20 Healthy Meatloaf Recipes That Will Make You Drool

Written by: Michael Matthews

Meatloaf Stuffed with Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are often served alongside meatloaf. In this recipe, they’re stuffed in the middle for an all-in-one meal.

It’s not as hard as it sounds to add filling to your meatloaf. Once the meatloaf ingredients are combined, place half of it on a baking sheet. Create space in the middle for the mashed potatoes, lay slices of cheddar on top, and cover with the remaining meat. Shape it into a loaf, and it’s ready to go in the oven.

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Simple Meatloaf

Even in today’s foodie culture, sometimes nothing beats the taste of an original. When you want to get back to basics, try this simple meatloaf.

It’s just like mom used to make with bread crumbs, a splash of milk, and a bit of Parmesan cheese. Then of course it’s topped with ketchup, but for optimal flavor, look for an organic version – or even take the extra step to make your own.

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Turkey Meatloaf Florentine

Making ground keykey meatloaf is one way to lighten up the classic American dinner.

Then to make it even healthier, you can mix in your favorite fresh ingredients like spinach. Like most leafy greens, spinach is low in calories yet high in nutrients. It’s mostly made of protein and fiber, with  healthy dose of vitamin A.

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Quick Asian Meatloaf Pie

With a few simple tweaks to meatloaf, it can be an easy Asian-inspired dinner.

This beef meatloaf recipe includes sesame soy sauce and chives, but what really makes it stand out is the cooking technique. Instead of looking like a loaf, this is pressed into a pie plate, so it ends up being much thinner. As it cooks, the top is regularly brushed with sesame soy marinade and honey.

Serve with rice or mashed potatoes.

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Pork & Apple Meatloaf

Meatloaf hardly seems like a seasonal dish, but that doesn’t mean you can’t adapt it to use the freshest ingredients.

During the apple harvest, there’s no shortage of ways to use the versatile fruit, including this delicious meatloaf. Grated apple stops it from drying out in the oven while lending a touch of natural sweetness to complement the ground pork.

The fresh sage and apple ketchup are by no means necessary; yet if you can manage to include them, you won’t be disappointed.

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Buffalo Chicken Meatloaf

Chicken has a lighter flavor than beef, which makes it a great base for stronger flavors like red chili hot sauce and blue cheese. By adding those ingredients, the meatloaf tastes a lot like buffalo chicken wings.

Use Frank’s red hot sauce instead of ketchup for the topping, and sprinkle on crumbled gorgonzola right before it goes in the oven. A bit of diced celery completes the picture.

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Turkey Quinoa Mushroom Meatloaf with Sriracha Barbecue

Don’t like slathering meatloaf with ketchup? You can use barbecue sauce instead, and by stirring in Sriracha and paprika, your easy dinner is suddenly gourmet.

And this recipe doesn’t stop there. It also includes nutrient-dense quinoa rather than bread crumbs. Then it takes meatloaf to a whole other level by stuffing gooey cheddar cheese in the middle.

Since everything is prepped in a food processor, there’s also minimal work before it goes into the oven.

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Slow Cooker BBQ Ranch Meatloaf

Meatloaf is as all-American as a meal can get, so why not integrate even more of your favorite flavors to make it extra comforting?

This meatloaf is full of barbecue ranch flavor, which means it’ll even make picky little ones happy. And if all you’ve had is dry, flavorless meatloaf, one bite of this will wipe away those childhood memories and have you rethinking this protein-packed dinner.

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Italian Turkey Meatloaf Parmesan

Uncertain about retrying meatloaf? Transform it into another dish entirely with Italian sausage, marinara, and a generous amount of Parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

Because it looks like a big chicken parm, you won’t even recognize this as meatloaf. And the browned cheese on top looks so appetizing, you’ll want to dig right in.

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French Onion Soup Stuffed Meatloaf

If you love caramelized onions, you know they make any dinner even better. And even though this meatloaf seems outrageous with cheese and onions, this is a low-fat dinner because of the lean ground beef.

You can lower the fat even more by choosing part-skim mozzarella, but it’s not necessary and can make the cheese less gooey.

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Secret Ingredient Meatloaf

This recipe uses a surprising trick to infuse meatloaf with flavor and ensure it’s not going to dry out.

Aside from that, this is a straightforward meatloaf recipe with ground beef, bread crumbs, onion, pepper, and seasonings. But before that’s all combined in a bowl, the crumbs are soaked in zesty Bloody Mary mix.

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Easy Low-Carb Meatloaf

Although meatloaf has the word meat in it, there are other ingredients that typically add carbs to this otherwise high-protein dinner.

Substitute cauliflower for the bread crumbs or rolled oats, and you’ll end up with a meatloaf that has fewer calories, fewer carbs, and just as much protein. As a bonus, the cauliflower also helps keep the meatloaf moist.

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Hoisin Turkey & Zucchini Meatloaf Muffins

If you have a muffin tin, you could be eating mini meatloaf in less than an hour.

The most difficult and time-consuming part of this recipe is to grate the zucchini – which is to say it’s easy to prep and assemble this Asian-inspired turkey meatloaf. Mix all the ingredients together, press into individual muffin cups, and bake.

Serve with fried rice or Chinese noodle salad.

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Turkey BBQ Meatloaf

This simple meatloaf recipe is similar to the original version, which was a smart way to feed a family for cheap while making the most of the meat.

The only seasonings required are salt and pepper, and the only two mix-ins – diced onion and bell pepper – are optional. Aside from that, you’ll need a couple eggs to bind the meatloaf together, plus a mixture of oats and bread crumbs.

Top with barbecue sauce or ketchup, and then wait about a half hour for it to finish in the oven.

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Crock Pot Meatloaf with Tomato Soup Gravy

Upgrade from ketchup to tomato soup with this meatloaf recipe, which is conveniently prepared in a Crock Pot.

You’ll need ten minutes and less than ten ingredients to get this dinner together. Mix up the meatloaf, form it so it fits in the slow cooker, and pour the soup on top. Get this ready in the morning, and it’ll cook on low for 8 hours while you work.

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Super Healthy Meatloaf

Meatloaf can be a great way to use up stale bread before it has to be tossed, but if you don’t have any to get rid, of don’t worry about buying a loaf. You can just whole oats instead, and once baked into the meatloaf, they’re not even discernible.

Oatmeal meatloaf doesn’t appear any different than the kind with bread crumbs, so it’s a good way to sneak complex carbs and fiber into a carnivorous meal.

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Old-Fashioned Meatloaf

that’s not the only combination that makes a tasty meatloaf.

Combine beef and turkey to get traditional flavor with leaner macros. For any recipe, though, you can switch up the ratios of ground meat to match your tastes and nutritional preferences; just be sure to keep the total amount of meat the same.

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Hidden Vegetable Meatloaf

Meatloaf hardly needs more than ground beef, eggs, bread crumbs, and seasoning. Yet there’s no reason to stop there because it’s also a perfect way to sneak in veggies and other nutrition boosters.

Rather than using stale bread, this recipe calls for whole oats, which contribute slow-digesting complex carbs. This meatloaf also includes a heap of fresh produce, including carrots, celery, and mushrooms.

And instead of processed ketchup, it’s topped with marinara.

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Meatloaf with Herbed Cream Sauce

This Southern meatloaf with gravy is the perfect Sunday dinner because it takes the simple dinner to the ultimate level of comfort food.

The beef and breakfast sausage meatloaf is already full of flavor. Then it’s studded with chopped mushrooms and seasoned with tangy Worcestershire and horseradish. Last but certainly not least is the creamy gravy, which brings this dish home.

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Oat Bran Meatloaf

If you’re looking for a healthy substitute for bread crumbs, consider oat bran. It not only adds fiber, but it gives texture to an otherwise one-dimensional dish.

That’s good news if you like the flavor of meatloaf yet find it to be mushy. The nutty bran also contributes more flavor to the dish than bread crumbs or oats would.

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