for good measure. And this one is so umami-focused, its glaze alone has six ingredients.
So, just how simple can classic meatloaf be? We know we need to add mix-ins, otherwise we’d just have a giant hamburger. But which ingredients are necessary? And which ones can we do without?
Meat
It’s called meatloaf for a reason. (Though, I have always wanted to try this lentil loaf!) The default pick is beef—in American cookbook classics from The Joy of Cooking to The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. Pork and veal sometimes make an appearance, as do wildcards like bacon and pancetta. But, if all-beef was good enough for the recipes that helped make meatloaf such a favorite in the first place, it’s good enough for me. If you can, get freshly ground beef from a butcher; it’s coarser and looser, which means a less-dense loaf. And I like to use 15 to 20 percent fat, which means a very-flavorful, never-dry loaf.
Bread
In The Food Lab, J. Kenji Lopéz-Alt describes bread crumbs as “perhaps the most important ingredient of all when it comes to improving the texture of a meatloaf.” Not only do they help retain moisture, but they increase tenderness, too. Some cooks use other starchy ingredients, like rolled oats or even puffed rice cereal, but we’re going to use English muffins. Unusual, yes, but stick with me: In a meaty situation like this, I prefer blitzing up my own fresh bread crumbs versus using dried. But the catch with fresh bread? Its crust is often too hard to blitz, so recipes will tell you to ditch it. But the catch with ditching the crust? It’s full of flavor. Because English muffins are individually shaped, they have an even higher ratio of crust, and, because they’re pre-packaged, the crusts are soft and blitz-able. They’re also reliably flavorful, with sourdough-esque vibes. And I always have them in my freezer.
Eggs
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. The shape won’t be as perfectly rectangular, but the crust will be way better (read: more deeply browned) since there’s more exposed surface area. Thanks to the eggs, our free-form loaf will stay together in the oven and yield neat slices at the table.
Onions
While bread and eggs are structural—they bind the meatloaf—aromatics are all about flavor. Which is probably why so many recipes have so much fun with them. Onion, celery, carrot, mushrooms, fresh herbs, dried herbs, and on, and on. This recipe stops at onion. Admittedly, I didn’t think this would be enough. But my standard approach for Big Little Recipes is to start as simple as possible, then add more as necessary. So, I sautéed yellow onion—like, a lot of yellow onion—until it was very tender (the last thing you want in a meatloaf is crunchy bits) and had complex, caramelized flavors. And, to my own surprise, the result was chef kissing fingers. It reminds me of French onion soup, where you need little more than onions and beef broth to make something special.
Ketchup
Every meatloaf needs a glaze. Many of them are ketchup-based, with perky additions like dried spices, vinegar, and sugar. The ironic part is that ketchup already has dried spices, vinegar, and sugar. Which is why a lot of cooks (including Ina Garten) just use ketchup. We’ll do the same. Think of it like ketchup on a burger—it’s simple, and it works. I also like mixing some ketchup into the meatloaf itself, to add a little sweetness and acidity to balance all the savoriness. A lot of recipes call for tomato paste to do the same, but why bother when we’re already using another flavorful tomatey ingredient?
Water!
The secret ingredient in the legendary restaurant Rao’s meatballs is water. Yep, water. As in, two cups of water mixed into two pounds of meat. This nifty trick yields a noticeably moister, lighter meatball—and, if a meatloaf is just an oversized meatball, why can’t the same apply? I tried the Rao’s ratio with one meatloaf and let’s just say it didn’t go great. Decreasing the water fixed all this. Then, adding the water at a different step took an otherwise humble meatloaf over the top. Remember those caramelized onions? As soon as they’re golden brown, we’re going to pour the water all over them. Not only does this cool them down faster, but it de-glazes all those good bits stuck to the bottom of the pan and creates an ultra-flavorful onion broth. Plus, it’s a headstart for cleaning your sauté pan. That’s pretty cool, too.
If you’re like me, you already have most of these ingredients in your kitchen. And while the whole thing comes together quick enough for a weeknight, I think it's the perfect Sunday supper—not in the least because any leftovers make the very best sandwiches to bring to work throughout the week.
| 1/4 | cup unsalted butter |
| 2 | large yellow onions (about 10 ounces each), finely chopped |
| 2 | English muffins |
| 3/4 | cup cold water |
| 3 | large eggs |
| 2 | tablespoons ketchup, plus more for glazing |
| 1 | tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste |
| 1 | teaspoon freshly ground black pepper |
| 2 | pounds ground beef (preferably 15 to 20% fat) |
| 1/4 | cup unsalted butter |
| 2 | large yellow onions (about 10 ounces each), finely chopped |
| 2 | English muffins |
| 3/4 | cup cold water |
| 3 | large eggs |
| 2 | tablespoons ketchup, plus more for glazing |
| 1 | tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste |
| 1 | teaspoon freshly ground black pepper |
| 2 | pounds ground beef (preferably 15 to 20% fat) |
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Written by: Emma Laperruque
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100 Comments
Instead, I'd start with leaner meat - too much fat may prevent tighter texture since as it melts/shrinks during cooking it might create separation (no proof, just a thought that occurred to me).
Then use panko crumbs coupled with the egg for binder definitely add gelatin for moisture retention, then process it in steps, stopping to put small samples in the microwave to check if the texture is where you want it. I may have to try this myself to see if my advice is worth a hoot, lol.
And one more tip, if you're into sprouted grains (like wheat or barley berries), they give a nice chewy texture, thou for the denser, pate style you might want to try running them through your food processor until finely chopped (might be able to reduce the amount of bread/crumbs, just a thought ;?)
Good luck and enjoy!
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