I can’t ever settle on one recipe!

I love meatloaf. My Mom used to make meatloaf for us all the time as kids, and almost everytime I have meatloaf, it reminds me of my Mom. 🙂 We joke about the way my Mom makes hers, though. She forms it in a donut shape and nukes it in the microwave. Yep, she nukes it. AND it comes out perfect! Crazy, right?

I’m sure weirder things happen in the world of cooking, but I always found it funny that her meatloaf comes out of a microwave. 🙂

The hubs and I, about a year ago, found our go-to recipe for meatloaf. We still love it..it’s fabulous, I promise. However, I’m always wondering if something better is out there, and I stumbled across this recipe from Alton Brown. The hubs was a  bit skeptical when I mentioned I was trying  a new recipe. He wanted his favorite, and I don’t blame him.

However, this meatloaf came out yummy! You don’t taste the vegetables, but you get an explosion of flavor and it has a good kick to it too. I think our go-to is slightly better, but this one is less steps and dishes. Torn….

I will say that this meatloaf recipe just really changes the way I think of meatloaf, because of the kick from the chili powder and cayenne. I’m thinking of somehow merging the two types of flavor profiles to get a (hopefully) awesome recipe someday, if I’m brave enough.

Good Eats Meatloaf
Source: adapted from Alton Brown

Ingredients:

• 3 ounces garlic-flavored croutons
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 onion, roughly chopped
• 1 small carrot, peeled and broken
• 3 whole cloves garlic
• 1/4 red bell pepper
• 1 lb. lean ground beef
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 egg white
• 1/4 cup catsup
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• Dash Worcestershire sauce
• Dash hot pepper sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon honey

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a food processor bowl, combine croutons, black pepper, cayenne pepper, chili powder, and thyme. Pulse until the mixture is of a fine texture. Place this mixture into a large bowl. Combine the onion, carrot, garlic, and red pepper in the food processor bowl. Pulse until the mixture is finely chopped, but not pureed. Combine the vegetable mixture and ground beef with the bread crumb mixture. Season the meat mixture with the kosher salt. Add the egg and combine thoroughly, but avoid squeezing the meat.
3. Onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, mold your meatloaf.  Insert a temperature probe at a 45 degree angle into the top of the meatloaf. Avoid touching the bottom of the tray with the probe. Set the probe for 155 degrees. (Mine took 55 minutes to fully cook, if you’d rather not use a thermometer.)
4. Combine the catsup, cumin, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce and honey. Brush the glaze onto the meatloaf after it has been cooking for about 10 minutes.