HOW TO MAKE CAST IRON SKILLET MEATLOAF || COMFORT FOOD AT IT’S FINEST

This recipe for cast iron skillet meatloaf is perfect for those days when you are craving comfort food! It’s simple and easy to make, and will definitely become a favorite at your dinner table.

Cooking it in a cast iron skillet causes the inside to remain juicy, while allowing the outside to crisp just enough to provide the perfect texture for this dish.

It also makes clean up a breeze!

There is something quite satisfying about sitting down to this kind of old fashioned meal. It makes you feel as though you are wrapped in a cozy blanket, sitting next to a fire, on a cold, dreary day.

You can increase the warm, fuzzy feelings exponentially by serving it with a side of potatoes; baked, mashed, or fried will do!

What should I put in my cast iron skillet meatloaf?

There are many different ways to make homemade meatloaf. Changing the recipe a bit to suit your tastes is quite easy. However, for the most part, the basic ingredients remain the same.

Meatloaf is always made of at least two different ground meats. If you come across a recipe that uses only ground beef as the base, run fast in the other direction. These recipes are notably tasteless and usually quite dry.

Mix ground beef and ground pork in equal parts for best results. If you prefer to use ground chicken, turkey, or veal, instead of pork, that will also work very well.

Almost all meatloaf recipes include bread crumbs, onions, eggs, milk (or some other liquid), and various seasonings.

Seasonings for meatloaf recipes vary greatly. There are even recipes that skip the step of adding individual seasonings altogether and replace them with a packet of dry onion soup mix to flavor the dish.

Still, there is nothing like an old fashioned meatloaf made completely from scratch. And that means seasoning it the way grandma used to; by hand.

If you’re going to make changes to this dish, and because it is so rich in animal fat perhaps you should, then choose organic, grass fed meat. Make all of the other ingredients organic as well. And it never hurts to replace the milk with a plant based version of this beverage. Particularly, if you make that version yourself.

Most important, simply remember that it is a dish that one occassionally indulges in, and should not be a regular part of a healthy diet.

So, skip the weekly meatloaf dinner. And serve it up just a few times a year. Enjoy it to the fullest and walk away without guilt knowing that you aren’t eating this animal fat rich meal very often.

How to make meatloaf moist

Most old fashioned country style meatloaf recipes will call for milk. This ingredient serves as one of the moistening agents for the dish. As stated above, plant milk can successfully be substituted in this dish. It will not have a negative effect on the end result.

It is also quite common to see tomato juice, tomato soup, bbq sauce, or ketchup used, at least partially, in place of the milk.

These substitutions veer quite far from the way grandma probably made this dish. It is easy enough to get away with plant milk, but other replacement liquids may not have a really desirable result.

Stick as close to the way grandma made it to be sure you stir up all those warm, cozy feelings at the dinner table that true comfort food delivers.

Laying a few slices of bacon over the top of your meatloaf as it cooks is another way to make it juicy, and there’s a good chance grandma did this too!

A think layer of ketchup under the bacon is a very nice touch. And this recipe uses it to embellish the dish, but keep in mind that if you have used high quality organic, grass fed meat products it will not be necessary to add mositure to your meatloaf.

Can leftover meatloaf be frozen?

This dish is perfect for freezing. Simply slice it into serving size pieces, wrap it in parchment paper or wax paper, then place it in a plastic baggie. Be sure to remove as much air as possible from the baggie.

And just like that, it’s ready to freeze. Put it in the freezer and dream of meatloaf leftovers until you take it out!

When you decide you want to have it for dinner, simply pull it out of the freezer 8-10 hours before you plan to eat, and allow it to thaw.

The simplest way to eat leftover meatloaf is to heat it in a cast iron skillet with a little bit of oil or butter, it can then be served just as it was the day you made it. Pair it with a side of baked potato and a vegetable, and you’ve got a great meal!

You can also heat it this way and use it to make a really tasty meatloaf sandwich. Serve it on a roll with raw onion, lettuce, and tomato, or with sauteed onions and bell peppers. Add your choice of mayonnaise, ketchup, ground mustard, or bbq sauce, and you will be delighted at how tasty it is.

What to make with leftover cast iron skillet meatloaf

There are, of course, many other ways to serve this dish’s leftovers. They are all very easy to prepare, and can be made just a day or two after you have the original meal. This way you don’t ever even have to freeze the leftovers.

Here are just a few of the ways you can serve your meatloaf leftovers …

• meatloaf and noodles
• meatloaf and rice
• shepherd’s pie made with meatloaf
• potato and meatloaf hash
• meatloaf quesadilla

Meet me down in the comments and let me know how your grandma made meatloaf, whether or not you had any leftovers after serving this meatloaf for dinner and what you did with them.

I’d love to hear all about it!

FIND MORE MAIN DISH RECIPES …

PIN THIS POST FOR LATER:

If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Thank you! Tag me on Facebook and/or Instagram @sustainableslowliving.