Blue Cheese, Spinach Meat Loaf Muffins

made them lastnight for the picky eaters in my home....& WOW they both loved it!!! My 12yr old niece hates everything, and she asked for more! I used turkey instead of beef. Thank You!

I was a little worried that my kids (6yo & 2 1/2yo) would turn up their noses at the blue cheese but I was so pleasantly surprised how mild the blue cheese flavor was. The marriage of flavors here were delicious and my husband proclaimed it his favorite meatloaf ever. I used 2lbs of ground beef and there was enough meat to fill all 6 large muffin tins and 6 regular sized muffin tins - which were perfect sized for the kids. Both muffin trays cooked together in the oven for the 30 minutes specified in the recipe. We will be making this one again very soon!!

Wow! We loved these at the LTH house and it is rare for us both to rave about a meal, ESPECIALLY dreaded "meatloaf"! I followed the recipe to a "T", though I did sub gorgonzola for blue because I was too lazy to backtrack in the grocery store. I ended up with a fairly rough chop on the onions and I'm glad I was too lazy to get a finer dice because I enjoyed the onion in larger chunks. When I make these again (and I will!), I will add more spinach and maybe some shredded carrots, too, just to pack in some more nutrients. Thanks for making me not hate meatloaf!

I made these for supper last night. I'm not much of a cook, and have never made meat loaf before, but I figured these sounded straight-forward enough. I used fresh spinach and onion (both locally, organically grown!), Progresso Italian-style bread crumbs, and Athenos Blue Cheese Crumbles. I followed the recipe exactly. I was able to fill 12 regular muffin cups about 80%-90% full, and cooked it for about 20 minutes instead of the 30 in the recipe. I broke the center one in half, and it was cooked through. Normally, my husband will eat what I cook, and say, yeah, it's ok. But he ate 2 muffins for supper, took 2 to work (graveyard shift), and ate them this morning, and ate another 2 for supper tonight. And, yes, there were other things he could have had for supper. So I'm gonna say, they're winners! Not only did my picky husband like them, but my 5-year old ate 2 of them (with his hands, 'cause "it's funner that way"), dipping them in ketchup instead of putting the ketchup on top. WAY less mess than normal meatloaf that way! I think this is going to become a regular meal at our house!

trying to find something different to do with ground turkey tonight when i happened upon this little gem :) really really good idea and base recipe. in my opinion, both the spinach and cheese need to be doubled, and the breadcrumbs need to be cut back by half, hence the 4 star rating. i was afraid the kids wouldn't touch them with the spinach in it, but i think they were so enthralled that their dinner came out of a cupcake pan that they said nothing - seriously, they said NOTHING about it! amazing. i think next time i will actually use cupcake papers to bake these, because the kids were so enthusiastic about the whole "mini" idea. thanks!

I loved this! I made it shaped as a regular meatloaf instead of the individual servings and added a ton of extra blue cheese since we love the flavor--and I can not wait to make it again!

Very tasty. Gave it a 4/5 because I added more cheese, and coated the top with 1/4 c. brown sugar, 1/4 c. ketchup, and 2T worcestershire sauce.

This was excellent. Blue cheese is the way to go. I LOVE meatloaf and I liked the idea of making individual portions and having it bake more quickly. I used frozen spinach instead of fresh and just thawed it and squeezed out the water. Also added some ketchup. To me meatloaf isn't meatloaf without it. Next time I think I'll add some shredded carrots and chopped mushrooms.

These are wonderful! I have a new meatloaf favorite recipe. I halved the recipe but did not halve the blue cheese or spinach. I used dried minced onion (just dumped in about 1/4 c). I also added a pinch of red pepper flakes to the meat mixture. I used seasoned Panko bread crumbs. As per another reviewer I topped with mixture of 2 T of brown sugar, 2 T ketchup and 1 T of worcestershire. I ended up with about 7 tennis ball sized meatloaf balls. They cooked about 30 minutes. Delish!

Absolutely WONDERFUL!! I am not a meatloaf fan at all. I made this recipe because my family LOVES meatloaf! This meatloaf smelled so wonderful and tasted so good that I went back for seconds! I followed the recipe exactly and will make it over and over. DELICIOUS!

I used Feta cheese and omitted the onion - everyone loved these even my 2 picky kids. I doubled the recipe which filled 12 regular size muffins plus a little extra. (Don't overfill the muffin pans or you'll get a very greasy pan to remove from the hot oven!)

This is a wonderful recipe but to make it a 5 star recipe you need to mix 3 parts ketchup,2 parts yellow mustard, to one part brown sugar .Drop into large muffin pan by large ice cream scoop & brush each meat loaf muffin with ketchup toppin -bake for 40 min. at 350 serve with wild rice,baked patato or a wonderful salad.ENJOY!

This is Excellent!!! Added some garlic and pepper but other than that follwed recipe as is. The meatloaf was sooooo tender. Will Definitely make again!

This is a great recipe and very versatile - you can adjust the quantities for how much meat you have, as always on this cooking site. You can also use any ground meat you like, and my preference is a mix of pork and beef. No reason in the world why you shouldn't use turkey or chicken, or veal or lamb if you can get it or afford it. You can also use any cheese. Gorgonzola is wonderful, as suggested by another reviewer, but if your kids don't go for blue cheese you can use cheddar or anything else, even cream cheese, and make up for the mild flavor with some more spicing - like plenty of garlic. If the kids or guests don't go for Worcestershire sauce, no worries! I just use soy sauce instead, and they don't even know that it's there. You can match flavors to the meat, too. Did you know that pork is greatly enhanced by anchovy paste? (I think it has natural flavor enhancers like soy sauce.) You can also use Vietnamese or Thai fish sauce. Spinach is a great addition, but the recipe will work without it. I'm thinking mashed chestnuts would go well with turkey or chopped mushrooms with chicken. Shrimp would go well with pork done with cream cheese. I love being able to shove these meatballs in the oven and not having to stand over the stove and fry them! I make big batches to have plenty for several meals, as they keep for a week in the fridge, and muich longer in the freezer, and everyone is pleased every time..

Easy to make and a BIG hit with the family: it is now the Family Favorite Meal :) So good it's bee requested for a repeat next Sunday :) Three changes: I substituted goat cheese for blue cheese (due to a dairy allergy), put some ketchup on the top before baking, and I used a regular 12x cup cake pan which worked great for the portions as we all had two meatloaf cakes, and two each were left over the girls for school lunch tomorrow. Latest time I upped the Worcester sauce to give it even more tang. Yummy!!!

Following the suggestions of other members, I doubled the blue cheese and the spinach. I also baked it in a 8x8 pan for about 40 minutes. This is one of the best recipes I've had for meatloaf. In fact we love it so much I have made it twice in three weeks. AND my friend loved it even after professing to abhor blue cheese!

Very nice recipe. I like the muffin thing too, as it makes it real easy to save leftovers. While, good, as is, next time I'll jazz it up a little with more blue cheese, more spinach and maybe some chopped green pepper. I'd also consider topping with a Catsup or BBQ type glaze during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

When I told my family the name of this recipe, they all turned their noses up and didn't want me to make it. But, they gobbled these up and these were great the next day too. I didn't make any changes to this recipe and will make again. The individual serving sizes also makes this great for folks trying to control their portion sizes.

This is a really interesting take on meat-loaf. It definitely has a very different flavor that traditional meat loaf. The blue cheese really makes it -- although I think any soft cheese (feta, gorgonzola, goat) would work too, but blue happens to be my favorite. I also like that you automatically have single serving portion sizes-- I'd like to try this with ground turkey next time.

DOUBLE the blue cheese, spin, & onions and this is TO DIE FOR. This one is definitely going into the book.

A hit. A little dry when reheated.

This was very good. It was an excellent way to hide veggies from picky eaters. I'm not a big fan of blue cheese but it really works in this recipe. I also tried with gorgonzola and it works also. Barbecue sauce was a great condiment.

Loved it! Substituted crushed pork rinds for the bread crumbs for low carb. Delicious!

This was very good. I used ground turkey & substituted half of the bread crumbs with quick oatmeal & added fresh basil Update: I made this with fat free feta today & it was even better than original recipe. I'll be making this with feta from now on.

I only had about 1/3 to ½ cup of blue cheese, and I used ¼ cup of ww bread crumbs, so added ¼ c. of crushed saltines. Used double the fresh spinach, and topped with sweet chili sauce. I made these in my mini loaf pans and the amount comes out just right to fill them. Cooked at 350 for 35-40 minutes , upping to 375 the last 15 minutes while roasting some butternut squash. They were great!

These weren't breathtaking, but were pretty good. My two-year-old liked them.

I used a full cup of spinach instead of half. I don't know what is up with this but I put mine in a loaf pan instead of a muffin pan & baked for 50 mins... it was covered in nasty beef fat... like the balls you get on the sides of hamburgers that are cooked in the fry pan. I picked it all off & the meat loaf was good but still the initial image was gross. Not sure why that happened, I have NEVER had that happen with meat loaf before. Regardless it was tasty.

I consider myself a meatloaf lover but this was just okay in my book. The flavors were just not very pronounced. I had leftovers, hoping it would improve the next day, which a good meatloaf usually does but it didn't. Good concept but from a flavor perspective it just didn't work for me.

Very yummy!! The whole family liked this meatloaf! When I make it again, I will add a bit more blue cheese...I did use about a cup of spinach and it didn't seem like too much. Great mix of flavors! This recipe is a keeper!

The family was divided on this one, some liked it and some didn't.

Let me start out by saying I am not a huge fan of meatloaf and my hunny isn't a big fan of blue cheese. Between the two of us we ate all but 2 of the 12 it made. No one flavor is over powering so it blends together really well. I made exactly as state above just adding a little black pepper. I will totally make these again, only thing I will do is add more spinach as 1/2 cup just didn't seem to be that much and I think it could stand up to a bit more spinach. We made the with roasted potatoes and greens off this site and it was an amazing dinner

Very interesting twist on Meat Loaf. Enjoyed the flavor since it added a different flavor than traditional Meat Loafs, yet retained some of the traditional qualities. Good recipe for Meat Loaf lovers.

We all liked it. Good and fast.

delicious and easy

This was so freaking easy to do! My husband and I loved it!!!! The kids felt that it had to much blue cheese, but I disagree with them. I personally love the stuff and would put more in it.

My husband loved these. I added a bit more cheese and I thought it was almost too strong. Probably will make again.

Loved the recipe! Since I LOVE blue cheese, I will add more of that next time,

BEST EVER meatloaf....with just a few modifications. Upped spinach to 1 1/2 cups, added 1 glove of minced garlic, and a generous cup of diced fresh mushrooms. As suggested by another reviewer, I glazed the loaves with ketchup, brown sugar mix. This meatloaf was very moist and bursting with flavor! I loved the healthy addition of the spinach.

made this for the family...and everyone loved it!!! I did not have fresh spinach, but frozen worked well...also used gouda instead of bleu because rest of my family does not care for it. easy, made for GREAT leftovers.

OMG!! This meatloaf is so moist and creamy! My boyfriend (who won't get near bleu cheese) said it was "better than your regular meatloaf." Ha! Fooled him! Of course it is! The regular meatloaf is a 50 year old recipe that includes ketchup! Yuck! This one is sooooooo much better AND has the added health benefits of spinach. Love it!!

YUMMY. I doubled the Blue cheese and spinach. WOW, will definately make this again.......weekly. Next time I won't use the cupcake tin (just a loaf pan for easier cleanup).

I make this exactly as written.. it is WONDERFUL!! Definitely a favorite in our house!

try a different cheese next time and not as much

Added some chopped yellow and orange bell pepper, and a litlle more spinach and blue cheese (used gorgonzola) than what the recipe called for; filled 18 regular size muffin tins (1/4 cup each muffin), and for variety - put a typical ketchup glaze topping on 6, Tabasco brand Caribbean style steak sauce on another 6, and left remaining 6 plain. Baked for 20 minutes. WOW! All were delicious! The flavors were perfect together. Husband said this was the best meatloaf he's ever eaten. Don't know how you could go wrong - think if recipe followed to the T it would still be 5 stars.

I just knew I would love this recipe. In fact, I sent my mother a copy before I even made it. Who wouldn't love spinach & blue cheese in a meatloaf? Sadly, this recipe was a big disappointment. I made exactly as specified (although I added a little extra blue cheese and spinach as some other reviewers suggested and baked it in a loaf pan). I did not care for this at all. I did learn one valuable lesson: adding a cup of spinach is un-noticeable after it bakes down, so I will be adding spinach to my traditional meatloaf recipe.

I made these tonight. Fast and easy to make. I cooked them for 25 minutes, then turned off oven, let them sit in oven, this way they were not over cooked. I microwaved 2 sweet potatoes, which only took few minutes. I did substitute blue cheese for cheddar cheese.

We enjoyed these. They didn't hold together very well, but we love the flavors. We will probably make these again. Thanks for sharing!

Very nice change to regular meatloaf. I used less blue cheese also thinking it would be strong, but you need to use the entire amount. I will listen next time to others who said it didn't over power the taste of the meatloaf. I'm going to make one change though & that is spray the muffin tins instead of using the grease as suggested. I'll also use more fresh spinach. Would be nice for company also because you can make attractive on the plates easier than slices.

Good and easy recipe - but I'd use a leaner hamburg than 70/30. The water and greese bubbled up from each one. The taste was very good.

I agree with some of the other reviewers -- I love blue cheese, so I will try adding some more next time. I really like the muffin pan portions -- great idea!

Let me just start by saying that I really and truly dislike meatloaf. My hubby, on the other hand, loves it. But sadly for him, he has been living the last 20 years in a meatloaf drought, for obvious reasons. So when I saw this recipe, I thought I'd give it a whirl and I'm so glad I did! It's moist and delicious, with the bleu cheese adding a wonderful kick. Plus there's something about having them in muffin form that isn't quite the turnoff for me that meatLOAF is. I enjoyed this so much that we're having it again tonight. The second time in three weeks. The hubby's in heaven!

Only four stars because I don't like blue/bleu cheese (I prefer mozzarella or cheddar). But I love the muffin pan idea. I've been doing mini meatloafs for a while now, but the muffin pans make it much tidier and more uniform.

I loved the flavor...my issue is they stick to the muffin tin...really bad, I used butter first time to grease the tin, next time crisco...yes crisco, I bought it only for that purpose. HELP!!!! I want to make them again for a large group of friends!! Thanks

This is definitely a keeper for me! Absolutely delicious!!!! The only thing I did differently is bake it in a loaf pan because I couldn't find my muffin tin. I increased the cooking time to 45 minutes. Soooooo good!

I used 85/15, didn't grease the 8 mini loaves on my pan. I added an extra Tbsp of Worscheshire sauce, and doubled the spinach. This was FABULOUS!!!

the flavor is so delish!!! love it!! I made it with turkey instead, and so good!

This is now my favorite meatloaf. I didn't change a thing though I don't have a large muffin pan so I used a regular sized one and heaped the meat in each. I only ended up with 7 muffins but they are perfect serving sizes. I cooked them the same amount of time called for in the recipe. The blue cheese (ok I probably used closer to a cup of that) and the worcestershire sauce make it amazing!

OMG - my husband is a meatloaf hater but he loved this! Excellent!

Dry

These were great! Only thing I did differently was added more fresh spinach.

I followed the recipe and they came out bland. Next time I'm adding more seasonings and spinach. I might even add bell peppers, more onions,and a tomato paste graze on top. It needs more taste.

Made these into burger patties and loved them. Skipped the spinach because wouldn't fly with husband, but wished I'd made mine with it!

This is without a doubt the best meatloaf recipe I've ever made. I make mine with ground turkey or ground beef.I like to make a double or triple batch and freeze them up in tinfoil muffin tins. I pull them out and thaw them or bake from frozen. My family loves this recipe and it is so delicious. This recipe is so adaptable...you can throw in grated carrot,finely chopped mushroom, whatever you want. I top some of them with a ketchup, brown sugar, mustard topping before baking. Love,love,love!

it was very good the first time, but I use turkey not beef. the second time, I cooked two strips of bacon and chopped it up and add to mixture, also add 2 tablespoons of ketchup also. didn't use muffin tin, but pan for making small loafs of bread. makes 8 small loafs.

Thought this was great! I used ground turkey instead of beef.

I was extremely happy with this recipe! I cut the batch in half before adding the cheese since I wasn't sure my 19 month old would like the blue cheese. I made half with cheddar and the other half with blue cheese since I expected the blue cheese to be much stronger tasting. I didn't find the blue cheese overpowering at all. My whole family enjoyed it. One muffin was the perfect serving size for my daughter, while her dad and I had two or three. I am looking forward to making this again. The prep took no time at all!

Not your mom's meatloaf! I love that these are bite sized and so easy to make. I swapped out the blue cheese for feta, because I'm not a blue cheese fan, but these were still great. I adjusted the cooking time a little because my family likes their beef a little less pink, but otherwise made it as directed.

We really enjoyed this. I added diced sourdough bread instead of the bread crumbs a squeeze of ketchup, a little milk, salt and pepper. I forgot the worcestershire but probably would have liked it. I didn't add as much blue cheese because mine was pretty pungent. This was very good, very moist. Will definitely be making this again.

very strong flavor. You need to really like blue cheese.

Very Tasty! My husband and I are doing Atkins, so I left out the breadcrumbs. Then, I made them into patties and cooked them on the grill. KIds liked them too. Even had my teenage daughter ask for seconds!

These were amazing - couple changes include using crumbled feta and a 10 oz pkg of frozen spinach thawed and squeezed dry. Cook time took 35-40 minutes. WOW

Love the recipe, the only thing I did different is instead of loaf muffins I made it into a loaf.

Not your Mother's Meatloaf!Since I've been married I've been making my mother in laws meatloaf.While trying to jazz up my low salt diet I found this.I used no salt ketchup instead of Worcestershire and less cheese.This made a gourmet meatloaf for a change of pace.

Really really good! Only thing I changed was leaving out the bread crumbs. Didn't miss them at all! And I cooked it in an 8x8 pan because my muffin tin doesn't fit in my table top oven. Thanks for an awesome and easy recipe.

A wonderful change up from ordinary meatloaf. The blue cheese is such a nice surprise but not overpowering . The individual mini loaves is an added plus. I did increase the amount of blue cheese and rough chopped the onion. A personal preference. And like someone else, I used frozen spinach squeezed out very dry. Thank you for sharing. My entire family loves this. I have also found subbing Feta Cheese for the Bleu cheese is a nice twist,but either way, you need to increase the amount of cheese.

This was a perfect little meatloaf but I couldn't taste the bleu cheese at all. I think I'm going to use this for my meatloaf recipe but change some of the veggies. I used a mini loaf pan. It was great! This needs a topping/sauce

Enjoyed this recipe very much and will definitely use it as the basis for many variations to come.Thanks for sharing it!

Made it again using ground turkey instead of ground beef as well as double the amount of spinach. Dare I say that it was even better this time around? I do dare! It was fantastic. Mulling the idea of spending an afternoon making multiple batches so that I can store them for easy reheating for quick and delicious breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Love this recipe. Have made it 3 times in the past two weeks (the last time was the first time trying with turkey).

Loved the addition of blue cheese to make a unique meatloaf recipe. I did also added ketchup, worchestire and brown sugar glaze as suggested by another reviewer which turned out well. This recipe was a hit!

Made this recipe last night for my husband and I! We loved it!! I was nervous about the blue cheese crumbles because I only like some blue cheeses, but I ended up enjoying the crumbles, I think I'll put extra next time! My husband had ketchup with his, but I liked it just fine without. Will definitely make again.

I will definitely make this again. Rather then beef, I used ground turkey and my husband absolutely loved it!

Pretty good. I used a little over 1lb of ground beef instead of the 1.5 recommended. Thought it lacked something, not sure what.

This was so good, the whole family loved it! Only downside is the meatloaves in the muffin tin have nowhere for the grease to drain out. Next time I plan to use more spinach, and possibly find a glaze or sauce to complement it!

Quick and easy dinner option. Could definitely up the bleu cheese and spinach to a half cup each (meat to veg/cheese ratio a little off). Definitely will make again.

I made this with the exact ingredients specified; I did not make them into mini loaves, but opted for a loaf pan since there are just two of us. I baked uncovered middle rack at 350 for 45 minutes, removed from oven and then covered for ten minutes before serving. Very flavorful and will make this again!

I make this a lot, and love it every time. I have done it with all turkey, half and half or all beef, and it is always yummy. I have also done it in both the muffin tins or as a loaf (usually about 45 min). Substituting cheeses has been fun (feta, Gorgonzola) and adding peas or other veggies has also worked. To make it glutton free for my husband, I used crushed chex mix instead of bread crumbs and it tasted wonderful. Highly recommend and super easy.

This is now our "go to" meatloaf recipe! I've made it several times with rave reviews. Nice twist on something that everyone makes. Great recipe!!!

Made these with ground turkey. They were AWESOME!!! Kitchen smelled great while they were cooking and tasted just as good as they smelled. Definitely cooking these again!!!

Oh my......wonderful

Delicious twist on meatloaf. Didn't have a muffin pan so used a meatloaf pan and it worked perfectly - only addition was a little bit of garlic.  Will definitely make again!

What a fantastic, sophisticated play on meat loaf! The blue cheese creates a heavenly bite while the spinach lends an earthy tone...a sophisticated flare yet an old home satisfaction. The only thing I did differently was increase the blue cheese, onion and spinach to one cup each... also used 85% lean beef... very little run off, if at all. absolutely delicious. Pared with a petit Syrah.

I made this recipe two nights ago. I, personally, do not like meatloaf. I am not a fan of hamburger dishes in general. I used one pound lean ground sirloin and half a pound of hot Italian sausage. This gave the meatloaf a better texture and a lot more flavor. This was a great meal and I will be making it again.

Awesome!! I was worried when I made this because my boyfriend isn't a fan of blue cheese or spinach, but once it's all cooked together with the ground beef, it has the best flavor! You really can't tell that it's blue cheese and spinach in there but it gives it a really juicy and delicious taste! My boyfriend has actually requested that I make this again.

My blue cheese hating husband didn't believe there was blue cheese in these! these were super easy to make and everyone in the family loved them. I used dehydrated onions since typical onions give me tummy issues and I added salt and pepper. Those were the only modifications I made and they turned out great!

Very tasty! My hubby and I made this with ground turkey and doubled the spinach. We used ground up french fried onions instead of the bread crumbs and onions. Unfortunately, our cat also liked them too. He knocked over the pan while we were eating dinner. Hopefully we will have leftovers the next time we make them!

Made this recipe last night for my husband and I! We loved it!! I was nervous about the blue cheese crumbles because I only like some blue cheeses, but I ended up enjoying the crumbles, I think I'll put extra next time! My husband had ketchup with his, but I liked it just fine without. Will definitely make again.

Followed the recipe exactly and it was wonderful. The bleu cheese was so flavorful!

This was PERFECT for my kiddos and my husband loved them! I did shredded cheddar instead of blue cheese and it turned out so yummy! They didn't say a thing about the spinach either- such a great way to get some good nutrients in little ones. Will make this one again for sure!

I loved this recipe, using muffin pan made it a quick dinner which I always need. I used a pork/beef mix which made it VERY moist, I recommend 1/4 to 1/3 of the meat to be ground pork if you choose this variation. Also used Gorgonzola, because its a little smoother. My family was stuffed after this meal, everyone overate because it was too good!