Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Recipe + Video (2024)

FAQs

Can you wrap bacon around meatloaf? ›

Fold any overhanging bacon over the top of the loaf pan. Flip the loaf pan onto a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Carefully wrap the ends of the meatloaf with bacon as well, tucking the strips into the other pieces of bacon so it's tight. Bake meatloaf at 350° F for 50 minutes.

When this happens, it's because you didn't use enough. Next time, try adding in an extra egg and/or some more breadcrumbs. Alternatively, rice, barley, corn flakes, crackers, and dried soup mix can also stand in as binding ingredients as well. Including larger quantities of these items should help solve the problem.

Properly mixing a meatloaf prior to forming not only assures an evenness of flavor, but it also facilitates the linking of myosin in the meat, creating more of the protein network that will help to hold the slices together. However, overmixing can cause meatloaf to become springy, rubbery, and too dense.

2. But if you are like me and like crispy bacon then you might try to precook it first. I will grill the bacon for 4-5 minutes on low direct heat. I then wrap the food in the bacon and grill according to the recipe.

The technical term for wrapping food in a layer of fat to add flavor and moisture is “barding.” Bacon is commonly used because aside from its signature fat content, the flavor is sweet, salty, and smoky at the same time.

Milk and other dairy products, like heavy cream and buttermilk, contain both water and fat, adding two types of moisture to our meatloaf. There's a long-held theory that milk can tenderize ground meat, and this is the reason often cited for cooking ground meat in milk to make a Bolognese-style ragù.

While both are great options for cooking your meatloaf, each has its own advantages and you will get slightly different results. Sheet pans have more surface area which exposes more of the dish's surface area to the oven's direct heat to create a crunchier crust that's nicely browned.

Fewer eggs will create a denser and firmer meatloaf that will be more compact and easier to slice, but more eggs can create a more tender and light texture that allows the meatloaf to melt in your mouth.

You're not restricted to using only bread and eggs as your binding ingredients. The Cookful recommends replacing bread with a gluten free bread, breadcrumbs, or crackers, but other options include oatmeal, rice, barley, dehydrated vegetables, pork rinds, boxed stuffing, dried soup mix, or corn flakes.

If you don't have any bread, you can substitute it for breadcrumbs, crackers, cereal grains, oatmeal, instant rice, instant barley, or even potato flakes! However, bread is still the best choice of all the potential options.

What is the secret to moist meatloaf? ›

By adding finely diced or pureed aromatic vegetables to your mixture, you are adding additional moisture into the meatloaf. Not only does this make your final product juicier, but it also adds lots of extra flavor.

The Basic Meatloaf Formula

All recipes for meatloaf start with the same basic formula: 2 pounds of ground meat and a “panade” made of bread or crackers soaked in milk. Along with a few eggs, this panade helps to hold the ground meat together and adds some essential moisture to the mix.

But what causes this to happen in the first place? The most common reason meatloaf is mushy is too much liquid added to the mixture.

You can secure the bacon ends to the steak with a toothpick, or tie a piece of butcher's twine around the bacon-wrapped steak. The advantage of the twine method is that you can roll the edge of the steak more easily in a hot pan if you want to further crisp the bacon before serving.

Should I cook my meatloaf covered or uncovered? The meatloaf can be cooked uncovered. However, if you are concerned about it burning, you can cover the meatloaf with foil for the first 45 minutes and uncover it for the final 15 minutes to allow the meatloaf to brown on top.