We love Ina Garten’s entertaining tips and cooking style—rather than spending hours on fussy, complicated dishes, she focuses on simple, comforting foods that are really delicious and make everyone feel right at home. And what could be more comforting than a classic, family-favorite meat loaf?
True to the Barefoot Contessa’s style, there are no hard-to-find ingredients or unfamiliar techniques in this recipe. Ina’s simple meat loaf is made with ground chuck, onions, breadcrumbs and fresh thyme, with ketchup spread over the top.
Searching for the best Ina Garten recipes? Try one of her best-loved dinners next: Perfect Roast Chicken
What Do People Love About This Recipe?
This Ina Garten meat loaf recipe has hundreds of five-star reviews! What people love about it is that it’s a crowd-pleasing recipe that’s easy to prepare and turns out perfectly every time. Though a few readers suggest additional ways to season the dish, most love the flavor of this juicy meat loaf just the way it is. One reader notes that Ina’s technique of folding lots of sautéed onions into the mixture is a big part of what makes it so delicious.
How to Make Ina Garten’s Meat Loaf
Ina Garten’s meat loaf recipe makes six servings. However, with over two pounds of meat in the mixture, you’ll get a huge meat loaf we think can easily feed eight or more.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cups chopped yellow onion (about 3 medium onions)
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/3 cup chicken stock or broth
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2-1/2 pounds ground chuck (Garten recommends 81% lean)
- 1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs
- 2 extra large eggs, whisked
- 1/2 cup ketchup
Directions
Step 1: Prepare the onions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.
Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan over medium-low heat. Add in the chopped onions, thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Cook the onions for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and translucent. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock and tomato paste. Let the mixture cool slightly.
Step 2: Make the meat mixture
Place the ground chuck, bread crumbs, eggs and the cooled onion mixture into a large bowl. (These mixing bowls are Ina Garten-approved tools.) Gently mix everything together using a fork or your hands. Ina says not to mash or compact the mixture as this will create a tough meat loaf.
Step 3: Shape the meat loaf
Move the meat mixture onto the lined baking sheet. Use your hands to shape it into a loaf. Mine was about 12 inches long and 6 inches across. Spread the ketchup evenly over the top of the loaf.
Step 4: Bake
Fill a baking pan with hot tap water and place it in the oven, on the rack below where your meat loaf will go. (Ina says this helps prevent cracks in the top of the meat loaf.) Place the meat loaf on the rack above the water and bake it for 60-75 minutes until the meat is cooked through. The internal temperature should be 160°.
Serve slices of meat loaf while they’re hot.
Here’s What I Thought
This tastes like a classic meat loaf you’d eat at grandma’s or find at a small-town restaurant, with the mild flavor of onion and thyme throughout and tangy ketchup on top. My husband and I really enjoyed it. Because we like strong, spicy flavors, we also added hot sauce and salsa to our slices. Think of Ina’s recipe as one that you can enjoy as is (for homestyle meat loaf flavor) or one that you can spruce up with additional ingredients.
Tips
- Follow Ina’s advice to handle the meat gently when mixing, but do add a little pressure when shaping the loaf. Otherwise, the slices will fall apart a bit when you slice them.
- Even though Ina’s recipe lists the oven temperature as 325°, I went with a higher temp of 350°. That’s because several readers commented that 325° was too low and the meat loaf took too long to cook. And on her TV show she does, in fact, recommend 350°. My meat loaf finished baking in about an hour at this temperature.
- Some ways to flavor this meat loaf that Ina’s readers like are adding diced garlic and Creole seasoning to the meat. Some readers substituted ground pork and ground bacon for some of the beef in the mixture. If you love balsamic-based recipes, try mixing balsamic vinegar or brown sugar with the ketchup. Or, you can replace the ketchup with barbecue sauce or brown gravy.
The post I Made Ina Garten’s Meat Loaf Recipe for Dinner Tonight—And Will Again and Again appeared first on Taste of Home.
source https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/ina-garten-meat-loaf/
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