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There are tons of meatloaf recipes. Some are super simple and some call for all sorts of fancy ingredients. The meatloaf recipe I use comes from the cookbook Cook and Love It.

Way back in the early 80s when Pap had his triple bypass surgery a local lady who was staying at the same Atlanta hospital gifted Pap and Granny with the cookbook.

I’m not sure Granny ever used it much, but when I first started learning to cook it was the place I went first to look for new recipes. After I was married Granny said I might as well take the cookbook with me since I was the one who used it the most.

This particular meatloaf recipe was submitted by Mrs. William Whitaker (Susan)

Tipper’s Favorite Meatloaf

• 1 pound hamburger meat
• 1 slice of bread crumbled
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• ¼ can tomato sauce (8 oz)
• 1 ½ tablespoon vinegar
• ¾ can tomato sauce
• 1 ½ tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon mustard

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Mix the first 7 ingredients together and put in a loaf pan. I line my pan with foil for easier clean up.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together and pour over meatloaf.  Take a spatula or case knife and help the liquid seep down into the cracks along the side and give the middle a poke or two as well.

Bake at 375° for 1 hour and 15 minutes. I changed the cooking temperature from the original recipe to better suit my oven somewhere through the years.

Towards the end of the cooking time I pour off the grease that has ponded in the loaf pan and then put the pan back into the oven to finish cooking. This may not be necessary – it all depends on the fat content of the hamburger meat you use.

This recipe is easily doubled. I almost always double it so that we have leftovers to take for lunch during the week.

As I said there are so many different meatloaf recipes, I hope you’ll leave a comment and share yours with us!

Tipper

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27 Comments

  1. I tried to make love recipe and it was good except I think it’s got just a little too much black pepper so next time I’ll leave a little bit of the black pepper off but other than that it was really good thank you for the recipe tipper

  2. I tried this recipe last night and forgot to add the brown sugar, but it still turned out really good, very similar to my mom’s. Thank you for sharing!

  3. Tipper, my wife and I have made your meatloaf a couple times now and we love it. You make it the same why As my mother made it. I tried to tell my wife the receipe but I missed a few things! Ha. Now I love it again. Thank you!
    Ron Banks

  4. Jackie – replying to your comment above. If you will make a couple of divots with your thumb in the patty before you cook any sort of ground meat, it will eliminate the “puffing” of the patty and allow it to cook properly. I do it with all kinds of burgers and meatloaf too. The divots will fill in as the burger cooks. Try it!

  5. One more thing and I’ll shut up! There was a couple of mentions of suet. I’m not exactly sure what it is but I think it is what my Daddy called leaf lard. The fat from the inside the body cavity of the animal (around the kidneys and loins), he would throw it to the dogs. He said we were not supposed to eat it. We made lard from back and belly fat but not from leaf lard. Daddy was particular in how he butchered a hog (we never killed beef). He never would let us eat any of the meat until the “animal heat” was gone. He never saved the blood, the lights/lungs, the kidneys, the sweetbreads/pancreas or the brains. I never got to ask him why he did as he did because he died much too young but I continue to follow his rules the best I can.

  6. Come to think of it I don’t like to eat much of any kind of meat hot. It is always better the next day. I bought a T bone steak (it had a reduced sticker). I cut it of the bone and washed it, dried it with paper towels, sprayed it with olive oil on both sides, salted and peppered both sides and stuck it in the oven on a foil lined baking sheet and baked it at 375° for 10 minutes. Then I turned it over and cooked it for 15 more minutes. I took it out of the oven and when it cooled off a little I wrapped the foil around it and stuck it in the refrigerator. I didn’t eat it until two days later. Man was that good! No sauce, no spices just the salt and pepper. No knife, no fork! Pick it up and eat it like a popsicle.
    Sausage and bacon are better cold. Chicken breast is better cold if you cut it right. Pork and beans are better cold (at least everybody I know thinks so). Cornbread is best right before it starts to grow that green mold.
    I don’t know about venison or bison or any of that exotic stuff. I can only afford the meats that have the stickers that say “Reduced” and have yesterdays date on them.

  7. Mine is similar to the top recipe except I put in one minced clove of garlic and 1 cup of chopped green pepper to the meat mixture, and I always use chuck.
    Then for the glaze, I have a secret. (shhh) I make a divot in the top of the uncooked loaf with the side of my hand creating a bit of a channel into which I pour Kraft Catalina Dressing and use a brush to paint it around the top and sides of the loaf. Then I bake it. Yum!!!
    And yeah, I always make two, cause at our house, half of the enjoyment of a meatloaf is the sandwiches made with it the next day.
    God bless.
    RB
    <><

  8. I buy a pound of the leanest ground beef I can find (or buy a chuck or sirloin roast, trim away all the fat and gristle and grind it myself). Next I get a pound of ground pork that is about half fat.
    I dice an onion, a red and/or green bell pepper (or some chopped pimento from a jar. The red just adds color. I finely dice a stalk of celery. Then I put in two or three eggs depending on the size and a dollop of ketchup. I stir all that together and add another egg or more ketchup if it is too thick. When I get that right, I add salt, fresh cracked black pepper, celery seed, chili powder or a glug (or a few) of Cholula Chipotle Hot Sauce. Now I add enough steel cut oats or quick cook barley to bring up the mixture back to the consistency of the meat.
    Next I mix the two meats together for a little bit then add the other ingredients and mix some more. I say mix but it is somewhere between mixing and folding together.
    I put it in a loaf pan then in the oven at 375° and bake for about an hour, take it out and drain off all the fat and stuff, then cover it with ketchup and put it back in the oven for 15 minutes then shut off the oven and let it cool down enough to cover and put in the fridge. I like to leave it overnight then take it out of the loaf pan and slice and eat it cold on a sandwich. Sometimes I might microwave it and eat it with mashed potatoes and green beans.
    I don’t go by a recipe, I go by what looks right. I go easy on the salt and pepper. I can always add more but if I get too much it goes in the trash.

  9. Tipper,
    and Jim…want to ask….Have you ever eaten meatloaf out of Bison? Is the taste like venison and better if you add fat like suet or bacon? Just wondering? I know you are a great wildlife forager and cook, so if anyone would know I suspect you would…I have eaten many a turkey meatloaf and burger…Love them. My sons love turkey burger as well!
    Thanks Tipper,

  10. I love meatloaf and I think I must try your recipe. The only tip I’ve learned is don’t over mix it.

  11. The recipe I use is closest to b. Ruth’s, although I’ve been known to throw in saltines or some other cracker in a pinch. I too buy the lean beef now and my Dad is always horrribly disappointed I can’t make gravy since there are no drippings (or, perhaps in terms of meatloaf – “oozings” — oops – somehow that thought makes meatloaf much less appetizing! Add to it the fact in the email just before yours I watched a YouTube video about clogged arteries. . . https://www.youtube.com/embed/xUgKekv57hI . . . – and I used to love a good plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans!

  12. This is for the Deer Hunter. When I make burger patties with ground venison and cook them on the grill, why do they increase in thickness? Mine seem to increase by at least 50%.

  13. Your meatloaf recipe sounds great and I will try it. Because of the fat that gathers in the bottom of the pan, I always put down a slice of stale bread and it acts like a sponge. Just remove it before slicing.

  14. I like to add about a 1/4 lb of sausage to it helps the flavor a lot. I also like green peppers and I use cracker crumbs. I add whatever sauces I have in my fridge like ketchup, A-1 steak sauce, Worcestershire sauce. I am going to try your topping on my next one!! Sounds very good.

  15. Tipper,
    I love Meatloaf but I usually make too much. I use the oatmeal method for moistness and I really like the leftovers for sandwiches
    the next day. Lately, I have learned to fill only a 3″ x 4″ x 8″ smaller
    meatloaf pan…Ken

  16. Tipper,
    Thanks for another meatloaf I can try on my husband. I change on him all the time & he loves meatloaf as well as steak!
    I especially loved your idea of lining pan with foil!
    I know I’ll try that idea!
    Carol Rosenbalm

  17. Tipper–An interesting approach. I’m going to try it (albeit with venison, not ground chuck). I’ll make a few alterations, as I almost always do, I won’t have to worry about pouring the grease off, because even if one has a bit of suet added to venison when it is processed, as I normally do, it is still leaner than any hamburger you can buy in the store. Among the alterations will be substituting crumbs from a leftover baguette for the slice of bread and addition of a couple of crushed garlic cloves along with the onion.
    Jim Casada

  18. Tipper,
    That is a good standard recipe for meatloaf. I remember the first time I saw my Mother wet two pieces of white/light bread and lay them on top of the 1/2 to 3/4 pound of hamburger and egg. Ewewww, I didn’t know that limp, wet white bread went in her meatloaf. It was hard enough to see her mix it all up with her hands and then pat it in a loaf pan…ha I remember saying that she didn’t quite have enough meat. I did not realize until I was older that depression era meatloaf contained half stale bread,
    and that lots of people during those hard times could stretch a pound of burger over two or three meals. I have seen her peel potatoes, carrots, onions and then raid the refrigerator…using up a leftover square of meatloaf chopped, the leftover little bowl of green beans, etc…By supper time that delicious pot of soup, cornbread and milk would just about founder all of us on a cold winter day! Also, remember that hamburger in the olden days was loaded with fat…not as lean or ground steak like todays meat.
    I like a green pepper in my meatloaf. I use ketchup instead of sauce. A touch of Worcestershire, a bit of garlic. The better half loves dryer meatloaf. His whole idea for that is he absolutely loves meatloaf sandwiches the next day, and dry slices better…I usually use oatmeal instead of white bread which makes it a bit dryer…I don’t always use the extra lean beef for meat loaf…I think the flavor is better with a little fat…Depending on your butcher if you have to pour off a lot of fat after baking…ha
    Thanks Tipper,

  19. Meatloaf was domething I missed when I stopped eating red meat. We started using ground turkey on it’s place a few years ago. Now I can eat it again. I certainly try this recipe, looks delightful.

  20. Meatloaf was domething I missed when I stopped eating red meat. We started using ground turkey on it’s place a few years ago. Now I can eat it again. I certainly try this recipe, looks delightful.

  21. Meatloaf was domething I missed when I stopped eating red meat. We started using ground turkey on it’s place a few years ago. Now I can eat it again. I certainly try this recipe, looks delightful.

  22. Meatloaf was domething I missed when I stopped eating red meat. We started using ground turkey on it’s place a few years ago. Now I can eat it again. I certainly try this recipe, looks delightful.

  23. We love meatloaf. I usually make the Quaker oats version. I think I will try yours the next time I make meatloaf (which will probably be soon because my hubby has been asking for meatloaf). Thanks for the recipe!
    Pam
    scrap-n-sewgranny.blogspot.com

  24. That really looks yummy. I have never actually put anything on top except catsup, so will need to try this. Something I always found gave the meatloaf some extra kick was I mixed chili powder in along with cracker crumbs and some mild sausage. I usually take meatloaf to reunion each year. One of the very best leftovers is meatloaf sandwiches with mustard. Love your recipes always.

  25. I’ve eaten your meatloaf, Tip, and it is wonderful! I’ve made so many different meat loafs in my life and the truth is I don’t have a recipe any more. I just make it with what I have at hand. Most of the time it turns out good.
    One of my favorite things about meatloaf is the meatloaf sandwich I make the next day! I put a nice thick slice of the cold meatloaf between to pieces of warm toasted bread with lots of mayo and salt…..that’s enough to make you smack your grannie!

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