The best Mini Meatloaf recipe is delicious and easy to make, cooked in a muffin tin. We top it with a simple homemade sauce that is irresistible.
Mini Meatloaf is a kid favorite meal that we ALL crave.
Mini Meatloaf is a kid favorite meal that we ALL crave.As much as I love our traditional meatloaf recipe, I make this mini meatloaf in a muffin pan much more often because the meatloaf cooks so quickly, and I love the individual portion sizes.
This is a go-to for me on busy weeknights because the meatloaf and sauce can be made in advance, so they're ready to go in the oven at dinnertime. Plus, meatloaf muffins are freezer-friendly, so it's worth making a double batch to have a quick freezer meal ready for another day.
How to make Mini Meatloaf:
Combine: With clean hands, a large spoon, or meat chopper, mix ground beef (or ground turkey), breadcrumbs, BBQ sauce, mustard, onion, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and egg until combined.
Bake: Press meat mixture into a standard 12 cup muffin tin, pressing down to fill the cup. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 15 minutes. While baking, mix all sauce ingredients.
Add Sauce: Spoon sauce over each meatloaf muffin then bake again for 10-15 minutes, or until cooked through (160°F on meat thermometer). Serve with extra sauce, cauliflower salad, roasted vegetables, or mashed potatoes.
Make Ahead, Storing, and Freezing Instructions:
- Store leftover meatloaf muffins in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- To Make Ahead: Combine meatloaf mixture and press into muffin tin. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to overnight.
- To Freeze: Combine meatloaf mixture and press into greased muffin tin. Cover with plastic wrap and “flash freeze” in the freezer for about an hour. Carefully remove each partially frozen mini meatloaf and transfer to a freezer-safe container. Freeze for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, place frozen meatloaf muffins in the muffin tin and thaw in the frdige overnight. Bake as instructed.
Recipe Variations:
- Turkey Mini Meatloaf: With lean ground beef, each mini meatloaf muffin is only 140 calories. If you use ground turkey, it's only 120 calories (both include the sauce).
- Gluten-free Adaptation: Use gluten-free panko breadcrumbs, and gluten-free BBQ sauce.
Serve With:
- Brussels Sprout Salad
- Mashed Potatoes
- Twice Baked Potatoes
- Roasted Vegetables
- French Green Beans
- Wild Rice Pilaf
- Potatoes Au Gratin
- Homemade Dinner Rolls
- Whole Roasted Cauliflower
- Wedge Salad
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Recipe
Mini Meatloaf Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef ,or ground turkey (680 grams)
- 2/3 cup panko bread crumbs , or regular breadcrumbs (100 grams)
- 1/2 cup onion chopped, (70 grams)
- 1 Tablespoon barbecue sauce
- 1 Tablespoon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 egg , lightly beaten
Meatloaf sauce:
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar (73 grams)
- 1/2 cup ketchup (120 grams)
- 2 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Mix Meatloaf Sauce ingredients: brown sugar, ketchup, dijon mustard and nutmeg.
- Meatloaf Mixture: In a large mixing bowl (using your hands, meat chopper, or a large spoon), combine ground beef, breadcrumbs, onion, 1 Tbsp barbecue sauce, mustard, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper and egg.
- Press into muffin tin, divide the mixture evenly among the 12 cups, pressing meat down to fill the cup.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and use a paper towel to soak up any grease on the meatloaf. Generously spoon meatloaf sauce over each mini meat loaf. Return to oven for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the meat is cooked through.
- Serve with mashed potatoes and any extra sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
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I originally shared this recipe September 2013. Updated August 2019, February 2022 and January 2025.
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Love this. I decided to give meatloaf another shot because I haven’t hated it since I was a child. Wow!! I loved it, my husband loved it and my 4 & 7 year old picky eaters couldn’t get enough!! Thanks!!
I’ve made mini meatloaf many times but all of my family agreed this was the BEST EVER! So delicious and so easy!
These were delicious! Love all of your recipes – thank you for always being my “go-to” when coming up with what to make for dinner!
Thank you so much Kate! That means a lot.
This recipe was super easy and super delicious. My three year old loves helping me in the kitchen and she enjoyed making this one with Mommy. Will definitely be making again.
Love it! So easy and fast to cook. I used my square brownie pan so they were a fun square shape! Two were perfect for dinner and one for lunch the next day.
These were so good and easy to make! The flavor was different with the meatloaf sauce with nutmeg but we all loved it! I’ll definitely be making these again!!
When I received your cookbook this was the first recipe I had to try, I love making mini meatloafs. I loved your recipe it had so much flavor and the meat was tender. I plan on making this more often and I’m excited to try more recipes out of your cookbook!
My entire family loves these, especially my kids. Not to mention they cook so much faster! They also love when there is leftovers to pack in their lunches.
When my 33 year old son was a little boy I would get home from work, make a quick batch of drop biscuits from scratch, make the filling usually with ground turkey then line the tins with the dough and fill them up with the seasoned ground meat, and top with a slice of sharp cheddar. We called them Burger Biscuits!
This is one of my husband’s favorite recipes. Since it’s just the two of us, we halve the recipe, and it always turns out great. We usually add half the sauce when we first put the loaves in the oven; then, we add the rest about ten minutes before it’s ready to come out of the oven. Five stars!
This is always a hit in our house. So much better than making a loaf and my kids love it! Thank you kindly for sharing.
Very good recipe! And much easier than making a full meatloaf and worrying about it being cooked the way through. I made it with mashed potatoes, carrots and peas. Definitely will be sharing this recipe and will be making it again.
Sooo good!
I had to adjust cooking times slightly as mine looked a little bigger than yours. I used a thermometer to make sure the internal temp was 165f. These are super greasy. I did pre-spray the pan which after the amount of grease left behind I don’t think it was necessary. My boyfriend ate one before it even got to the dinner table. I will for sure be adding this to my weekly rotation.
I use to make mine like this too and agree too greasy…I now just shape mine in mini loaves and bake them on a cooling rack tha sits inside a rimmed cookie sheet lined with foil. The fat drips off and foil makes easy clean up. They came be frozen too
Thanks for posting the recipe.