Community Pick
Top Rated Classic Meatloaf
"My family enjoyed the slightly spicy taste of this meatloaf. This recipe, submitted by a local DJ, was in our local paper."
photo by Andrew Purcell
- Ready In:
- 1hr 40mins
- Ingredients:
- 12
- Yields:
-
1 Meatloaf
- Serves:
- 4-6
ingredients
- 1 1⁄2 lbs ground beef
- 1 cup cracker crumb
- 1 1⁄4 teaspoons salt
- 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1⁄2 cup tomato sauce
-
TOPPING
- 3⁄4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons mustard
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
directions
- Preheat oven 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine ground beef, cracker crumbs, salt, pepper, egg, onion and tomato sauce.
- Mix lightly.
- Shape into a loaf and place in a baking dish.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar, water, mustard and vinegar.
- Brush the loaf with this mixture.
- Place meat loaf in oven and bake 1 hour and 15 minutes, basting occasionally with sauce.
Questions & Replies
-
Is seems to me 1 cup of water is way too much. The last time I made it I think I think I skipped the water completely. Was the 1 cup a misprint? -
What kind of vinegar did you use? -
What kind of vinegar?
Reviews
-
Excellent !!! Best meatloaf I have ever made !! My father-in-law (who is a meatloaf conissieur) absolutely loved it(much to my mother-in-laws dismay. I made two 1 1/2 pound loafs and found the sauce quantity was plenty for both loafs. Definitely will make this one again.
-
Delicious! Easy to put together, and an excellent flavor! After months of searching, I have finally found a meatloaf recipe both my husband and I agree on! Thank you for sharing it. -
awesome! i love meatloaf, and this is a fabulous recipe. I put a little twist on it though. I spread the mixture onto a baking sheet, and layered swiss cheese and ham slices on it, then rolled it up like a jelly roll and then baked it. Awesome!
-
This is really great tasting meatloaf. It stays nice and moist also. I baked it in a loaf pan instead of molding it into a loaf shape and I don't know if that contributed to my having to bake it almost an hour longer than the stated time. The sauce is great but it makes too much for the one loaf, will cut it in half in future. Thanks for posting! -
This was a great meatloaf! I loved the sauce but ended up with too much leftover. Next time I will half the sauce or split it up and use half for basting and half for gravy.
see 222 more reviews
Tweaks
-
Highly recommend changing the sauce to 1 cup ketchup and 1/2 cup water. It's far too runny otherwise. You end up pouring it on the meatloaf instead of brushing.
-
The topping was awesome, made only a half batch of it like other reviewers and didn't add any water to it. The meatloaf took an hour and a half to cook and I probably could have cooked it longer. Used panko bread crumbs instead of crushed crackers and also spaghetti sauce instead of tomato sauce. Smelled delicious while baking. Baked on a wire rack (probably should have sprayed it first, meat kind of stuck to it) with a baking sheet underneath, easier cleanup than using a broiler pan. Will make this again, thank you. -
My DH and son give this 5 stars! I used Panko bread crumbs instead of cracker crumbs and substituted our favorite BBQ sauce (Sweet Baby Rays) for the tomato sauce and ketchup. I then mixed EVERYTHING (topping ingredients as well) together, shaped it into a loaf and baked it. A winner!! -
I used 1/2 cup ketchup 1/4 cup water 1 TBLSP mustard 1 TBLSP apple cider vinegar
-
This is the best meatloaf! I have made it several times now. After the first try, I now use ketchup in place of the tomato sauce and only 1/2 cup water for the sauce. Adding vinegar to the sauce was something new for me and I like it..you get sweet & sour, which is yummy!
see 30 more tweaks
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
Rosemary Chapman
DeFuniak Springs, FL
Worked for 45 years and due to company reorganization, took early retirement. Enjoying "retirement" very much and have re-discovered cooking and trying new recipes for my husband and myself. I put comments by each recipe in case I want to use it again.
When I worked the meals were hurry up types, now I spend more time in meal planning, shopping and cooking. Cooking is no longer a chore. I really enjoy Recipezaar and have emailed recipes to friends/family.
