Follow our easy, step-by-step, instructions to learn how to make our classic Southern Meatloaf Recipe with a tomato glaze on top.
You’ll love our classic, old fashioned, Southern Meatloaf with it’s slightly sweet sauce on top. Quick and easy to make, bakes in about one hour.
I recently came across some recipes that I used years back at my brother’s restaurant. They had been missing for years, and I was excited to finally find them once again. Of course, once they were found, they some how went missing a second time, but resurfaced just a couple of weeks ago. I’m trying to hang on to them this time. Smile.
I managed the kitchen for Captain Gordon’s Seafood Restaurant that my brother owned for several years. I will quickly admit that working in that hot kitchen was some of the hardest work I’ve ever done. Don’t judge me.
We had several large companies very close by, so we decided to try a lunch buffet to see if we could help those employees as well as to help our bottom line at the restaurant. With a buffet, customers could begin to eat much quicker than waiting for an order to be prepared. It worked well for folks that only had an hour for lunch.
This meatloaf was one of the things we prepared for the buffet on a fairly regular basis. I would make it 8 or 10 pounds at a time so I had to reduce it down to share it with you here. I hope you’ll enjoy it.
Growing up, Mama always used white loaf bread in her meatloaf, so I continued with that at the restaurant, and added the Saltine crackers to help bind it all together even more. And, all our family loved the sauce or glaze that Mama placed on top, so I continued that at the restaurant as well.
Meatloaf is pretty quick and easy to make. It’s great for a family dinner, but I also like to use slices of it to make a Meatloaf Sandwich. Place it between a couple of slices of white loaf bread, add a little bit of Duke’s Mayonnaise, and I’m happy. Smile.
I do have another recipe for meatloaf here on Taste of Southern. It uses a combination of pork sausage and ground beef. You might like to take a look at that one here – Neese’s Sausage-Beef Meatloaf
Either way, I hope you’ll try one of our meatloaf recipes. Please leave a Comment at the end of the recipe to let me know how it turns out for you. I’ll be anxious to hear from you.
Ready to give our meatloaf recipe a try? Alright then, let’s head on out to the kitchen, and… Let’s Get Cooking!
Southern Meatloaf Recipe – You’ll need these ingredients.
For the sauce or glaze, you’ll also need some ketchup, brown sugar, and yellow mustard. Let’s go ahead and get this started so it will be ready for later.
Place 1/2 cup Ketchup in a small bowl.
Add 1/4 cup Brown Sugar.
Add 1 Tablespoon of Yellow Mustard.
Stir everything together until fully combined. Set aside for now.
Pull the 3 slices of bread apart, into small pieces. Place in a large mixing bowl.
Crush 8 Saltine Crackers and add to the bowl.
Add 1/4 cup of milk to the bread and crackers.
Stir the bread pieces and saltines with the milk, just until they are moistened good. You may have to add more milk if needed. You want them moistened, but not setting in milk.
Set this aside for about 5 minutes.
Chop 1/4 of the small onion up very fine. The smaller, the better. Set this aside.
Crumble up the 2 pounds of ground beef into the bowl, right on top of the moistened bread and crackers.
I just pulled the meat apart by hand as I added it to the bowl.
Lightly beat 1 egg with a fork, then add it to the mixture.
Add the chopped onions.
Add 1 Tablespoon of Garlic Powder.
Add 1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce to the mixture.
Add 1 teaspoon of Ground Mustard.
Add 1 teaspoon of Black Pepper.
If desired, you can also add about one teaspoon of Salt. I left it out of mine, but the choice is yours. Smile.
Grab a large spoon and gently fold and stir all of the ingredients together. Be sure you work in the bread and cracker crumbs really well so you don’t end up with lumps of bread in your meatloaf.
Spoon the mixture into a loaf pan. Place a layer of meat in the pan and press it down firmly. Add more and continue to press it together as you fill the loaf pan.
Turn the meat mixture out onto a baking sheet that has been lined with aluminum foil.
You could bake the meatloaf in the loaf pan if you prefer. I always shaped the loaf out on a baking sheet back in our time at the restaurant. I was doing about 8 pounds of ground beef at the time. Flipping it out of the loaf pan gives more surface edge to bake and it’s not just cooking in all the fat that might be in the ground beef. Again, it’s your choice. If you do decide to bake it in the loaf pan, you would probably be wise to still place the loaf pan on a foil lined sheet pan in case the liquid fat bubbles over while it’s in the oven.
Preheat your oven to 350F degrees. Place the meatloaf in the oven and let it bake for 40 minutes. It will not be done a this point, we just want to add the sauce to the top.
Carefully slide the pan out of the oven, and pour the glaze over the top. Use the back of a spoon to spread it out over the top and let it drizzle down the sides. Return the pan to the oven.
Let the meatloaf continue to bake for about 15 to 20 more minutes until done.
The meatloaf is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 160F degrees. Check it with a digital thermometer if you have one.
Remove the meatloaf from the oven when it’s done. Place the pan on a folded towel or wire rack and let it rest for about 15 minutes before trying to slice and serve it.
Enjoy!
