Recipe: Barbecue Meatloaf

A couple of days ago I posted the Neely Barbecue Seasoning and Barbecue Sauce…. with the intention of using them to give my Barbecue Meatloaf a Neely makeover… and I did with fantastic results. Sorry for the delay in posting this… things just got too hectic around here… but here it is now for you to enjoy..

First, I need to say.. my original Barbecue Meatloaf was excellent… I hadn’t posted that recipe yet when I decided on the makeover.. the meatloaf is a basic meatloaf… with a slight change in seasonings… and the addition of chopped red pepper… much like my Tex-Mex Meatloaf…

What makes or breaks a Barbecue Meatloaf, in my opinion, isn’t so much the actual meatloaf ingredients, but the barbecue sauce. Depending on the kind of barbecue sauce you use, the tastes can vary widely.

My preference is tomato based barbecue sauces for my meatloaf… I like to put strips of bacon over the barbecue meatloaf and I think the tomato based sauces just go hand in hand with it.

The Neelys have a Barbecue Meatloaf in their book as well… however they use ground turkey not beef…

There are also minor differences in the rest of the ingredients used… they use a red onion… I use a sweet onion… they use some Old Bay Seasoning… I don’t.. I had never used yellow mustard in the recipe.. but decided to give it a try this time… I think the addition was a good one and will add it to my normal recipe.. they used 4 cloves of garlic… I used only two… they mix 1 cup of barbecue sauce into the meat mixture ..I only use 3/4 cup and prefer to use more on the top of the meatloaf for the last part of the baking...and I use bacon over the top of the meatloaf and they don’t.

So without anymore chit chat…let’s get to the meatloaf… I don’t have many tips…

TIPS

I like to use smoked bacon … but you can use any kind of bacon you prefer.

If you do substitute turkey for the beef… I would use their ingredient choices…
since turkey is much blander than beef and it would need the red onion “flavor punch”, as well as the Old Bay Seasoning.

I used a chopped red pepper in the meat mixture… you can use a green one if you prefer…I just think the red pepper has a milder sweeter taste that goes better with the barbecue sauce.

I used my mini chopper to chop the onion and garlic together so it’s finely chopped and well mixed.

Perfect side dishes to this meatloaf are Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Southern Creamed Corn…. this makes for one terrific meal.






Recipe: Barbecue Meatloaf

All you need:

2 pounds lean ground beef
1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 cups plain bread crumbs
3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon Barbecue Seasoning
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons cumin
3 strips thick sliced smoked bacon
About 1 ½ cups of Neely’s Barbecue Sauce

All you need to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small skillet over medium heat, sauté the onion, garlic and red pepper in the olive oil until the onion is soft and the red pepper are soft. Do not let the onion and garlic brown.

Allow the onion mixture to cool.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients (except the bacon and reserve ¾ cup Barbecue Sauce) together until well blended.


Shape the meat into two loaves and place in a shallow baking pan.

Tear the bacon into strips long enough to lay over the meatloaf.



Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees F.




Slather the reserved ¾ cup Barbecue Sauce over the loaves.

Return to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes.

Serve hot or cold.