Comfort Food: American Meatloaf

Honestly, I make meatloaf when I don't have the time to cook. You can do this in an hour while focusing on something else.

Comfort Food follows the most practical part of my magic practice—recipes. Here’s what keeps my household healthy.

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Recipe first! For those who know my mom’s meatloaf, this is not a recipe for her version. I love her meatloaf—raisins and pineapples included—but I wouldn’t want to subject anyone who’s not a family member to it. And for those who know I’m Filipino, this is not a recipe for embutido. You can find recipes for that online—I would trust Kuya Vanjo’s or Ate Lalaine’s versions.

I call this American meatloaf because I first tasted it when we bought some at Costco. I looked up some recipes online, experimented here and there, adjusted it to my palate and pantry, and here we are. (And yes, I know the photo doesn’t match! Pagbigyan.)

Ingredients:

• 900g (or 2lb) ground beef

• 200g (or 1 medium) yellow onion, run through a food processor

• 60g (or 3/4 cup) rolled oats, run through a food processor

• 120g (or 1/2 cup) almond milk

• 2 eggs, beaten

• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

• 1 tbsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 240g (or 1 cup) ketchup

You’ll also need a food processor, a large bowl, a 9” x 5” loaf pan, aluminum foil, cooking oil spray—I use avocado oil—and a meat thermometer. Thank God we’re making American meatloaf and not embutido. Ground pork is so hard to find here in the U.S.!

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

2. Add the almond milk, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, and salt to a large bowl and mix thoroughly.

3. Add the ground beef and mix thoroughly.

4. Process the rolled oats—just a few pulses—and make sure they don’t turn completely into powder. Process the onion until the pieces are about the same as if you finely diced it. Add both to the large bowl and mix thoroughly.

5. Let the mixture in the large bowl rest at room temperature for at least 10 minutes. While waiting, line the loaf pan with aluminum foil and spray it with oil.

6. Transfer the meat mixture to the loaf pan and spread the ketchup on top.

7. Bake for 45 minutes. The internal temperature when you take it out should reach 165°F.

8. Let it rest for at least 10 minutes after baking before unmolding or slicing.

Substitutions:

This recipe is so easy. You probably won’t even need to make any substitutions! You can probably use dairy or other types of milk, but I haven’t tried substitutions for that ingredient yet.

For the onion, you can probably use a white one, but I wouldn’t use a red one—just because its flavor might take over. For the oats, remember that rolled oats are the same as old-fashioned oats. You can use quick-cooking oats, but don’t run them through the food processor anymore if you do. As much as possible, I don’t substitute anything for the Worcestershire sauce, but this last meatloaf I made was missing 1/2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce, so I used the same amount of soy sauce to compensate. Still pretty good!

This recipe is so simple but still so good. Working on it reminded me of when Raf and I made burger patties for the first time and ended up liking it with just minced garlic, salt, and pepper on ground meat. There’s something to be said for complicated recipes, of course, but simple ones are more likely to stand the test of time and be carried from one generation to the next.

When Should You Make This Recipe?

Honestly, I make meatloaf when I have time for nothing else. It’s so easy to make—the hardest part is probably measuring the ingredients or mixing them thoroughly. You can do this in an hour while focusing on something else.

The problem with meatloaf is that you usually want to pair it with something else—and that something else often takes more time to make. Easy add-ons include mashed potatoes, gravy, or maybe even broccoli or green beans. But because Raf and I are on a high-protein and low-carb diet, we don’t really look for those add-ons! Although I did make mashed potatoes the other day.

We will probably keep this meatloaf recipe on rotation for a while. What about you?

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Photo by congerdesign on Pixabay

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