Meat Dishes
Meatloaf
A classic American meatloaf of beef and pork mince, kept juicy with a milk-soaked crumb, onion, garlic, thyme, Worcestershire sauce and Dijon mustard, shaped by hand and baked free-form so it browns all over, then lacquered with a sweet-sharp ketchup and brown sugar glaze.
- Serves 8
- Hands-on 25 min
- Bake about 1 hr 10 min
- Rest 15 min
- Good cold in sandwiches
- American
Method
Heat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C, gas 4) and line a baking tray with foil or baking paper.
Heat the oil (1 tbsp) in a frying pan and cook the onion (1 onion) gently for 8–10 minutes until soft and golden. Add the garlic (2 cloves) and thyme (1 tsp) for 1 minute, then tip into a large bowl to cool.
In another small bowl, mix the breadcrumbs (60 g) with the milk (100 ml) and leave for 5 minutes to soften into a paste.
Add the crumb paste, beef (500 g), pork (500 g), eggs (2 eggs), Worcestershire sauce (1 tbsp), mustard (2 tsp), parsley (a little), salt (1 tsp) and plenty of black pepper to the onions. Mix with your hands until evenly combined, without squeezing or kneading.
Turn the mixture onto the lined tray and shape it into a neat loaf about 23 × 12 cm and 7 cm high. If using bacon (150 g), lay the rashers across the top, tucking the ends underneath.
Whisk together the ketchup (150 ml), sugar (3 tbsp) and vinegar (1 tbsp). Bake the meatloaf for 40 minutes.
Brush the loaf thickly with half of the glaze and bake for another 25–30 minutes, brushing again halfway, until the glaze is sticky and dark and the centre reads 70°C on a probe thermometer (the juices should run clear).
Leave to rest for 15 minutes before slicing thickly with a sharp knife. Warm any remaining glaze to serve at the table.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
See also
Chef’s notes
- Baking the loaf free-form on a tray rather than in a tin lets the sides brown and the fat run away, so it is less greasy and has more crust.
- If you prefer a darker crust, slide the loaf under a hot grill for 3–4 minutes before glazing, as America’s Test Kitchen does.
- Leftovers make excellent sandwiches: cold slices with mustard, or fried until crisp at the edges.
- Gluten-free: use rolled oats or gluten-free breadcrumbs and check the Worcestershire sauce.
- For a British-style supper, serve with mash, green beans and gravy, or with Jamie Oliver’s idea of a spicy tomato sauce spooned around it.
How this recipe was developed
We compared meatloaf from Christopher Kimball’s America’s Test Kitchen and Jamie Oliver with the most-rated versions on Allrecipes and BBC Good Food.
- Equal beef and pork. America’s Test Kitchen’s glazed meatloaf uses equal parts beef (chuck or sirloin, never round) and pork for a juicy, tender loaf; we do the same.
- A soaked crumb. The test kitchen and Jamie Oliver both bind with crushed crackers; the test kitchen soaks them in milk first. Breadcrumbs soaked in milk work the same way and are easier to find.
- The seasoning. Onion, garlic, thyme, parsley, Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce, as in the test kitchen recipe; Jamie Oliver also adds Dijon.
- Ketchup and brown sugar glaze. The test kitchen glazes with ketchup, brown sugar and cider vinegar; Allrecipes’ Classic Meatloaf (4.6/5 from 678 ratings) uses ketchup, brown sugar and Dijon. We brush it on twice.
- Bacon on top. Jamie Oliver lays smoked bacon over his meatloaf; we made that optional. BBC Good Food’s best-rated meatloaf (Italian meatloaf, 4.7/5 from 130 ratings) confirmed that a free-form loaf bakes well.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 31 October 2026):
- America's Test Kitchen (Christopher Kimball era): Glazed Meatloaf (2012)
- Jamie Oliver: Jamie's meatloaf (Jamie's Ministry of Food)
- Allrecipes: Classic Meatloaf (4.6/5, 678 ratings)
- BBC Good Food: Italian meatloaf (4.7/5, 130 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.