Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf
A beef, pork and veal loaf brushed with brown sugar and ketchup glaze and covered with overlapping strips of bacon that baste the meat and bake up crisp.
Covering a meatloaf with pork fat is old. Fannie Farmer's 1896 veal loaf is basted with salt pork fat and pricked so the meat absorbs it; Danish cooks lay smoked fatback, now bacon, over forloren hare (our Forloren Hare recipe); and Austria's faschierter Braten "im Speckmantel" is wrapped in ham or bacon (English Wikipedia:). America made it bacon, and put the ketchup glaze underneath.
America's Test Kitchen's 2007 recipe shows the American way: the classic beef, pork and veal meat loaf mix, brushed with half the glaze, then covered with thin-sliced bacon tucked under only at the tips, baked about an hour until the bacon is crisp. The rest of the glaze is simmered and served on the side.
🇺🇸 This one is American
A beef, pork and veal loaf brushed with brown sugar and ketchup glaze and covered with overlapping strips of bacon that baste the meat and bake up crisp.
🇩🇪 The original
Germany's falscher Hase was topped with bacon long before American cooks wrapped theirs, and hides whole hard-boiled eggs inside. See the Falscher Hase (German Mock Hare Meatloaf with Eggs) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Bacon as a self-basting lid
As the bacon renders, its fat runs down over the loaf, keeping the outside moist and seasoning it, while the bacon itself turns crisp.
Glaze underneath
Brushed on before the bacon, the glaze bakes into the meat instead of burning, and the reserved half gives fresh glaze at the table.
Step by step
- Step 1
Stir the glaze ingredients together in a small saucepan and set aside. Heat the oven to 350°F and line a rimmed baking pan with foil.
- Step 2
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook the onion and garlic about 5 minutes, until soft. Let cool.
- Step 3
Whisk the eggs with the thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire, hot sauce and milk. Add the beef, pork, veal, crackers, parsley and cooled onion and mix with a fork until evenly blended and no longer sticky; add a couple of tablespoons more milk if it sticks to your hands.
- Step 4
With wet hands, shape a 9-by-5-inch loaf on the pan. Brush it with half the glaze.
- Step 5
Lay the bacon crosswise over the loaf, overlapping slightly, and tuck only the tips under the sides.
- Step 6
Bake about 1 hour, until the bacon is crisp and the center reads 160°F. Let cool at least 20 minutes.
- Step 7
While the loaf rests, simmer the remaining glaze over medium heat about 3 minutes, until slightly thickened. Slice the loaf and serve with the glaze.
Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf
Serves 8 · 1 free-form loaf, 9 by 5 inches, plus extra glaze · 1 hr 45 min total
Glaze
- 1/2 cup ketchup or chili sauce
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 4 tsp cider or white vinegar
Meatloaf
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp table salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 tsp hot sauce
- 1/2 cup whole milk or plain yogurt
- 1 lb ground beef chuck
- 1/2 lb ground pork
- 1/2 lb ground veal
- 16 saltines, crushed (2/3 cup), or 2/3 cup quick oats
- 1/3 cup minced fresh parsley
Topping
- About 7 oz thin-sliced bacon (8 to 12 slices)
Method
- Stir the glaze ingredients together in a small saucepan and set aside. Heat the oven to 350°F and line a rimmed baking pan with foil.
- Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat and cook the onion and garlic about 5 minutes, until soft. Let cool.
- Whisk the eggs with the thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire, hot sauce and milk. Add the beef, pork, veal, crackers, parsley and cooled onion and mix with a fork until evenly blended and no longer sticky; add a couple of tablespoons more milk if it sticks to your hands.
- With wet hands, shape a 9-by-5-inch loaf on the pan. Brush it with half the glaze.
- Lay the bacon crosswise over the loaf, overlapping slightly, and tuck only the tips under the sides.
- Bake about 1 hour, until the bacon is crisp and the center reads 160°F. Let cool at least 20 minutes.
- While the loaf rests, simmer the remaining glaze over medium heat about 3 minutes, until slightly thickened. Slice the loaf and serve with the glaze.
Adapted from America's Test Kitchen, "Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf with Brown Sugar-Ketchup Glaze" (August 21, 2007), as written for 6 to 8. The 350°F oven, the 5-minute onion, the 1-hour bake to 160°F and the 20-minute cool are ATK's. ATK says "simmer until slightly thickened"; the 3 minutes is ours. We call it 8 servings and use 7 oz of bacon from ATK's 6 to 8 oz range. America's Test Kitchen. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (3)
Tips
- No bacon? ATK's alternative: brush half the glaze on before baking and the rest in the last 15 minutes.
- Use thin-sliced bacon; thick slices stay chewy on a loaf that only bakes an hour.
- For a woven top, lay half the slices lengthwise and weave the rest across them on a sheet of parchment, then flip the lattice onto the loaf.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Tuck the bacon all the way under. Disputed: ATK tucks in only the tips so the bacon can crisp; many home cooks wrap the loaf completely.
- Bacon makes meatloaf juicier. Folklore as a measured fact: bacon fat bastes the surface, but we found no test of the inside.
- Use meatloaf mix. Documented as an option (ATK: 2 lb meatloaf mix can replace the beef, pork and veal).
- Bacon-wrapped meatloaf is an American invention. Disputed: Austria's faschierter Braten im Speckmantel and Denmark's bacon-covered forloren hare are older traditions (Wikipedia; Danish Wikipedia).
Every other meatloaf
Falscher Hase (German Mock Hare Meatloaf with Eggs)
Germany's "mock hare": a beef and pork loaf bound with soaked rolls, wrapped around three whole hard-boiled eggs, topped with bacon and served with a sour cream pan gravy.
1887 Veal Loaf (The White House Cook Book)
One of the oldest American meat loaves in print: ground veal mixed with eggs, cream, crushed crackers, pepper and sage, shaped by hand and basted with butter as it bakes. No ketchup in sight.
Polpettone Ripieno (Italian Meatloaf with Ham and Provolone)
An Italian beef and pork loaf made with Grana Padano and no bread at all, rolled around sliced ham and provolone, wrapped in parchment and roasted on a bed of rosemary potatoes.
Forloren Hare (Danish Mock Hare)
Denmark's mock hare: a pork and veal loaf bound with oats, covered in bacon, baked in milk, and served with a creamy sauce made from that milk and a spoonful of redcurrant jelly.
Embutido (Filipino Steamed Meatloaf)
Two foil-wrapped logs of beef, pork, ham, carrots and golden raisins, each built around a row of hard-boiled eggs and pimientos, steamed instead of baked and sliced into colorful rounds.
Bobotie (South African Curried Mince with Egg Custard)
Gently curried ground beef sweetened with apricot chutney and raisins, bound with milk-soaked bread and baked under a golden egg custard with bay leaves on top.
Classic Glazed American Meatloaf
The American classic: beef and pork bound with a milk and saltine paste, browned under the broiler, then painted twice with a tangy brown sugar and ketchup glaze and baked to a glossy finish.
Oatmeal Meat Loaf (The Stretch-the-Meat Classic)
A seven-ingredient loaf that stretches a pound and a half of lean beef with rolled oats and tomato juice, pressed into a loaf pan and baked an hour: the thrifty American meatloaf at its simplest.
Turkey Meatloaf with Ketchup and Brown Sugar Glaze
A ground turkey loaf kept juicy with butter, Parmesan, quick oats and cornstarch, glazed twice and baked on a rack until it reaches 165°F.
30-Minute Mini Meat Loaves
Four small, tightly packed meat loaves seared in a skillet for a crust, spooned with brown sugar and ketchup glaze and finished in a 500°F oven in under 10 minutes.
Country-Store Meatloaf (Inspired by Cracker Barrel, Not Official)
A cheesy, tender beef meatloaf made with buttery crackers, onion, green pepper and cheddar, finished with a sweet ketchup, brown sugar and mustard glaze. Inspired by the Southern roadside chain; not its recipe.
Meatballs of the World
Italian-American Meatballs
Big, tender meatballs braised for an hour in red sauce over spaghetti. The one most Americans grew up with.
Pallottine (Abruzzo Meatballs)
Tiny meatballs, smaller than a marble, tossed right through square spaghetti alla chitarra. No bread at all.
Swedish Meatballs (Köttbullar)
Small, soft meatballs browned in butter, in a cream sauce made from the same pan, with lingonberry jam on the plate.
Danish Frikadeller
Pork meatballs shaped with a spoon and fried slowly in butter, crusty outside and soft in the middle.
Königsberger Klopse
German meatballs that are never fried: poached, then served in a creamy white sauce with capers.
Spanish Albóndigas in Almond Saffron Sauce
The tapas bar classic: small meatballs in a golden sauce thickened with fried almonds and bread.
Mexican Albóndigas with Chipotle and Mint
Soft meatballs with rice and fresh mint inside, simmered in a smoky tomato and chipotle broth.
Izgara Köfte (Turkish Grilled Meatballs)
Small, flat meatballs kneaded hard, rested cold, and charred on a hot grill pan.
Lion's Head Meatballs
Big, soft pork meatballs, stirred into a sticky paste, fried to set, then braised in a savory sauce.
Chicken Tsukune
Japan's chicken meatball: kneaded sticky, grilled on skewers, glazed with sweet soy tare, dipped in egg yolk.