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Why I Love Sheet Pan Meatloaf
Sunday dinner was often Mom’s favorite meal of the week. She would prepare meatloaf before church and preset the oven to cook while we were gone. As soon as the car door opened, I can remember the smell of the meal baking.
Meatloaf can often be the brunt of jokes. It can be dry, tasteless, boring, and usually the bottom of a family’s list of favorite foods. My mom’s meatloaf is different: full of hearty flavor and somehow surprisingly light with a melt-away texture.
Let’s face it: meat can be tricky. You would think just mixing together some ground beef with salt and pepper would be pretty easy. But that’s not the case. Ground beef pressed together can become tough and lack flavor.
Mom’s trick for a delicious meatloaf is quick-cooking oats. The difference between quick-cooking oats and old-fashioned oats is simple. Quick-cooking oats are rolled and become smaller than old-fashioned oats. This helps them cook faster and absorb liquid easily. Adding the oats helps bind the meat together and absorb the liquid the meats release during baking. While baking, the oats disappear, leaving a tender and perfectly textured loaf.
To add flavor, I switched up Mom’s method in a few ways:
- Onions – Mom often added raw onions to the mixture. I find sautéing the onion until softened boosts the flavor and is just better than raw onion.
- Tomato juice – Mom always added tomato juice to the meatloaf, and I couldn’t agree more. Instead of imparting tomato flavor, the tomato juice balances out the meat and provides a slightly sweet flavor.
At its core, this is a meatloaf with no hidden agenda. And to make it even better, it’s a sheet pan dinner, making it a for-sure winner that couldn’t be easier. Rather than making an entirely separate side dish, I added thickly sliced sweet potatoes around the meatloaf that cook at the same time. During the cooking time, a golden crust forms on the bottom of the sweet potatoes, while retaining a perfectly creamy interior.
Altogether, this sheet pan meatloaf is simple and straightforward with a well-balanced flavor that creates a perfect dinner. Never dry, never tasteless… and definitely not boring!
More Dinner Recipes
- Braised short ribs
- Classic pot roast
- Spinach, quinoa, and salmon bowl
- Sheet pan cod and cauliflower rice
- Spiced pork tenderloin with roasted vegetables
- Roasted salmon with citrus and dill
Have I Convinced You to Make This Recipe?
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Sheet Pan Meatloaf
Ingredients
For the meatloaf
- ½ cup diced onion
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 lb ground beef (92% lean preferable)
- 1 lb ground pork
- 2 large eggs lightly whisked
- 1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats
- 1 cup tomato juice
- 2 ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
For the sweet potatoes
- 3 lb sweet potatoes cut in 1-inch slices
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 ½ tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp garlic granules
- 1 ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
For the ketchup sauce
- ½ cup ketchup
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until soft and translucent, adding garlic in the last minute, 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.½ cup diced onion, 1 clove garlic
- On a large sheet pan, arrange the sweet potatoes in an even layer, leaving space for the meatloaf. Drizzle with olive oil, rubbing to coat potatoes on all sides. Sprinkle with salt, dried thyme, garlic granules, and black pepper.3 lb sweet potatoes, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 ½ tsp dried thyme, 1 tsp garlic granules, 1 ½ tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, ground pork, quick oats, eggs, tomato juice, sautéed onion, salt, and black pepper. Mix until combined and all the ingredients are well mixed together, showing no individual streaks.1 lb ground beef (92% lean preferable), 1 lb ground pork, 2 large eggs, 1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats, 1 cup tomato juice, 2 ½ tsp kosher salt, 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- Place the prepared meatloaf on the large sheet pan, shaping it into a large loaf. Place in the preheated oven and prepare the ketchup topping.
- In a small bowl, combine the ketchup, honey, and Dijon mustard. Whisk to combine.½ cup ketchup, 2 tsp honey, 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- Once the meatloaf is browned and reaches 150°F, about 40-50 minutes, spread the ketchup mixture over the top and return to oven to caramelize, 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes before cutting.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did you make this? Leave a comment below!
I love how you put serving size calculator on your recipes that allows followers to adapt the recipe to make half or double the recipe to suit the needs of each household. Thank you for thinking of everything and for your homey videos.
Love to watch you cook and your recipes:)
Love the meatloaf! So yummy that we won’t mind leftovers tomorrow!
Kaleb
This is the best meatloaf I have ever made. Thank you for sharing…. Since I started watching you. I have been so excited to cook again. Thank you Thank you. Hope Kipp is feeling better. Continued prayers to Kip and you.
Have a blessed day
Lorraine
Hi Kaleb! I just have to say that I think you are so wonderful! I was just interrupted today with another notification from Facebook. Usually the notifications are about so and so doing this or that and videos from Tasty. I take a glance at the notification and I see something different for a change, it was you and your video recipe for a one pan dinner of meatloaf and sweet potatoes. I also grew up with my mom making meatloaf and mashed potatoes (not baked), I took over meatloaf duty when she passed away from cancer in 2007. I changed a few things also but it still always tasted like my moms, think it was the raw onions! Haha
Then I see your video making meatloaf and it is quite different, my moms always used progresso Italian bread crumbs(which she used for everything from meatloaf to fried chicken cutlets) and also she put ketchup in the meat mixture. I really can’t wait to try your recipe for meatloaf and I’m not going to say anything to my kids to see if they notice. I think they will for sure because your meatloaf looked amazing and the way you cooked the sweet potatoes too, YUM! Just wish my thyme was grown enough to use so I’ll have to get some at the market. What state are you in? Your gardens are absolutely stunning! I’m in NY and our grass is just starting to get green and my seedlings are just ready to go outside, (started them a little late)
I can’t wait to be surrounded by more green, could really use it!
I can’t wait to check out more on your website and try lots of recipes!
I’m sorry about your pup! Praying for him and you to have the patience and strength to let the doctors do what they have to and the time for him to heal.
Good luck and blessings to you!
Laura
I’m definitely going to try the meatloaf recipe minus the sweet potatoes. I’m just not a fan of the sweet potato stickiness. Question: do you refrigerate your bacon drippings? I see online personalities that do not and my mother always did, so of course I followed suit. I also strain mine to remove bacon sediment. Any thoughts?? I do love your posts, kitchen and garden. You are so much more motivated than me. 🤗
Yes, you should refrigerate your bacon drippings. I know a lot of people that don’t which is fine if it’s used ratger quickly but if you’re really saving it and you have a lot, it will go “rank” and not taste good at all on whatever you cook in it!! My opinion only – just an old country girl that has been cooking for many years!!
Ground pork and sautéed onions are a nice touch. I made this for my husband tonight and he just raved about it. Thank you for your wonderful videos!!
I’m going to try making the sheet pan meatloaf. I’m surprised that you didn’t get a lot of meatloaf juices all over the pan. When I make meatloaf (all beef—half 85% and half 93%), in a meatloaf pan I have to pour the juices out of the pan before I can take the meatloaf out of the pan and let it rest before cutting. Why doesn’t your meatloaf create a lot of juices. Good that it didn’t because of potatoes but wondering what the trick is.
This has now been my go to meatloaf recipe 😋. My husband says its even better than my moms! Just made it today for Sunday dinner. As I was making it I couldn’t help but laugh and say to myself..if Kaleb does it this way then that’s how I’ll do it to 🙂 😃 Thanks, youre a treasure 💖
Delicious!!! My husband loved it!!! Thank you!