Worried Your Meatloaf Will Come Out Dry? Add This Ingredient As It Cooks

There's nothing worse than a dry meatloaf. What could be less appetizing than flavorless, rubbery mystery meat crumbling all over your dinner plate? Fortunately, dry meatloaf isn't inevitable — there's a very simple hack that helps it retain moisture, improves its texture, and brings that delicious umami to the forefront.

In the last 15 minutes of baking, carefully remove your meatloaf from the oven and rub the top with 1 tablespoon of butter. The loaf will be so hot that it will cause the butter to melt and sizzle in short order, so be sure to move quickly, aiming for an even coating. From there, you can either finish cooking as-is or slather any number of meatloaf glazes and sauces right atop the freshly buttered surface.

Butter is typically at least 80% fat, and this fat permeates the meat as it melts. The butter augments what the intramuscular fat contained in the ground beef is already doing during the cooking process: coating the meat's proteins in a water-resistant barrier that slows down evaporation to help retain moisture and aid in binding the meatloaf together. Moreover, butter contains milk solids rich in the sugars and amino acids that contribute to the Maillard reaction. If you're unfamiliar, that's the chemical reaction responsible for that delicious golden-brown outer layer of a well-cooked meatloaf. Finally, the added fat helps convey the flavors within the dish — an especially important point to consider with leaner versions like venison meatloaf.

While the "add butter" method will make a good meatloaf great, it won't compensate for a dish that wasn't cooked right in the first place. To truly maximize the moisture in your meatloaf, make sure you've got the fundamentals in check. First, make sure you're not overcooking the meatloaf. It's easy to skip the meat thermometer and make assumptions about doneness, but don't. You want an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit for meatloaf — any less is unsafe, and any more is just drying it out. Moreover, a lower, slower heat is better for moisture retention than a high, short heat.

Second, stick to fattier types of meat like 80/20 ground beef, and be aware of the moisture content in your non-meat ingredients. Not all meatloaf fillers are created equal — soaked bread crumbs and oatmeal, for example, retain water more effectively than rice or stale bread crumbs. Go easy on the dry spices in general, and don't forget that moisture-rich mirepoix ingredients can compensate for leaner meat while adding a huge kick of flavor.

Finally, make sure you're letting the meatloaf rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing. The reason resting meat is so important is that heat makes the meat proteins contract and expel moisture, but resting relaxes them and reverses this process. If you slice immediately out of the oven, that internal moisture evaporates before it has a chance to be reabsorbed.