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I ordered a cow this week.
I didn’t actually order a live cow. More like a dead one.
This is just getting worse, but seriously hang with me.
Instead of weekly trips to the store to purchase questionable meat, I order straight from the farm. Around twice a year, I place a large order for beef. Generally around 50 lbs. This beef comes from a cow that once roamed the pastures of a farm, grazing on grass. Beef I happily feed my family.
Instead of 50lbs, I decided to go big this time, with a 1/4 cow. This means three other people split a whole cow with our family. A 1/4 of a cow is around 150lbs of beef. That’s a lot of beef! We will receive a large variety of cuts, such as steaks, roasts, soup bones, and ground beef. Usually a large percentage of the meat is ground beef.
I love a good hamburger and have a thing for meatballs and tacos, but 50 plus pounds of ground beef means I need to get creative. There are only so many hamburger, meatball, and taco nights my family tolerates before I get the “We are having this again” look.
You know the look.
The look that leaves you searching through every food blog, cookbook, and food magazine desperately seeking something new and delicious.
With a large amount of beef needing freezer space, soon, I have been trying to make room in our freezers, by cooking the remaining beef I purchased six months ago. This means we’ve been eating a lot of ground beef lately. With night after night of ground beef on the table, I was starting to get the look. I pulled out every cookbook, read every blog, and scoured through the countless food magazines I own.
Nothing.
Nada.
Zero inspiration.
While working on my meal plan, I stumbled across a recipe for meatloaf by Arsy over at Rubies and Radishes.
Meatloaf just isn’t my thing. Every time I think of meatloaf, I conjure up images of ketchup and stale breadcrumbs and big chunks of onions, and zero taste. A big piece of mushy meat topped with sticky baked ketchup. I really am not a meatloaf person.
Not one bit.
Reading Arsy’s meatloaf post changed my mind. While I didn’t have any of the ingredients for her particular meatloaf except two, sundried tomatoes and beef, I felt inspired! Inspired by meatloaf.
I know, crazy!
That night, using what I had in my kitchen and our garden, I made meatloaf. The smell that radiated from my oven was amazing! I had high hopes. Dinner was served, I eagerly took a bite.
Now, that’s meatloaf!
The flavor of sundried tomatoes with fresh herbs was fabulous! The glaze on top was the very essence of perfection. And of course, fresh Parmesan Cheese sprinkled over the top with lots of fresh herbs. My family raved about it, I raved about it. In fact, the love for that meatloaf grew so much, I’ve served it twice this week. Both times being devoured!
I am getting a bit over zealous about my meatloaf, but trust me this one is a winner! A far cry from the ketchup drenched pieces of meat I have always pictured and avoid. We now endearingly have coined this dish “Not your Mother’s Meatloaf.”
Sundried Tomato and Herb Meatloaf
Ingredients
Meatloaf:
- 1 lb ground beef
- 5 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh herbs fresh parsley, dill, basil, oregano, and rosemary
- 1 egg
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 onion finely chopped
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs homemade or packaged
- 1 TB organic soy sauce or coconut aminos
Glaze:
- 4 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
- 1/4 cup organic soy sauce
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 TB balsamic vinegar
Garnish: (optional, but so good!)
- fresh herbs
- grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F
- Place the beef in a large bowl. Add all the meatloaf ingredients and mix together, thoroughly, with your hands.
- Place the meat mixture in a rectangular baking dish and press the mixture down in the dish.
- Bake in the oven, uncovered, for about 50 minutes.
- In a food processor or a high-speed blender, place the glaze ingredients (soy sauce, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and 4 sundried tomatoes).
- Process about a minute. The end result will be a liquid glaze, a bit chunky.
- After 50 minutes, take the meatloaf out of the oven.
- Pour the glaze over the top of the meatloaf. Place the meatloaf, with glaze on top, back in the oven for 7-10 minutes.
- Allow to cool for a few minutes.
- Garnish with Parmesan Cheese and fresh herbs.
Nutrition
Still by far the best meatloaf recipe I’ve ever made! My husband requests it all of the time. It’s so yummy and pairs perfectly with the cheese and herb potato recipe you have!
Can you use gluten-free bread crumbs as a substitute?
Hey Becky, You could use almond flour or gluten-free breadcrumbs.
Is this freezable? If so, how do I go about doing so?
I make this with grated zucchini instead of breadcrumbs. Super yummy!!!
Great idea, Heather! I can’t wait to try zucchini in this recipe!
Made this last night and was surprised but how quick and easy it was! Already had all the ingredients in my pantry. Best meatloaf I’ve ever had, even my husband was a huge fan! Definitely adding this to my cookbook!
Hey Sophie, I’m so glad you all loved the meatloaf!
Added this to my make ahead recipes to try list! Have everything but the sundried tomatoes already.. Thank you!
Awesome, Claire! This is one of my favorite meals. Enjoy!!
So did you try making it with chia? I’m also wanting to try a paleo version but have never even used chia eggs so am hesitant to try for fear of killing the dish. Looks amazing, though!!!
I made this last week and the meatloaf was very good (nice and fresh with the herbs and tomatoes). My husband even said he enjoyed it and he’s not a meatloaf type of guy. My only thing was that the glaze was not good at all. With the soy sauce, it was like a salt lick. I tried to add more tomatoes to maybe even it out but it was awful. I’m not sure if I did something wrong or if it is normally overly salty (and I like salt)
Hey Jessica, Oh no, I’m sorry the glaze was so salty. It shouldn’t be overly salty. One issue may be the soy sauce brand. Some soy sauce can be overly salty or even the actual sundried tomatoes (if salt is added). If you make it again I would reduce both the soy and sundried tomato amounts and see if that helps.
Kristin,
This is the best meatloaf I have ever eaten! Fed little pieces to my 10 month old as “finger food” and it was greatly enjoyed by her too. This is going into the dinner rotation for sure. Thanks so much for a terrific recipe!
Hey Erica, I’m so glad you liked (and the little one too). Thank you so much for coming back and sharing! Blessings, Kristin
I’m excited to try this! What size loaf pan do you use?
I use a standard 9-inch loaf pan for this recipe. I love the idea of chia seeds. I bet they would work great, I’m going to give it a try next time. Thanks for the idea.
we purchased 1/2 a local, grass-fed cow for our family. It took up 7.2 cf chest freezer but at $4 pound it’s been a great investment for the health of our family. Thanks for the recipe. I’d like to know what you do with the other cuts besides ground beef. Including organs. Thanks!
Anything I could use to sub the breadcrumbs and make it a paleo recipe? Coconut flour or almond meal maybe? Thanks!
You could try ground pork rinds or a flour like coconut flour, however, I have never tried and not sure how it would work. Arrowroot flour may also work. Let me know what works for you.
Maybe you could use crushed lentil chips.
I just read that some people use chia seeds in place of breadcrumbs in meatloaf. I haven’t tried it, though.
This looks yummy. I am going to try it!
You can also cook the meatloaf mixture in muffin tins for 20-30 minutes. Just pour the glaze on each one of them. They are single serving and are the perfect size to slice up to make a meatloaf sandwich with, if you have leftover muffins. I always make more than enough and throw them in the freezer for future lunches.
Wonderful idea. Thanks for sharing.