Ultimate Meatloaf with Tangy Sauce

This truly is the Ultimate meatloaf with a lip-smacking, tangy tomato sauce. This is perfect for a weeknight dinner or leftover meatloaf sandwiches! We’re talking pure comfort food at it’s finest!

So my Grandma’s Meatloaf recipe is one of the most popular meatloaf recipes on the internet and as much as I can’t believe I’m saying this, this recipe beats that one. Sorry Gram! This recipe is my meatloaf-sandwich recipe. I will purposely make this meatloaf JUST so I can make us warm meatloaf sandwiches for lunch.

While I have a few meatloaf recipes on the website this one is more of a classic meatloaf recipe. Sorry, as much as I love ketchup the tangy sauce is not just ketchup. This adds a bit more tang and zestiness to it. No it’s not a bbq sauce either though the ingredients are the same (for the most part) or a bbq sauce, what differs is the amount of ingredients used.

This is the meatloaf recipe that Mr. Fantabulous actually gets excited for when I make it. It’s super tender but doesn’t fall apart when you slice it. It’s fork tender and you don’t even need a butter knife to cut it; just use the side of your fork.

This meatloaf is one of the ‘dream’ foods if you will. See while most of you dream of lavish things or kissing a celebrity crush, I tend to dream of food and or being in the kitchen. This dream actually woke me up super crazy butt early on a Saturday morning. Like I could almost ‘smell’ that meatloaf I was dreaming about. In my dream I made this huge meatloaf in my bistro and shaped it in a way that it was the same size as thick Texas brioche toast (easy way would be just bake it in a Pullman loaf pan). I served it with crazy creamy mashed potatoes and fresh sautéed corn. Like we’re talking in my dream I could taste it!

This craving was strong that I added the ingredients to my shopping list as I had to make it! by 9:30am I had finish my shopping and literally had this meatloaf in the oven. Yes – I was cooking meatloaf at 9:30am on a Saturday morning.

That’s a normal thing…. right?

Around 10/10:30 Mr. Fantabulous got up and came out to the kitchen. As he walked into the kitchen he said “Wow, is that breakfast? That smells amazing!” as he sniffed the air. I moved to the side and showed him what I just made. His eyes got huge and said, “Huh??? You made meatloaf for breakfast???  Wait… you had another food dream, didn’t you?” I just chuckled and whipped up some breakfast for him. Though I really, REALLY wanted this for breakfast, I opted to hold off a few hours til lunch.

Now I don’t know about you but I cannot have meatloaf without mashed potatoes – yes, even when I make a meatloaf sandwich. And sautéed corn too. Yes meatloaf, mashed potatoes and sautéed corn is a must. It’s like a law; well okay it’s a law in my house. It’s how I was raised. And as I’ve said before, I hated my Mom’s meatloaf as she put HUGE chunks of onions and (sometimes) green peppers in it. Yuck! BUT she always served mashed potatoes, corn and warm bread.

So you guessed it, while my family would eat a ‘real’ meal with the meatloaf I’d eat mashed potato and corn buttered bread. Carbs on carbs pretty much. No wonder I was such a fat kid!

But this, this meatloaf I crave. It’s so tender and juicy and just melts in your mouth. And that tangy sauce is truly the perfect sauce for it. You’ll notice with the sauce recipe you’ll actually have extra sauce which is how it should be. You can totally use that sauce as ‘gravy’ with the potatoes or when you slice it for sandwiches, drizzle some sauce on it and then bake for a few. The sauce almost caramelized on the meatloaf making it more perfecter. Go with it *wink*

Since “bowls” are so popular today in the foodie scene I’m voting to promote the Meatloaf Bowl served with a few slices of toasted buttery pieces of bread. This, folks THIS is the meatloaf even your most picky eaters will ask you to make!

Ultimate Meatloaf with Tangy Sauce

• Author: TKWAdmin

This truly is the Ultimate meatloaf with a lip-smacking, tangy tomato sauce. This is perfect for a weeknight dinner or leftover meatloaf sandwiches! We’re talking pure comfort food at it’s finest!

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Ingredients

Meatloaf

• 3lb ground beef, 80/20
• 3 Xl eggs, beaten
• 4 slices bread, torn in pieces
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 Tbl tomato paste
• 1 Tbl fresh chopped parsley
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup tangy sauce
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs

Tangy Sauce

• 1 1/2 cups ketchup
• 2 Tbl tomato paste
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 Tbl apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 2 Tbl molasses (not black strap)
• 1/2 cup beef stock

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a bowl add all of the ingredients for the Tangy Sauce and whisk; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl add the bread, panko and milk. Press the bread into the milk and set aside. Allow to soak for 5 minutes.
4. In a large bowl add the rest of the meatloaf ingredients and the bread/panko/milk mixture. Gently mix until combined. Do not overimx as the meatloaf will be tough. Transfer the mixture to the baking sheet and using your hands, form a loaf that is about 12 inches long, 6 inches wide, and about 2 1/2-3 inches tall. The loaf should be smooth and have rounded edges. This will help the loaf stay together when serving.
5. Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and spread Tangy Sauce all over the top and sides of the meatloaf. You’ll use about 1 -1 1/2 cups of sauce. Save the leftover sauce for meatloaf sandwiches. Put the meatloaf back into the oven and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until a thermometer inserted reads 165F.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before cutting.

62222.8 g973.4 mg36.9 g35.8 g34.7 g199.1 mg

Keywords: meatloaf, comfort food, meatloaf sandwiches, tangy sauce

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