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I confess — I love meatloaf. It is the perfect meal when I am starving at the end of a long day. There is something so comforting about it.
I also love that it is an affordable and easy meal to make. A handful of ingredients, a quick stir, and in the oven it goes. But, I don’t love that it takes an hour to cook. I often can’t afford an hour for baking when I have hungry kids waiting.
So the other day, I got inspired when this mini meatloaf recipe popped into my inbox from Kraft Canada. (I am on the Kraft email list because I love their simple recipe ideas delivered daily.)
Cooking meatloaves in muffin tins is now my new go-to method for making meatloaf. Not just because it is cute and fun to have mini meatloaves, but because it reduces the cooking time from 60 minutes to 20 minutes! And, even better, the meatloaf is well cooked throughout and you don’t have to worry about burnt or dried out edges.
I decided to change up the Kraft recipe a bit, and instead of using the Kraft Stove Top as they suggested, I stayed with my usual meatloaf ingredients, adding oatmeal, ketchup, barbeque sauce, and of course an egg and some salt too.
Their fun idea of topping the meatloaves with mashed potatoes sounded great. I skipped the parsley in mine but added the cream cheese as they suggested. The Kraft recipe called for gravy, since I do not like gravy with my meatloaf, (I am a ketchup with meatloaf girl,) I swapped out the gravy and sprinkled grated cheese on top of ours.
To melt the cheese, you can top the meatloaves with the mashed potatoes and then return to oven on broil to melt the cheese. I simply served two mini meatloaves on each plate, topped with the mashed potatoes, sprinkled the cheese on top, and then popped them in the microwave for 20 seconds to melt the cheese. Then I added the cooked vegetables to each plate and served.
I hope these Mashed Potato Topped Mini Meatloaves are a hit with your family too! Kids are the best testers and my son enjoyed it so much, he scored the leftovers for dinner the next day.
Mashed Potato Topped Mini Meatloaves
Ingredients
- 1.5 ibs of extra-lean ground beef
- 3/4 cup Quick Oats
- 1/2 cup ketchup (set aside 1/4 for glaze)
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 2 large potatoes
- 2/3 cup of cream cheese
- 1 clove of garlic (optional)
- 1/2 cup grated cheese for topping
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375 F
- Peel and cut potatoes
- Add potatoes to pot of salted water and bring to boil
- Allow to cook in a gentle boil for 20-30 minutes, or until tender
- Remove from heat and drain
- Mix in cream cheese and minced garlic (optional)
- While potatoes are cooking, set out large mixing bowl
- Add ground beef, oats, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup barbecue sauce, 1 egg, and 1/2 chopped onion.
- Stir until well combined
- Add to well greased muffin tin - makes 8 muffins
- Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes or until no longer pink in the middles and 160 F
- (Optional: About 15 minutes into baking, glaze tops of meatloaves with a mixture of ketchup and barbecue sauce and return to oven)
- Once cooked, remove mini meatloaves from over and top with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with cheese. (Optional: melt cheese by broiling for 2-3 minutes or simply popping in the microwave for 20 seconds.)
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Written and photographed by Janice, co-founder of 5 Minutes for Mom and owner of Janice Croze Photography.
Looks good, I always have mash potatoes with my meatloaf so this is my kind of meal. Only thing missing is some corn sprinkled on top. Pinning!
This recipe looks delicious! Looking forward to seeing you again at Full Plate Thursday tonight!
Hope you are having a great day!
Miz Helen
Hi girls! What a great little recipe. I can’t wait to try this one on my family. I think I might even be able to get my fussy daughter to eat this one. Thank you so much for linking up to Thriving on Thursdays last week. I’m featuring this one at tomorrow’s party. Hope to see you both again.
Anne @ Domesblissity xx
These are cute and yummy sounding!
My kids are going to love these! Meatloaf is one of our go to meals, and I love the mashed potato topping. Pinned!
This looks sooo good!!! My mouth won’t stop watering! 🙂
Thank you Susan & Janice for linking up your delicious Mashed Potato Topped Mini Meatloaves at the Creative Muster Party, they look so yummy! We hope you’ll stop by next Tuesday night at 6 pm EST to party with us again. Your post is one of my #FavoritePosts this week, so it’s been shared on Google+ with my followers. 🙂 ~Heather
What a great all-in-one dinner option! Even better that it cooks faster and is already portioned out. 🙂
Wow these look so good!!! Pinned!
My husband was just asking for meatloaf last week! We’ll have to try these.
There’s nothing better than meatloaf and mashed potatoes in the winter (well anytime, really!) Thanks for the recipe….I love anything in mini. You have to come link it up at Welcome Home Wednesdays. Party is now open! http://www.suburbansimplicity.com
This looks delicious! I love meatloaf and I love the idea of creating mini loaves!
Looks yummy! I made meatloaf last week. I’m going to try this next time I make meatloaf! Pinning! Thanks for sharing at the Submarine Sunday Link Party!
These look and sound wonderful. I’ll have to give it a try. Pinned.
Holy moly this recipe looks amazing! Pinning ASAP 🙂
These look so good that I already printed the recipe! Delicious comfort food. Thank you for sharing!
Pinned these – gotta try them! Would love it if you joined us at the “What’s for Dinner” link up!
http://www.lazygastronome.com/whats-for-dinner-sunday-link-up-33/
What a great all-in-one dinner option! My husband will love it!
This is a must try! The kiddos would love this. Thanks for sharing.
awesome twist on an old favorite. I love the mash potatoes on top, Im a firm believer in potatoes go with everything.
Topping is very good, Thanks for share.
I MUST try this.