Meatloaf Muffins

12 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Meatloaf Muffins are a quick and easy kid-friendly meatloaf recipe. Mini beef meatloaves baked in a muffin tin topped with a sweet and tangy ketchup glaze.

Classic Meatloaf is a go-to Dinner Recipe when you want easy comfort food. These family friendly mini meatloaves are even easier and quicker, and fun to eat!

Meatloaf Muffins on plate with mashed potatoes and green beans

MEATLOAF MUFFINS

Whether you make these muffins as a party appetizer or main dish, these kid-friendly meatloaves are sure to be a hit! They are easy to make, and you can even have the kids mix them and press them into the muffin tin. Prep them ahead of time in the morning and keep in the refrigerator, then pop them in the oven for a tasty dinner ready in just 30 minutes.

This Meatloaf Muffin Recipe uses lean ground beef for low-calorie, low fat meatloaf that you wouldn’t able to make in a traditional loaf pan. Larger meatloaves need a higher fat to keep them from drying out, so this leaner recipe is great when you want a low-calorie, healthy meatloaf. You can make it even healthier by using ground turkey breast and add a tablespoon olive oil to keep the meat moist.

These Mini Meatloaf Muffins are perfect for meal prepping a dinner for one! You can freeze them for months and pop in the fridge the night before you want to eat them. Refrigerate a muffin with sides for an easy lunch or dinner for the whole week. You can easily double this meatloaf recipe and make ahead muffins for later and a regular meatloaf for tonight.

PERFECT DINNER SIDE DISHES:

Tips for Making Meatloaf Muffins

  • When making a meatloaf, you don’t want to over mix or handle the meat mixture too much. The colder the beef fat, the more moist and tender your Meatloaf Muffins will be.
  • Serve Meatloaf Muffins with comfort food favorites like Sautéed Green BeansMashed Potatoes, and Baked Mac and Cheese!
  • If you want to bake a regular sized meatloaf, cook your meatloaf in a 9×5 loaf pan. Spray the pan liberally and use a less lean ground beef like 85/15 or 80/20. Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.
  • You can bake these as meatballs too. To make Meatloaf Meatballs, roll meat mixture into 2-inch balls and cook on a baking sheet for 18-20 minutes.
  • To make ahead, freeze meat mixture raw or cooked in a muffin tin until solid. Keep frozen for up to 3 months and thaw overnight in the refrigerator before heating. Reheat at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or bake uncooked for 35-40 minutes.

Meatloaf Muffins in muffin tin

VARIATIONS ON MEATLOAF MUFFINS

  • Meat: Use ground turkey or ground chicken for a lighter Meatloaf Muffin, or use a classic meat mixture of ground beef, ground pork, and ground veal.
  • Bacon: Line each muffin cup with a slice of bacon before adding meatloaf mixture. Bake as usual. You can also add chopped bacon to the meat mixture instead of slices of bacon.
  • Meatloaf Sauce: Mix up the flavors of the ketchup glaze with Barbecue Sauce, chili sauce, salsa, tomato sauce, or vinegar. 
  • Breadcrumbs: Instead of regular bread crumbs you can use panko bread crumbs, instant oats, crushed saltines or ritz crackers, or pork rinds. You can also use a few bread slices soaked in milk. 
  • Taco Meatloaf Muffins: Add 2 tablespoons of Taco Seasoning and ½ cup diced green bell peppers to the meat mixture before cooking. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese and green onion and heat until cheese melts. 
  • Pizza Meatloaf Muffins: Top each muffin with Pizza Sauce and bake for 20-25 minutes. Add shredded mozzarella cheese and mini pepperoni and bake another 5-10 minutes.
  • Low Carb: To make Low-Carb Meatloaf Muffins use ground pork rinds instead of breadcrumbs and substitute sugar-free ketchup and Stevia brown sugar in the sauce. Pork rinds also make these meatloaves gluten-free.

Meatloaf Cupcakes

  • Prepare 2-3 cups Mashed Potatoes or Mashed Sweet Potatoes (or use leftovers).
  • Make the Meatloaf Muffins with glaze as usual and cook for 25 minutes.
  • Remove meatloaf from oven and pipe Mashed Potatoes on the top of each muffin.
  • Sprinkle cheese and bacon bits for loaded Meatloaf Muffins.
  • Bake muffins for 5-10 minutes long, until cheese is melted and potatoes are warmed.

MORE DELICIOUS MEATLOAF RECIPES

HOW TO STORE MEATLOAF MUFFINS

  • Serve: Mini Meatloaf Muffins are best served warm and can be at room temperature for up to 2 hours before they need to be chilled. 
  • Store: Wrap individual Meatloaf Muffins in plastic wrap or store all together in an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 3 days and reheat in the oven for 10 minutes, until warm.
  • Freeze: Freeze Mini Meatloaves in the muffin tin for 1 hour. Wrap each muffin in aluminum foil and store in a freezer safe bag. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating muffins in the oven at 350 degrees F.

Meatloaf Muffins in muffin tin with ketchup glaze

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Meatloaf Muffins

Meatloaf Muffins are a quick and easy kid-friendly meatloaf recipe. Mini beef meatloaves baked in a muffin tin topped with a sweet and tangy ketchup glaze.
Yield 12 servings
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Dinner
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

Meatloaf

  • 2 pounds ground beef , 90/10
  • 1/4 yellow onion , minced
  • 2 cloves garlic , minced
  • 2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup breadcrumbs
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

Meatloaf Glaze

  • 1/3 cup ketchup
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  • In a large bowl mix the ground beef, onion, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, eggs, breadcrumbs, salt and pepper until just combined.
  • Roll mixture into 12 pieces and place in greased muffin tin, flattening the tops slightly.
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes.
  • Turn oven onto broil.
  • Glaze with sauce then broil until the sauce caramelizes, about 1 minute. (If you prefer not to broil, cook at 450 for 5 minutes)

Nutrition

Calories: 225kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 79mg | Sodium: 421mg | Potassium: 309mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 74IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 37mg | Iron: 2mg
Keyword: Meatloaf Muffins

Meatloaf Muffins collage

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. If one was to freeze these would you recommend doing it before or after cooking and what would the best reheating method be

    1. You may make ahead and freeze or freeze after … either way. Details for both scenarios are written in the blog! Here are the details for freezing after you’ve made the meatloaf muffins.

      Freeze: Freeze Mini Meatloaves in the muffin tin for 1 hour. Wrap each muffin in aluminum foil and store in a freezer safe bag. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before reheating muffins in the oven at 350 degrees F.

  2. Fantastic! I’m not much of a beef eater, but my husband is, so I try to have it on the menu on occasion, me and my husband loved these, I served them with mashed potatoes. Very yummy, this will be part of the rotation going forward.

  3. Sabrina

    My grandson made the muffin meatloaves today and they were absolutely delicious and moist. He made them according to recipe except he put a cube of mozzarella cheese in the center of each. He particularly enjoyed the glaze and would like to use that on other recipes. He is going on 13 and enjoys using your recipes. Thanks for the joy you have given to us with your recipes allowing us to spend time in the kitchen together.

    Stacy

  4. Sabrina, I probably get at least a dozen different cooking newsletters but you are by far my most favorite chef! These meat loaf muffins will be great for grandkids, but I’m not writing specifically about this recipe. I don’t think I have ever not tried a recipe that your site sent me, or at least one from each newsletter. I surely appreciate your skills and look forward to a long cooking relationship. Thank you. I wish you great success!

    Cheryl Wade

    1. Thank you so much for the kind words. It means so much to me to know that you’re loving all of the recipes and you find them useful.