Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Recipe

Bacon-wrapped meatloaf is the juiciest most flavorful meatloaf ever.  Top it off homemade buttermilk mashed potatoes, caramelized onions and BBQ sauce for an absolutely delicious meatloaf recipe.

This is such a classic old school dish that so many of us grew up on.  I, unfortunately, did not have a good experience with it growing up, but now understand how to add ingredients to it to make it incredibly delicious and enjoyable.

It can dry it very easily and often times lake flavor because of it’s few simple ingredients, but I’ve got some foolproof ways to make your recipe restaurant-worthy.  Just like all recipes, this one should be used as a guide with a base, please feel free to get creative and add other ingredients and seasonings to it to customize it to your liking.

Making Moist Meatloaf

There are a few tricks to ensure you are making it extremely moist.

• Processing mushrooms in a food processor until it’s the consistency of duxelles, and then add it to your ground beef mixture.  If my meatballs and meatloaf weren’t awesome enough, using this technique makes them even juicier, more tender and more flavorful.  I did it for the first time in my Mushroom, Blue Cheese and Caramelized Onion Burger and was immediately in love!
• Soaking French or Italian bread in water before squeezing out the water and adding it to the meatloaf mix.  This immediately adds moisture to your meatloaf and helps create a wonderful flavor and texture.
• Use a high ratio of fat ground beef, like 85/15 or 80/20.  I know those 93/7 or 90/10 lean to fat ratios are tempting because it is healthier, but it will absolutely cause your meatloaf to dry up also making it less flavorful.

How Long Does It Take to Cook

My basic rule of thumb when it comes to cooking meatloaf is 25 minutes per pound at 350°.  It is incredibly important to check the internal temperature of the meat before removing it from the oven and serving it.

Does It Need to Be Covered

It does not need to be covered, in fact, this bacon-wrapped meatloaf recipe needs to be uncovered so the bacon can crisp up giving more texture and delicious crisp bacon flavors.  The only time I cover it is when I’m reheating it.

How to Grill Meatloaf

For this recipe, I grilled it up outside by cooking it in a loaf pan.  Cooking this recipe on the grill allows for the bacon to get nice and crispy since those grates are so hot.

With that being said, it may cook quicker because grills tend to get so hot.  When grilling it, use a 20 minute per pound at 350° on the grill until it is done.  Not only is their indirect heat on the grill there is also direct heat from right below.

How Do You Reheat It

It can be tricky when it comes to reheating it because you don’t want it to dry out and lose flavor.  There are 2 ways to do this.

1. Slice off your desired amount and simply reheat it in the microwave with 1-minute bursts.  Cook for 1 minute, let rest for 10 seconds, cook for 1 more minute, etc. until it is hot and ready to be eaten.
2. Add the meatloaf to a baking dish and add about a 1/2 cup of beef stock to the pan and cover the entire meatloaf pan in foil.  This will help keep the meatloaf moist by steam baking it also helping to preserve the flavor.

How to Keep It From Falling Apart

The biggest tricks to keeping meatloaf from falling apart are not overcooking it and using enough eggs.  You actually do not need breadcrumbs when making it help keep it together.

1. The most important thing to keep the meatloaf from falling apart is eggs.  Use a ratio of 1 egg to every 1 pound of ground beef.
2. I like to pull meatloaf out of the oven when it is about 155° and then I let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving it.  Doing this will allow all the juices to soak back in plus it will be perfectly cooked so it won’t fall apart.

How to Make It

• 1. Preheat the grill to 350° to 400°.
• 2. In a large bowl vigorously mix together the ground beef, processed mushrooms, peppers, onions, garlic, eggs, tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Meat, in general, loves salt and pepper so season generously.  For this recipe, I seasoned with about 1 1/4 tablespoons of sea salt and 1/2 teaspoon of ground pepper.
• 3.  Prepare an 8×4 or 9×5 loaf pan with non-stick spray to ensure the bacon-wrapped meatloaf does not stick to the pan.
• 4. Line the pan with bacon strips slightly overlaying each one so that when they cook the form together completely covering the meatloaf.  The bacon strips should be long enough that they should be hanging over the side of the pan. Check out how to bake bacon to make it crispy.

• 5. Add the mixed meatloaf mixture from the bowl on top of the bacon lined loaf pan and press the ground meat mixture down completely forming it into the inside of the pan.
• 6. Fold the extra bacon hanging over the outside of the pan over top of the ground meat mixture completely covering it, bacon wrapping it.
• 7. Place directly on the grill and cook for 20 minutes per pound or until it reaches an internal temperature of 155°.
• 8. Remove from the grill and let rest for 10 minutes before turning it over on a cutting board, draining off any excess liquid, slicing it and serving it.  I like to tilt the pan a little bit into the sink or trash can to pour off as much of the fat/liquid as possible before turning the pan over.

How To Store

How to Store: Store this covered in plastic and refrigerate for up to 4 days.  It also freezes well for up to 45 days covered in plastic and can be reheated in the microwave or in the oven with a small amount of liquid and covered in foil.

More Beef Recipes

• Classic Cheeseburger recipe
• Boeuf Bourguignon
• Filet Mignon
• Osso Bucco
• Beef Stir-Fry

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