Muffin Tin Meatloaf

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A very long time ago, I picked up a cookbook called Chicken Soup for the Soul – Recipes for Busy Moms.  To be honest, I think I got it at a Book Fair at my daughter’s school.  Full disclosure – I am a collector of cookbooks, I love reading them – but I rarely make anything from them. Weird, I know.  But at the time I was a single mom and this book had some great recipes, some of which are now regular meals in our home.  However, there was one recipe in this book that knocked me upside the head – and that was for Muffin Tin Meatloaf.  Now, I have my own meatloaf recipe that I have been making forever, but the idea of making them in small portions using something so simple as a muffin pan had literally never crossed my mind. This was a game changer for me. Seriously. I could bake these little guys up, and then put them in the freezer in batches of 3. On a day that I decided to have them for dinner, I could throw them in the refrigerator that morning to thaw, and then warm them up in the microwave, add a couple of sides and boom – instant dinner. Plus, on the day that I made them, they cooked much faster than a regular meatloaf, so they could still be easily made one evening after work. Literally a simple thing like that blew my mind.  Maybe it was overworked stressed-out brain, but this had never dawned on me before.  So, today I am making my meatloaf recipe but still using that muffin tin pan.  Now that my child is grown and on her own, I make these and put them in the freezer for myself, still in batches of 3 so I can have some for dinner, and some for a meatloaf sandwich the next day. Because really, is there anything better than a meatloaf sandwich?

Now I am sure that the lovely man in this cookbook (“Mr. Food”) has a lovely meatloaf recipe, but I have never made his from the cookbook.  This is my recipe that I have used forever.  First – preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then combine 2 lbs of ground beef, 1 lb of ground sausage (I always use sweet italian sausage if I can find it), 3 eggs, 1/3 cup of milk, 1 Tbsp of worcestershire sauce, 1 stack of Townhouse or Ritz crackers smashed into crumbs, 1 Tsbp of seasoning salt (I honestly just dump some in, so this is a guestimation), about 1 tsp of pepper, and one chopped onion.

Now it’s time to get down and dirty.  With clean hands, I just dive right in and mix by hand.  If you are not comfortable doing that, you can use a kitchen spoon or spatula, but I have never done that.  Just mix it all together.  Then you are going to want to divide it our amongst the 12 muffin pan wells. Note – I use Wilton pans for most of my bakeware.  Here is the pan I used.) I divide it equally, and they will come up over the edge of the pan.

Throw these guys in the oven for about 15 minutes, and then put some ketchup on the top.  I like to use a meat thermometer whenever I cook meat, because I am just a freak about that kind of stuff (expiration dates, cooking temperatures, germs, all of it… go ahead – make fun of me!) Bake with the ketchup on top for about 5-8 more minutes or until your thermometer reads 160 degrees.  Then, take them out of the oven and transfer them to a plate.

That’s it!  The ones I don’t eat right away, I put in freezer bags in the freezer. You can use this recipe to make a full meatloaf.  Just take the mixture and form a loaf in a baking pan or cast-iron pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour, until it starts to brown.  Then remove the lid, drain the fat, and cover with ketchup.  Bake for another 10 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.  Put the leftovers in the fridge and use then next day for – you guessed it – meatloaf sandwiches.