Meatloaf is not the fanciest meal, but for some reason everyone seems to love it! Around here, one easy way to fill everyone up and make a healthy home-cooked meal is to make meatloaf. And with this meatloaf recipe with oatmeal, you can be assured that your old-fashioned meatloaf will turn out moist and delicious every single time.
Meatloaf Recipe with Oatmeal
The secret to delicious meatloaf is to make the beef be the star of the show, while still having plenty of depth of flavor. You don’t want to overpower the beef with too many flavors. And it has to be moist. Nothing worse than dried out meatloaf! This classic meatloaf recipe with oatmeal and a ketchup sauce on top is flavorful, with just a touch of sweetness your family will love.
Typically, meatloaf has bread crumbs in it which helps the ground beef stick together. But I wanted to figure out a substitute to bread crumbs. Sometimes I have bread crumbs on hand and sometimes I don’t. And while you can easily make bread crumbs, I wanted to figure out a way to skip that step and drop the extra gluten. That is why I started using rolled oats.
Rolled oats are shelf stable, in most kitchens, and are naturally gluten free. So oatmeal makes a perfect addition to meatloaf. Oats helps hold the meatloaf together without overpowering the beef.
How to Make Meatloaf with Oats
Making a delicious meatloaf is easy to do. Here are the simple steps to making meatloaf recipe with oatmeal
Thaw Ground Beef. Thaw two pounds of ground beef and place in a mixing bowl.
Mix Eggs and Milk. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs and milk and beat together with a fork. Pour over ground beef.
Dice Onion. Dice up onion and add to the beef mixture.
Add Spices and Oats. Measure out and add spices to beef mixture. With a fork, blend the beef mixture all together until blended. Mixture is very thick.
Pat Meatloaf into Loaf Pan. Scoop out meatloaf mixture into loaf pan and pat into pan. You can place all of the mixture into one loaf pan or you can put a cup and 1/2 into a mini loaf pan and then the rest into a regular sized loaf pan. Sometimes it is nice to have a mini meatloaf in the freezer for a lunch. Typically, I fill the mini loaf pan 2/3 of the way and then place the rest of the beef mixture into the 9 x 5 loaf pan.
Cook for 50 minutes and Mix Glaze. Cook meatloaf, uncovered at 350 for 50 minutes. While meatloaf is cooking, mix up meatloaf glaze. At 50 minutes, drain out some of the excess juice from the loaf pan. Spoon glaze onto the top of the meatloaf. Return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes. If you made a mini muffin loaf, that will only need a couple minutes before it will probably be done. Pull your meatloaves from the oven when they reach 150 degrees in the center.
Be sure to not overcook meatloaf. Your meatloaf should look moist and have some juice around it in the pan. And the meatloaf will continue to cook after you pull it from the oven.
Do You Bake Meatloaf Covered or Uncovered?
Bake your meatloaf uncovered. It will be plenty moist and juicy. If you need to reheat it later, you can cover it for part of the time so it does not dry out.
Why Add Oats to Meatloaf?
Oats help the meatloaf hold together and not fall apart when you slice and serve it. And oats are naturally gluten-free, so they are a healthy alternative to bread crumbs.
How to Make a Yummy Meatloaf Glaze
Making a delicious meatloaf glaze it key so don’t skip this step. You can make a yummy glaze with just ketchup, a little brown sugar, and a teaspoon of mustard. You will apply the glaze in the last stage of cooking in the oven!
What Sides Go Well With Meatloaf?
If you have a little extra time, mashed potatoes go perfectly with meatloaf. If you are short on time, you can also serve baked potatoes, corn, applesauce, green beans, sweet potatoes, or asparagus. If you have guests, then you can also had a nice loaf of bread or rolls with some homemade jam!
Meatloaf Recipe with Oatmeal
Enjoy serving this delicious meatloaf made with ground beef and oats to your family and guests!
Old Fashioned Meatloaf Recipe with Oatmeal
Equipment
- 1 9 X 5 loaf pan
- 1 3 X 5.5 mini loaf pan optional
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup onions diced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tbls parsley dried is fine
- 1/2 tsp ground sage
Meatloaf Glaze
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tbls brown sugar
- 1 tsp mustard prefer spicy brown
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and spray loaf pans. You can use just the one bigger loaf pan. Or you can make a mini loaf, plus the larger loaf pan. Then you will have a mini loaf for a future lunch.
- Place thawed ground beef in a large mixing bowl.
- Mix together eggs and milk in a small mixing bowl and blend. Pour over ground beef.
- Dice onion and add onion to beef mixture. Also add oats.
- Add parsley, salt, and sage to ground beef. Mix ground beef, milk mixture, onion, oats, and spices all together with a fork.
- Scoop meatloaf mixture into loaf pan (s). Pat into pan.
- Place pans into oven and set the timer for 50 minutes.
- While meatloaf (s) are cooking, mix together the ketchup, brown sugar, and mustard for the meatloaf glaze.
- After 50 minutes, check the meatloafs. Pour out some, but not all of the extra juice in the pan.
- Add the glaze and put the meatloaf back into the oven for another 10 minutes. The mini meatloaf will only need a few more minutes. Check for doneness with kitchen thermometer. It is done when temperature reaches 150 degrees.
