Chef John's Meatball-Inspired Meatloaf

As the basic go-to meatloaf recipe, this is perfect: John understands all the things like soaking the bread crumbs and using dairy to keep the meatloaf moist and light. I would add sauteed veggies (mushrooms, peppers, celery and carrots, and whatever else was lurking in the veggie drawer), a spoonful of Worcestershire sauce or anchovy paste, and use a mix of beef, pork and veal for the loaf. What is so great about this recipe is that John ROCKS. He just does. No arguments, please.

Just watched the video and now just HAVE to try this. I've actually been looking for a meatloaf recipe, so of course I looked to Chef John. The video sold me. What a hoot! Going to get my shiv out of the dish washer and get busy! Will rate the finished product later. Thanks, Chef John, for making my afternoon with this cute video!! Update April 22 Made this last night and boy, it was good! I made only very minor changes to the recipe based on what I had on hand. I used 80/20 ground chuck even though the video recommended 85/15. I omitted the parsley because I forgot to get it at the store. I used a major brand fine Italian bread crumb because that's what I had on hand. Used jarred minced garlic and (OMG!!) had to use "fake" (pre-packaged) Parmesan. I also used a major brand jarred mushroom spaghetti sauce. I accidentally let the temp get to 165 before taking it out of the oven. No worries. It was still very moist and just delicious. My hubby, unaware of the "Italian meatball inspired" comment on the video, said...it was like a giant, yummy meatball". With the very fine bread crumbs, I was not able to squeeze ANY milk out. They soaked it all up. This made alot for the two if us. I've taken half of the leftovers and put them in the freezer using my vacuum sealer. Hubby had a meatloaf sandwich for lunch today and said that it was even better left over. The rest of the lefties will be supper in the next night or two. This is good stuff.

Well. I wasted 4 pounds of fresh Angus Chuck in this along with 4 perfectly good eggs and 10.00 worth of freshly grated parmeson cheese.. To be honest, though..it probably is because I used boxed breadcrumbs instead of maybe making my own. This is supposed to have a lot of filler...but what I made was just way way way too much. Shelving this one.

I thought this recipe was great! The only thing I did differently was I used ground turkey, and it came out delicious.

This recipe was easy to make and a great variation of the typical meatloaf dish. I used Panko bread crumbs. Although you need to add a little more than the recipe calls for because of the texture of these crumbs. I also used Barilla Tomato & Basil sauce. Great the next day too!

I made this exactly as Chef John said. All of his recipes are made in a sensible fashion and taste delicious. This recipe produced a delightfully tasty and comforting family dinner. My son just requested it again.

I only gave it 4 stars because I don't like meatloaf -- but if meatloaf was ever going to get 5 stars this would be it. I had nothing in the house to make, but had ground beef. After being very happy with other Chef John recipes I decided to give this a chance. 27 years of marriage and I have never made, nor eaten meatloaf in that time. It's usually too dry for me. This was moist, and tasty. The sauteed onions gave it extra flavor, and allowing the breadcrumbs (I used panko) to absorb the milk was probably the secret to the moistness. Hubby wasn't as happy with it as I was -- probably because he likes his meat cooked well done and dry.

Hands down the best meatloaf I have ever eaten... Kudos to Chef John, my culinary hero

This was a real good treat for myself. I omitted the onion and garlic and used a pouch of Birdseye Southwestern frozen corn microwave for 5 min then browned, I also added two tbs worcestershire sauce all else the same. Oh so good. The Birdseye is always good and it adds some nice color to the food.

I really liked this recipe. I let my breadcrumbs soak too long, there was no milk to ring out. That didn't make a difference, it was moist and delicious. For the topping I ketchup, Brown sugar and Apple cider vinegar.

I used ground beef mince and it was delicious. But it was my 5 year old that really liked it. Definitely cooking again.

Awesome. Every recipe I've ever tried from Chef John is Awesome. I tweaked this a bit by adding a half pound of ground pork. Great recipe. I'm guilty of using a lot of Chef John's recipes and failing to write reviews. He's never disappointed.

I call mine variations on a Chef John Prison (Depression) meatloaf. I was not thrilled with the meatball theme, sooooo.....deleted the cheese. Added loose sprinkle of Worcester Sauce, diced porcini mushrooms and some mushroom juice. thyme. Coated in generic ketchup with precooked bacon on top. Rest of the recipe intact. Cooked/tasted great Follow up.... Made it again...just as presented...only this time, AS MEATBALLS......with some nice sauce....a big hit Saved half the porcini mushrooms and diced added to a beef gravy with s/p.

Came out great! So juicy, beautiful and tasty. First meatloaf so good my husband wanted seconds. Made my own topping of tomato sauce, brown sugar, ketchup, Worcestershire. Will definitely make again.

This is a very good recipe, I substituted the parsley for green pepper, but nothing else. The fresh bread crumbs soaked in milk is the key to a very tender and succulent meat loaf. In the past I used crackers (don't laugh) and it always turned out like a brick. The Parmesan is a great touch too!!! I've done this recipe twice and love it. I love Chef John's videos...he's a riot!!!

We really enjoyed this meatloaf. I didn’t think I could get any of the milk out of the crumb mixture but then I watched the video and I understood what Chef John meant. Will make again!

Have been making meatloaf for over 50 years. I always try new recipes just trying to find that one great one. Well this is it. Easy and oh so good. Did make my own topping of ketchup, molasses, and mustard. Great the first day and leftovers are also great. Love the Chef John videos and recipes. Thank you.

This was excellent with a very moist texture. I substituted chicken broth for the milk and tomato sauce for the egg due to allergies. I would definitely make this again! Been my husband was impressed.

I saw this recipe on Youtube, I think, and decided to try it out. But I also heard of a recipe from the Coal Country of Central Pa for kielbasa loaf, made with loose kielbasa mix. When I went to the supermarket (our local market is Weis Markets), I could not get any of the loose Kielbasa mix, so I bought 2-1/2 lbs of sweet Italian sausage mix instead. The only changes I made was eliminating the parsley and cayenne pepper, and used Kraft grated Parmesan cheese. It came out very tasty, and I could not believe how little the loaf shrank from pre-soaking the breadcrumbs in the milk first. But, since I used a sausage mix, I guess it is really a sausage loaf.

I hadn't made meatloaf in over a year. Last time I made it, I didn't have a reliable recipe and my husband asked me to not make it again as it didn't come out too good. Decided I needed to give it another try and, of course, looked up Chef John's recipe. He didn't disappoint. We all enjoyed it, and my husband had SECONDS! Thank you Chef John.

Added 1/2 lb of pork sausage and used brown gravy instead of red sauce. The whole family, who usually gripes about onions and garlic, ATE IT UP!!

Have made several times and it is spot on delicious every time. I do make my own topping of catsup, brown sugar, and a tad of dijon mustard.

Delicious! The only change I made was instead of tomato sauce over the top, I used bbq sauce. My new go-to meatloaf recipe!

I've used chef john's recipes before and they are always successful. My family enjoyed this meatloaf very much. I thought I had breadcrumbs but did not, so I looked up alternatives and decided to use oatmeal. i used them just as the instructions said to use breadcrumbs. Thanks Chef John!

I normally love Chef John's recipes and thought I'd try this one. It was too blah and tasteless.

I've made this recipe many times. Absolutely the best meatloaf (or meatballs). Question for anyone out there who knows. At the top of the recipe page it lists prep and cook times and then it says "addition: 25 minutes". Rest time is 10 minutes so I'm curious what I'm supposed to do for that extra 15 minutes?

Very good! We just made this recipe tonight and is was very tasty. We used one pound of ground Turkey meat and used half of the ingredients instead, and it still turned out to be quite delicious. We used a naturally sweet homemade Italian tomato sauce with some light herbs. The flavor did it indeed remind us of Italian meatballs. We will definitely make it again, but next time with some added veggies in the meat mixture such as: sautéed celery and carrots along with the onions. We will also have it with some pasta since it did taste like italian meatballs, and a light salad as opposed to mash potatoes and green beans.

I made no changes and it was the best meatloaf I have ever made. Have made it several times and always get raves.

I used Profile sauce and 93% lean ground beef with ground pork. Meatloaf took extra cooking time by 10-15 minutes. The meatloaf was delicious and very moist.

Made it exactly as the recipe directed and I, as well as my family, thought it was terrific. I used to be a service tech and ate a lot of truck stop dinners, which are some of the best foods in the country. And this was up there with those.

I followed the directions exactly but using milk with the dehydrated mix instead of fresh. The only thing that I found was my bread crumbs didnt seem to absorb all of the milk as his did even after soaking them for 30+ minutes. None the less it was delicious! I will make it again even though I found it rather labor intensive. * Consider soaking the bread crumbs step one instead of step 3.

Way too much bread crumbs.

For the meatloaf followed the directions exactly as stated, but added some Oregano as well. As Chef John hints at in his video this is a delicious giant Italian meatball. Baked with my wife’s home made tomato sauce and this turned out way better than expected. Once again Chef John made a basic cook such as myself look good.

I have made this meatloaf several times and it's always a hit with the family! Easy to make, and the ingredients are on hand in the pantry.

This meat loaf recipe was a complete waste of 2lbs of grass fed beef! Nobody liked it. It didn't taste 'meaty' at all. The consistency was mushy bread crumbs, if you try this, omit them completely. I will be going back to my basic meat loaf recipe and I will never make this again. So sad.

I made this but with a few changes. I only use Contadina tomato products because it is a truer tomato flavor .. Hunt's is to watery & salty. Also, I chose to use finely chopped day old bread instead of dry bread crumbs. Added red & green finely chopped as well. Used the remaining tomato sauce to pour over the loaf.

This might be the best meatloaf I ever ate! Halved the recipe for the two of us. Added a 4-oz can of mushroom pieces just because we like mushrooms. I'm so glad I watched John's video first because it became clear that the tomato sauce in the recipe is intended to be more like a red sauce; meatloaf should taste like a big meatball. Knowing that, I used Rao's marinara sauce, and baked the meatloaf at 375F for 1 hour. Fantastic!!!

I made this meatloaf as directed and loved it. The bread crumbs soaked up all the milk, so no squeezing required. This makes a huge loaf which is even better the next day, and I froze the extra for a quick thaw meal some night. Wonderful flavor!

This is similar to my "mother's" recipe, to which I add bread crumbs & milk to, but have never soaked the breadcrumbs before, or used so much. While it was moist, I felt like the "prison filler" really diluted the flavor. I did not follow recipe to the letter: added some green pepper w/ the onion & garlic saute, added worcestershire sauce & instead of the tomatoe sauce, poured a can of condensed (undiluted) tomato soup on top (another nod to Mom). Also, used 2/3 ground round + 1/3 ground pork. Just seemed more bland than usual.

I've made this several times and it is an easy choice for dinner because my family loves it with mashed potatoes and green beans. I like to add about a cup of shredded carrots to my meat loaf mixture for some extra color and moisture.

Good.

I just watched the video myself and am making this tomorrow serving with mash Potatoes and a salad, will see how it does looks great!. I hit 5 stars because I’m Bc a big fan of meatloaf!

Very good "meat loaf":-))..

Good flavor. One of the better meatloafs I have had.

My 40 year old son said this was best meatloaf he ever had. Only change I made was to use meatloaf mix for meat. The cooking time is way off which I knew it would be. About 90 minutes is more like it

Absolutely the best meatloaf I have ever had!! I never really liked meatloaf until now. I make this specific recipe often now and enjoy it every time thanks to Chef John

I use a mini chopper to chop up the onions and bell peppers before I sautee them,I use Angus beef and ground pork, Great Recepie. Thanks Chef John.

Fabulous and moist!!!! Instead of using a glaze, I used the mushroom sauce recipe from Chef John's Creamy Mushroom Meatloaf and braised it according to his instructions.

This recipe was spot on! Everyone cleaned their plates! Thanks for another hit Chef John!!

I made this for dinner before my Bible study group, everyone loved it and some even asked for the recipe!!

I love meatloaf so I loved this recipe. Hubby did not care for this as much. If made again, would top with traditional ketchup, mustard and brown sugar.

My husband loved this meatloaf. I grew up with dry, bland meatloaf, which my mom made even less appealing by hiding one or two hard-boiled eggs in it. As a hater of eggs in most forms, I would pray that my slice would not contain any of it. But Chef John’s meatloaf is about as different from that as you can possible get. I liked it almost as much as my husband did.

Absolutely loved it! You never go wrong with chef John. Added some mozzarella on top. First time ever tried meatloaf parmigiana and it was well received

Awesome... i love it

I liked it, but my picky eater ten year old really didn't, and I wouldn't go so far as to say I loved it, which is why I gave it a 4 out of 5. Not sure what I would change. Maybe less bread crumbs. Definitely a different sauce. Edit - Changing my rating to a five. The recipe made so much that we were eating it in sandwiches every day for lunch for five days after we had this for dinner, and still liked it by the end of the five days.

This is one of my very favorite dishes. I've made it a bunch of times. It is so delicious. I don't agree with the prep time being 20 minutes though. At least the way I do things it is over an hour.

We found this recipe to be bland and had a weird mushy texture. Which leads me to ponder why make prison food if you don’t have to.

First time through I made this recipe with equal parts beef and turkey. All other ingredients were the same except for the sauce. I mixed together raspberry chipotle sauce and Sweet Baby Ray's raspberry chipotle barbeque sauce and spread it over the meatloaf. My, my it was yummy! My second experiment is in the oven as I type...will let you know how that turns out.

This is by far the best meatloaf recipe I have. Chef John is the man.

My husband said this was the best meatloaf he’s ever eaten. Success! I used 1 pound of ground turkey 85/15 and 1 pound of turkey 90/10. Otherwise I followed the recipe to a T. (Except! I cooked the onions a bit longer to get them just a little softer for the aforementioned husband’s preference). I will make this again, just like this!

Great recipe! I used turkey instead of beef, but the rest of the ingredients were the same as this recipe. I used a loaf pan so I just covered the top with sauce. One big tip I learned in this recipe was to soak the bread crumb first. That really made a difference. It was soft and juicy! So comforting to eat this with mashed potatoes. Thank you for another winner!

Absolutely loved it! You never go wrong with chef John. Added some mozzarella on top. First time ever tried meatloaf parmigiana and it was well received

Very good, loved by m SO. Will make again

Fantastic. Chef John is my "go to guy" Only change I can think of is to possibly cut back on the bread crumbs. I did cover it with canned diced tomatoes and chillies to spice it up. Living in the Southwest it comes natural.

Another delicious recipe from Chef John. Hard to explain how something so simple could be so delicious. My brother in law stopped over for supper and said it was the best he has ever had! Thank you Chef John.

Made it as designed close as able to, Fantastic! Great Recipe and look forward to making it again.

I really liked the outcome with the few changes I made. I didn’t use parsley or the cheese. I also didn’t sauté the onions and garlic. I used canned plain bread crumbs and finely grated parm like you put on spaghetti. I also made my tomato sauce topping a little different. I used a can of tomato sauce, added a little sugar, salt, black pepper and garlic powder. It was a hit in my house. Thanks Chef John for the inspiration.

Very good; very moist. I only added some chopped celery. Will make again. Chef John is the best.

I've made this twice. The first time, I followed the recipe and it came out too mushy for my taste (it might have been intentional). The second time I made this I used 1 pound Italian sausage, 1 pound ground beef, half the amount of breadcrumbs, and only 1/4 cup of milk. I served this one at a family get-together and they all loved it. Note: I also used Italian bread crumbs instead of plain.

I liked the idea of adding my own tomato sauce, so much better than the sweet ketchup concoction they usually call for. The meatloaf was also quite moist and tasted great. Don't forget to use a meat thermometer , very important as overcooked meatloaf ruins all the work that went into it.

Loved this recipe. So Flavorful. I have tried many meat loaf recipes and this is one of the best.

Have made this couple times and only thing I did differently was I used Oatmeal soaked in milk. Comes out moist and perfect. Love Chef John, he is a HOOT!

With two deviations, this is the meatloaf recipe I grew up with. Instead of 2# of chuck, mom used a ground chuck/ground pork/ground veal combination. Rather than tomato sauce, she used (much less than 3 cups) chili sauce in the mixture, also on top of the shaped loaf. Nowadays, I use a combination of chuck and pork only. I also add some diced green pepper, no cayenne. Suitable for serving topped with ketchup or brown gravy. I think I'll make meatloaf for Sunday dinner.

I will definitely make this again. Just as good 2nd time around!

The BEST meatloaf I've ever had in my life. Thank you, Chef John! I didn't change a thing for this recipe, except the topping/sauce. I changed it out for the one from "Chef John's Classic Meatloaf" recipe. Worked perfectly!

Stuck to the recipe, way,way,way too salty, if I make it again I will not add any salt. Otherwise came out as I expected, lots of filler and not much taste, this is a perfect example of a meat loaf that gives meatloaf a bad name. I would also bake at 350 for 90 minutes, the recipe directions didn't work for me.

There used to be a restaurant in downtown Birmingham, AL called the Social Grill. They had a meatloaf there that I've been trying to recreate for years. Using this as a base, I substituted half the beef for ground pork but everything else is the same. I then make a tomato sauce with green pepper, onion and celery in it an pour that over the meatloaf when I bake it. It makes a MONSTER sized meatloaf, but I've had many people say it's the best they've ever eaten and it's as close as I can get to that Social Grill meatloaf from my memory. Thanks Chef John for posting this recipe!!

Chef John - appropriate amount of humor excuses an inappropriate use of balsamic vinegar. Forever a fan!

I've been making meatloaf for years, and after trying this recipe, I am never using my old one again. I used 50% ground chuck and 50% ground pork, and it turned out beautifully! There were no other changes. Be sure to use good Parmesan - you can taste it in the final product.

Chef John rocks!! Oh so good. ! Have made my mother's meat loaf for years (Sorry Mom) but this is the best!

I changed some amounts and the order of the directions a bit after making it a couple of times, but I'm pretty close to Chef John's original recipe. Delicious. My "go-to" meatloaf now.

Just made for dinner

First off, Yes, it was super juicy. But I think it needs a bit more seasoning. My hubby loved it though. We had a lot of leftovers since it's just the 2 of us. So, meatloaf sandwiches for the next couple of days. Lol. Unfortunately, I didn't have just plain bread crumbs so I used the Italian one. I couldn't even squeeze any milk from the bread crumb so my meatloaf wasn't as formed as I would have liked. But overall, this is a very good base for a juicy meatloaf. Next time, I'll be sure to use plain bread crumbs and more spices.

My husband and mother in law 'LOVED" it. So did I and I have never really like my own Meatloafs