Meatloaf muffins make a quick and easy weeknight meatloaf recipe. They are on the table in less than 30 minutes, but they also freeze beautifully for easy meal prep.
Looking for delicious side dishes to serve with meatloaf? We love mashed potatoes, green beans or creamed spinach, and roasted carrots or a pan of roasted vegetables.
My mother has made her meatloaf recipe for well over 50 years. It is always a favorite! I turned her recipe into this 30-minute, quick, and easy weeknight meatloaf recipe when I was first married 28 years ago. It has been a favorite ever since.
I first published the recipe in 2011, but I have updated the step-by-step photos, made the instructions even clearer, and included some favorite recipe variations you may also appreciate. I think your family will love this recipe as much as mine does!
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Quick and Easy. This easy meatloaf is ready in 30 minutes!
Delicious. Juicy, tender, and delicious.
Meal Prep Friendly. Individual portions that can be frozen, baked or unbaked.
How to Make Easy Meatloaf Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
Be sure to see the recipe card below for the full listing of ingredients, instructions, notes, and estimated nutritional information.
- Ground beef, turkey, or chicken – Use your preferred ground protein in this recipe.
- Egg – See my Recipe Variations below for an egg-free recipe.
- Bread crumbs – Use bread crumbs or cracker crumbs. See my Recipe Variations below for a gluten-free recipe.
- Worcestershire sauce – You can also substitute with coconut aminos if sensitive to soy.
- Stone House Seasoning – My house seasoning blend of garlic, salt, and pepper.
- Glaze topping – I love to use my favorite homemade BBQ sauce, but my mother used ketchup with brown sugar for a quick glaze as well as a little inside the meatloaf. I’ve included it in the Recipe Variations below.
Optional Ingredients
- Onion – finely diced and cooked until tender (optional)
- Bell pepper – finely diced and cooked until tender (optional)
Step-by-Step Instructions
Prep. Preheat the oven to 400º F. Brush muffin pan indentions with olive oil. Set aside. Make the glaze.
Make the meatloaf mixture. Combine the ingredients for the meatloaf, along with two tablespoons of the glaze, in a medium mixing bowl. Portion the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.
Bake and glaze. Place the muffin pan in the preheated oven and bake until the meatloaf muffins register 160º F for ground beef and 165º F for ground turkey and ground chicken, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and spread with the glaze. Return to the oven for five more minutes.
Serve. Remove from the oven, remove from the muffin pan, and serve.
Recipe Variations
Egg-Free Meatloaf Muffins – Mix 1 tablespoon chia seeds + 3 tablespoons water and allow to rest for five minutes before using in place of the egg in the meatloaf mixture. You can use whole or ground chia. You can also use your favorite egg replacement for one egg.
Gluten-Free Meatloaf Muffins – Use certified gluten-free bread crumbs for the bread crumbs in the recipe.
Less Sugar Meatloaf Muffins – Use sugar-free ketchup and your favorite brown sugar replacement in the meatloaf mixture and as the topping for the meatloaf.
BBQ Sauce Topped Meatloaf Muffins – Use my homemade BBQ sauce or your favorite store-bought.
Storage Tips
To store. Store baked and cooled meatloaf within two hours of cooking in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
To freeze baked. Store baked and cooled meatloaf within two hours of cooking in an airtight, freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, reheat, and serve.
To freeze unbaked. Form the meatloaf muffins in the muffin pan without adding the glaze, cover with freezer-safe wrap, and freeze overnight. Remove the individual meatloaf muffins from the muffin pan and store them in an airtight, freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to 3 months. To serve, remove one or more from the freezer and place into a muffin pan or on a baking sheet. Bake as directed in the recipe instructions.
Frequently Asked Questions
I love to use BBQ sauce for added flavor as a topping for my meatloaf muffins.
This recipe works great as mini meatloaf muffins! Mix together as directed, and then follow my instructions for baking from my easy meatball recipe.
Here’s my Weeknight Meatloaf Muffins Recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Easy Meatloaf Muffins Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef, or ground turkey or ground chicken
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup bread crumbs, or cracker crumbs
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, or coconut aminos
- 1 teaspoon Stone House Seasoning
Meatloaf Glaze
- 1/3 cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Optional Ingredients
- 1/2 medium onion, diced and cooked until tender
- 1/2 medium green pepper, diced and cooked until tender
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat the oven to 400º F. Brush muffin pan indentions with olive oil. Set aside.
- Make the meatloaf mixture. Combine the ingredients for the meatloaf, along with two tablespoons of the glaze, in a medium mixing bowl. Portion the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.
- Bake and glaze. Place the muffin pan in the preheated oven and bake until the meatloaf muffins register 160º F for ground beef and 165º F for ground turkey and ground chicken, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and spread with the glaze. Return to the oven for five more minutes.
- Serve. Remove from the oven, remove from the muffin pan, and serve.
Notes
Recipe Variations
Egg-Free Meatloaf Muffins – Mix 1 tablespoon chia seeds + 3 tablespoons water and allow to rest for five minutes before using in place of the egg in the meatloaf mixture. You can use whole or ground chia. You can also use your favorite egg replacement for one egg. Gluten-Free Meatloaf Muffins – Use certified gluten-free bread crumbs for the bread crumbs in the recipe. Sugar-Free Meatloaf Muffins – Use sugar-free ketchup in the meatloaf mixture and as the topping for the meatloaf. BBQ Sauce Topped Meatloaf Muffins – Use my homemade BBQ sauce or your favorite store-bought.Storage Tips
To store. Store baked and cooled meatloaf within two hours of cooking in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To freeze baked. Store baked and cooled meatloaf within two hours of cooking in an airtight, freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight, reheat, and serve. To freeze unbaked. Form the meatloaf muffins in the muffin pan without adding the glaze, cover with freezer-safe wrap, and freeze overnight. Remove the individual meatloaf muffins from the muffin pan and store them in an airtight, freezer-safe container in the freezer for up to 3 months. To serve, remove one or more from the freezer and place into a muffin pan or on a baking sheet. Bake as directed in the recipe instructions.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
This looks good, but I want to know about the potatoes!! Those look delish! Do you have a recipe for them? Thanks.
Hey Stephanie! Here is the link to the herbed skillet potatoes. I hope you like them as much as we do!
https://addapinch.com/cooking/2011/08/07/simple-herbed-skillet-potatoes/
Thanks SO much Robyn! Can’t wait to try them! 🙂
This looks like a fine recipe for meatloaf. Our family adds bell pepper along with the onion and we don’t use brown sugar except for the glaze on top. I just made mini loafs this week.
I say you can tell a great deal about someone by they way they make meatloaf. It’s ONE of the ways I decide whether or not to try the recipes on a blog or given by an acquaintance or not.
If they use a mixture of pork, beef and veal, or insist on at least pork and beef, they may be a little to high brow for my home cooking tastes.
If they use oatmeal as a binder, well then they just can’t be southern and like gooshy ( yes that is a word I know I use it all the time :0)) textures in food. So I might have some textural problems with their recipes.
If they don’t cook meatloaf at all, well then I have to wonder about where and how they learned to cook. I mean isn’t meatloaf one of the first main courses we learn to make? My mama taught me while I was still standing in a chair and she had to cut up the veggies. But crushing the crackers and getting my hands in there was all me.
Thank you for the time and effort you put into sharing with all us out here on the other side of your compute. We really do appreciate it.
Searching for meatloaf recipes….I knew I’d find one here!! I can always count on you!! Pinning it!!
SO YUMMY !!!!!!!. I made these today and used 50 /50 mix grd beef and sausage everything else was the same . OMG freeze them for individual users later on. I know its a guy thing I guess.
Must try this
Hope you like the meatloaf muffins, Glen.
How many muffins should 1 batch make?
Thank you!
Tahlia (your biggest fan)
Tahlia, you should have about 24 muffins. I hope you enjoy!
Hi Robyn,
I really enjoy making a lot of your recipes. Would there be any way I could get the recipe for your original meatloaf muffins? It looks like this one has changed a little 🙁 I think the last one was onion, worcestershire, ketchup, brown sugar, ground beef, cracker or bread crumbs, egg in the mix and top with ketchup or BBQ. I’ve made that same recipe many times in our home and everybody loves it. I’d sure appreciate it if I could get the original recipe. Thank you so much.
Kristie, I reduced the ground beef to 2 pounds instead of 3 pounds to be more economical and omitted the brown sugar and ketchup in the meatloaf. It is now in the glaze. The original did have 2 eggs instead of the reduced one egg. I also made the onions optional. I hope this helps.