It’s me again with another great Sunday dinner idea. Yep, its meatloaf, which may not sound too exciting, but I have to say this one turned out pretty tasty and with using turkey instead of hamburger, it added a new twist to it. Oh, and I call it a Sunday dinner just because that’s the day I usually have the most time to make our big meal and this one takes over an hour to make. But you could make this any day of the week and enjoy it. :)
Anyway, to come up with this one, I used inspiration from recipes I have used for traditional meatloaf that uses hamburger, turkey burger recipes and research of other turkey meatloaf recipes to come up with this one. I’m pretty pleased with the results. So were my sometimes picky eaters (big plus!!)
And I know I have mentioned this already in other posts, but the main reason for a use of turkey instead of hamburger is that I have found more and more lately that as much as I love hamburger, it just doesn’t love me. I haven’t cut it completely out, but when I do eat it, I know I need to be ready for the rock in my stomach feeling for hours afterwards. So I have started to seek out alternatives as much as I can. Turkey has been the best ground meat I have found so far (in my opinion). I have used it for burgers, tacos and even lasagna (see an earlier post for the recipe). Not only does it sit well with me, it’s not as heavy as hamburger and is a bit healthier alternative.
We enjoyed this meatloaf with garlic mashed potatoes and home-canned green beans. It was also very good for leftover lunches. My son had his with leftover potatoes, my husband used it to make meatloaf sandwiches and I chopped up a slice in chunks and ate it on a salad. Not a bit of that turkey meatloaf went to waste!
If you try it, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Turkey Meatloaf
Loaf
1 pound ground turkey
4-5 cloves minced garlic (see notes below)
1 cup panko crumbs (regular or Italian for more kick)
1 egg
¾ cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika or powdered Sriracha (for extra heat)
Glaze for top
About half cup of ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
1 tablespoon brown sugar
½ teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
Dash of cayenne pepper (to taste).
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and spray baking dish with non-stick spray. Alternatively, you could use baking sheet lined with foil for faster cleanup (that’s what I show in the pictures).
In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the meatloaf ingredients. I usually mix the seasonings, egg and breadcrumbs together first to evenly mix
and then add the ground turkey to the bowl. This helps me from over mixing while trying to distribute everything evenly in the turkey. Use your hands to knead together the mixture.
Shape the meat into a loaf and then bake for 30 minutes.
While the loaf is cooking, prepare the glaze by mixing all the ingredients in a small ball, using a whisk or fork to combine. Once the first 30 minutes are up on the loaf, remove from oven and top with the glaze. Return to oven and bake for an additional 25 minutes.
Let rest for 5 minutes. Then enjoy!
Notes
Don’t over mix the turkey. It will make it dense and less juicy.
For the minced garlic, if you use fresh garlic, first cook in a little bit of olive oil on the stove for a couple of minutes. I usually skip that since I have a jar of refrigerated minced garlic (Spice World Minced Garlic) or sometimes use dehydrated as well. You can do what works best for you and what you have available.
If you don’t have panko crumbs, regular bread crumbs work as well. I usually have panko on hand.
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