The Best Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf Recipe (2024)

Main Dishes | Recipes

ByLynda SelfPublishedUpdated on

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Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf Recipe: Comfort food at its best! This Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf Recipe is made using ground beef and is topped with a sweet glaze made with brown sugar and ketchup. It’s not difficult to make, and many of the ingredients you will need are kitchen staples that we tend to keep in our pantry and refrigerator.

The Best Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf Recipe (1)

If you grew up in the United States, chances are great that you have had meatloaf. At least once. For many of us, it is quintessential American comfort food, ranking high up there along with Buttermilk Biscuits and Pecan Pie.

Let’s take a look at how to make this tasty meatloaf.

Ingredients

This meatloaf recipe has a sweet, brown sugar glaze on top and a little bit of glaze on the bottom.

Glaze Ingredients

  • ¾ cup ketchup
  • ¾ cup packed brown sugar

Meatloaf Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 ⅓ pounds ground beef (grass-fed is best)
  • 1 ⅓ cups bread crumbs
  • 1 small yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper, chopped
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ cup milk
The Best Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf Recipe (2)

How To Make Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Before making the meatloaf itself, make the glaze by combining ketchup, brown sugar, and a little salt. Let it sit for a moment so that the sugar can dissolve a bit in the ketchup.

Next, spoon about small layer of glaze (about ⅓ cup of the ketchup mixture) on the bottom of your loaf pan. (I use a 9×5-inch loaf pan.) Set the rest of the glaze aside and get started on making the loaf.

Chop the onion into chunks and prepare the bell pepper by removing the top, bottom, and insides. Place them in your food processor and pulsate until they are diced.

Then add the meat, bread crumbs, egg, milk, and ⅓ cup of the glaze. Process it all in your food processor until the mixture is thoroughly blended.

Next, place the ground beef mixture into the loaf pan and pat the top smooth. Spoon the remaining brown sugar glaze on top. Bake meatloaf in the middle of the oven rack for an hour in the preheated oven.

It’s important to cook ground beef to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit. If the meatloaf is under 160 degrees, continue to bake it until it reaches that temperature to be safe.

I suggest that if it has baked for an hour and still has not reached 160 degrees, check every 10-15 minutes. (If you still cannot seem to reach the minimum safe temperature, you might want to invest in an oven thermometer.)

The Best Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf Recipe (3)

How do you store leftover meatloaf?

Any leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. For long-term storage, wrap meatloaf in plastic wrap, place it in a zip-top freezer bag, and remove all excess air. Store in the freezer for up to six months.

To thaw, remove meatloaf from the freezer and allow it to thaw in the refrigerator overnight. To reheat, remove the meatloaf from the plastic bag and wrap and place it in a microwave-safe container. Cover and cook on HIGH in 2 minutes increments until warm.

What do you serve with meatloaf?

Serve with some mashed potatoes and agreen veggieand dinner is done! Alternatively, you can cut it into slices and make meatloaf sandwiches. Yum!

The Best Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf Recipe (4)

Meatloaf Facts & Trivia

  • Meatloaf has European origins. It was mentioned in the Roman cookery collection Apicus as early as the 5th century.
  • Europeans and Americans are not the only ones who enjoy meatloaf. Other countries ranging from Chile to Vietnam have their own versions of the meaty dish.
  • America’s version of meatloaf takes its origin from scrapple, a Pennsylvania Dutch dish made from pork parts.
  • Meatloaf gained much appreciation during the Great Depression, thanks to its adaptability. People were able to make use of less expensive fillers to stretch ground beef and create a satisfying dish.

Here are two more meatloaf recipes to add to your recipe box:

  • Home-style Meatloaf in the Instant Pot – This recipe for the iconic comfort food is for all you Instant Pot fans.
  • Boarding House Meatloaf – This Southern Living recipe will transport your tastebuds to the famous boarding house located in Lynchburg, Tennessee.
  • Mini Meatloaf Muffins – All the great flavor of classic meatloaf in cute little muffin shapes.

The Best Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf Recipe (5)

Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf

Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf– this recipe will soon become your family’s favorite recipe for meatloaf. It’s delicious!

4.49 from 76 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Dishes

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 389kcal

Author: Lynda – Southern Kissed

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup ketchup
  • ¾ cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 ⅓ pounds grass-fed ground beef
  • 1 ⅓ cups bread crumbs
  • 1 small yellow onion chopped
  • 1 green bell pepper chopped
  • 2 eggs
  • ¼ cup milk

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.

  • Combine ketchup, brown sugar, and salt in a small mixing bowl and allow to sit for a couple of minutes to allow sugar to dissolve.

  • Spoon one-third cup of sauce into bottom of a loaf pan. Set aside.

  • Place ground beef, bread crumbs, onion, bell pepper, eggs, milk, and one-third cup of glaze into food processor and process until mixture is thoroughly blended.

  • Place meat mixture into loaf pan and smooth down the top.

  • Spread remaining glaze on top of loaf and bake for 1 hour or until internal temperature is 155 to 160 degrees.

  • Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Nutrition

Serving: 1 | Calories: 389kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 27g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 112mg | Sodium: 899mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 31g

Tried this Recipe? Share it Today!Mention @SouthernKissedBlog or tag #southernkissed!

Before you go, don’t miss out on these Southern Kissed favorite recipes:

  • Quick and Easy Chicken and Dumplings
  • Zucchini Tots
  • Ooey Gooey Butter cake

Be sure to come back and tell us how your meatloaf turned out!

The Best Brown Sugar Glazed Meatloaf Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is brown sugar glaze made of? ›

directions. Combine 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoons dry or prepared mustard, 1/8 tsp cinnamon and 3 tablespoons dry sherry (optional), 3 tablespoons vinegar and 3 tablespoons water.

What is the secret to a great meat loaf? ›

The secret to juicy meatloaf starts with choosing your ingredients. High-fat meat like pork, veal, or a high-fat cut of ground beef, for example, will create a juicier meatloaf than leaner beef, turkey, chicken, or rabbit. You can also opt to add some bacon for extra fat in your meatloaf as well.

Is it better to cook meatloaf covered or uncovered? ›

Should I cook my meatloaf covered or uncovered? The meatloaf can be cooked uncovered. However, if you are concerned about it burning, you can cover the meatloaf with foil for the first 45 minutes and uncover it for the final 15 minutes to allow the meatloaf to brown on top.

What are the three basic ingredients in glaze? ›

A BASE GLAZE is a mixture of these three basic groups: SILICA, FLUX AND ALUMINA.

What is brown sugar coated with? ›

Brown sugar can be made by adding molasses syrup to boiling sugar crystals that result from the sugar-refining process. It can also be made by coating white granulated sugar with molasses.

Why do you put milk in meatloaf? ›

Milk and other dairy products, like heavy cream and buttermilk, contain both water and fat, adding two types of moisture to our meatloaf. There's a long-held theory that milk can tenderize ground meat, and this is the reason often cited for cooking ground meat in milk to make a Bolognese-style ragù.

Is it better to bake meatloaf on a sheet pan or loaf pan? ›

When choosing a baking pan, avoid a small loaf pan or baking dish. A tight fit means that the loaf will steam — think school cafeteria meatloaf. Instead, use a sheet pan or a large baking dish and leave some breathing room so the edges will caramelize nicely.

What not to put in meatloaf? ›

Onions, garlic and celery do pose one problem though: they don't cook down easily. Little bits of crunchy onion or celery or potent, hot garlic will spoil the comforting aspect of eating meatloaf.

Is it better to bake meatloaf in glass or metal? ›

Metal pans are great conductors of heat; in other words, they heat up quickly, but in turn, they also cool down more rapidly once removed from the heat source. Additionally, metal pans can withstand higher temperatures than glass.

Why does my meatloaf crack and fall apart? ›

Q: Why does my meatloaf always crack while cooking? A: Meatloaf usually cracks when the outside has cooked much more quickly than the inside. When meat cooks, the proteins contract and bind together; when it doesn't cook evenly, the outer proteins tighten up, leaving cracks in the top of your meatloaf.

What is the best binder for meatloaf? ›

If you don't have any bread, you can substitute it for breadcrumbs, crackers, cereal grains, oatmeal, instant rice, instant barley, or even potato flakes! However, bread is still the best choice of all the potential options.

Is meatloaf cooked at 350 or 375 degrees? ›

The oven temperature is typically set at 350 degrees F for making meatloaf. That's the temperature you want to be sure to use so the meatloaf cooks and doesn't dry out. Too high, and the outer crust will burn before the interior is cooked all the way, too low and you don't get that delicious crust.

How to drain meatloaf grease? ›

A neat trick to soak up the grease under your meatloaf is to line the bottom of the pan with bread slices. The bread soaks up the grease as the loaf bakes. When the meatloaf is done, you can either throw out the bread or bake it to make some truly indulgent toast.

What are the ingredients of brown sugar? ›

Brown sugar is often made by mixing white sugar with a small amount of molasses, giving it a tanned hue and wet-sand-like consistency. The sweet stuff comes in two shades: light brown sugar (3%–4% molasses) and dark brown sugar (6%–10% molasses).

What is brown sugar substitute made of? ›

A combination of white sugar and molasses is your best bet for a brown sugar substitute, as that's exactly what brown sugar is made of (1). To make your own light brown sugar, mix 1 cup, or 200 grams (g), of granulated white sugar with 1 tablespoon (tbsp.), or 15 milliliters (mL), of molasses.

What is a good substitute for brown sugar in glaze? ›

8 Brown Sugar Substitutes
  • White Sugar. The most readily available substitute for brown sugar, white sugar can easily be swapped out in an equal ratio for its darker counterpart. ...
  • Honey, Agave Nectar or Maple Syrup. ...
  • White Sugar and Molasses. ...
  • Raw Sugar. ...
  • Muscovado. ...
  • Coconut Sugar. ...
  • Date Sugar. ...
  • Maple Sugar.
6 days ago

What is the ceramic thing in brown sugar? ›

As its name suggests, sugar saver is a small piece of terracotta or other porous clay that is designed to keep brown sugar soft and ready for use. Sugar savers may be the easiest and cutest way to save your brown sugar for a longer period of time.

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