Rachael Ray's Meatloaf Recipe

Meatloaf is no less than an American classic. It's probably pretty safe to say that most kids grew up eating their mom's or grandma's meatloaf, either on weeknights or special occasions. And what's not to love about this meal? It's a quick and easy dish to whip up on a weeknight. It pairs well with practically every side dish you can imagine, from mashed potatoes to steamed veggies to a fresh, homemade salad and just about everything in between. 

Plus, it's a crowd pleaser that brings real taste and texture to the dinner table. Meatloaf is salty yet comes with a sweet glaze. When made rights, it's also moist, it's filling, and is comfort food at its finest. Though the thought of baking a hunk of ground meat into a loaf isn't admittedly the most appetizing prospect at first, the end result is a dish that the whole family will love.

In this recipe, chef Tara Rylie of RylieCakes, takes chef and television personality Rachael Ray's classic meatloaf recipe and adds a twist that brings some new flavor and texture to this American dinner table standard. We promise it's just as easy and delicious as the original recipe! By replacing the bread crumbs with potato chips and adding curry to the ketchup glaze, this meatloaf recipe is taken up a notch in just a few quick steps. Keep reading to see how Rylie turns this meatloaf into a weeknight masterpiece.

No matter how simple or complicated your recipe is, you should always start by gathering your ingredients. This helps ensure you have all the necessary components in the house and if not, it gives you time to brainstorm for substitute ingredients or even make another recipe if you're missing too many things. Plus, setting up a good mise en place before you start cooking is a habit that both professional and home cooks want to cultivate in a well-ordered kitchen.

So for this recipe, you will need ground beef, ground pork, a small onion, fresh garlic, an egg, salt and pepper, potato chips, ketchup, curry powder, and brown sugar. The great thing about this recipe is that most of these items are kitchen staples, meaning that many of these ingredients are likely already waiting in your pantry and refrigerators. That is, aside from the meat products, which should be bought fresh. Alternately, if you like to plan ahead and happen to have a stash of frozen meat, go ahead and use that. Just remember to defrost the frozen ground beef properly ahead of time.

Most meatloaf recipes call for some sort of breadcrumbs to act as a binder and filler to bulk up the end result. Rachel Ray's version of meatloaf likewise calls for breadcrumbs soaked in milk, a step that can help to add moisture to the finished product. 

But since this meatloaf was already pretty moist as is, we decided to substitute the milk-soaked breadcrumbs for potato chips instead. Potato chips add a nice crunch and a salty bite to this meatloaf, ultimately lending a pleasing taste and texture. 

Plus, potato chips are super easy to prepare in this recipe. Just place your 2 cups of potato chips into a bowl and then use your hands to mash them into crumbs. Remember that there's no need for perfection here when it comes to producing potato chip fragments. If you have a few smaller pieces and a few larger ones too, that's perfectly okay.

To begin making this meatloaf, first position your oven rack in the upper third portion of the oven and preheat it to 400°F. Line a half sheet pan with foil and coat it with cooking spray. Set your pan aside until you're ready to form your meatloaf.

Then, in a medium bowl, combine your ground beef, ground pork, grated onion, grated garlic, egg, salt, pepper, and potato chip crumbs. Fold it all together with a spatula — or gently mash together with your clean hands — until the mixture is well combined.

Next, simply form the meatloaf mixture into a 5 by 8-inch rectangle on your prepared pan. Again, we're not going for perfection here so don't get too crazy about forming the perfect rectangle. To be honest, really any shape will do! Rectangles are just the classic meatloaf shape, but the down-home nature of meatloaf (plus the fact that everyone's going to be digging into the finished loaf at mealtime) means you don't have to get out a protractor for a precise shape.

Chef Tara Rylie's second twist on this recipe lies in the glaze. The original recipe for this meatloaf calls for a simple ketchup and brown sugar glaze, which is perfectly fine. But why not add a twist here, too? Rylie adds curry powder to this mixture to give it an extra depth of flavor. Curry powder of the sort you can easily find on a grocery store shelf typically has a deep, earthy taste that is often described as both sweet and savory. Spices like cumin in curry lend to its savory side, while ingredients like cinnamon give it a unique sweetness. The addition of curry powder to this glaze adds a whole other level of depth to this recipe with hardly any effort at all.

To make the glaze, combine the ketchup, curry powder, and brown sugar in a small bowl and stir to combine. Then spoon approximately half of the curry ketchup glaze over the top of your meatloaf and spread it out evenly to cover. Save the second half of the glaze for later.

Once it's formed and glazed, bake your meatloaf for 40 minutes in your preheated oven. Halfway through baking, remove the meatloaf from the oven and spoon the remaining curry-ketchup glaze over the meatloaf and spread it out evenly. Then finish baking until the meatloaf registers at an internal temperature of 160°F. 

If you don't have a kitchen thermometer, don't fret, as meatloaf isn't too finicky to bake. If its edges are turning brown and there are juices on the bottom of the pan, you can be pretty certain it's done baking after the full 40 minutes. Still, this may be a good opportunity to get a meat thermometer if you don't already have one, as it's a very handy tool for ensuring you're hitting the right temperature in a wide array of dishes. 

Once it's out of the oven, let your meatloaf rest for ten minutes before slicing and serving. Store any meatloaf leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days. The best way to reheat meatloaf is simply by using the microwave.