Ok you guys, this recipe is amazing. Meatloaf has always been one of my favorite comfort foods and now that I have this beauty of a dish- I may cook it more often for my fam. Because it’s meatloaf, who would I be if I didn’t insert a funny pic of the artist Meatloaf:
Now that that’s over- I have a funny story about meatloaf, the food.
My mom is Mexican. Meatloaf is certainly not a Mexican dish (however you could spice it up a bit and… no). When she was dating my dad (he’s actually my step-dad- more in another post I’m sure) she wanted to impress him by making an “American dish”.
Now, you have to understand, my mama is an amazing cook. She is really close to surpassing my grandmother. You’re close mom! She makes the most amazing molé, pozolé, tamales and other Mexican dishes. I will also say that she makes the BEST club sandwich and BLT. She owned a deli when I was growing up- and those were my FAVORITE.
Any-who back to the story- so, the dish that she chose was meatloaf. My uncle, a year younger than my mom, was the first to marry. He married a lovely American woman. So, he asked her for a recipe and some tips. She obliged and he passed it on to my mom. Well, my mom and my tiny-self set to work, but something didn’t seem right. As we were mixing all the ingredients into the raw meat, she thought “Meatloaf couldn’t be this mushy”- the times that she had had it it was firm and stuck together. So her solution was to just add bread instead of breadcrumbs. Which is totally fine- but not like almost a whole loaf of bread y’all. “Yaaassss,” she decried “now I’ve got it!” as we continued to stir and basically get the wooden spoon to stand on its own… in the “meatloaf”.
So- she forms her meatloaf/dough ball into the pan and drizzles TOMATO sauce on top. You have to understand- there was a bit of a language barrier here. Salsa de tomate can be ketchup or tomato sauce. Naturally, my mother wouldn’t dream of putting ketchup on a fancy American dish like this. No, ma’am. She slathers on some tomato sauce and pops her creation into the oven and it cooks.
My mom’s boyfriend (now my dad) arrives and he’s so excited to eat. He was a football player at JMU and had quite an appetite.
She presents her dish and he can’t wait to dig in. When she goes to cut it, it was tough. When she puts it on his plate and drizzled more tomato sauce on top. Totally not meaning to be mean- as he really thought it was a dish from our people- he smiles and says “Awww you made me a cool new kind of pizza- what do you guys call this?”
Needless to say- my mother has NEVER made meatloaf again. I wonder if she’d try this recipe?
Enough jibber jabber! On to the recipe!
When I wrote the title of this post- I was serious y’all. This is the best meatloaf I’ve ever had. It’s tender, juicy and the flavor just makes you want to shovel it into your gullet. Oh my, did I really write that!? How unladylike! But seriously- we keep it real around here.
To add to the amazingness- let’s talk about these little potatoes. I took a bite and felt pure joy. They were soft- but the skin was still tight and held all the deliciousness together. If only I could say that about my body. Lol! Just keeping it real.
Honestly- this is probably my favorite so far. The fact that I could cook the main dish AND the side at the same time. Hot damn! I’m in! Sign me up!
The BEST Meatloaf & Potatoes (All in one Pot)
Here’s what you’ll need:
Potatoes:
a bag of yellow potatoes from Little Potato Company
1 1/2 cup of chicken stock
2 tsp. minced garlic
sprinkle of parsley flakes
sprinkle of salt
2 tbsp. of butter (slices/pads)
1/2 cup of shredded parmesan
Meatloaf:
2lbs of 93% lean ground beef
1 chopped onion
¾ cup of milk
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
3 to 4 slices of white bread
2 eggs
1 tsp. of garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. of onion salt
1 tsp. of ground mustard
1 tsp. of ground black pepper
1 tsp. of parsley flakes
Topping Sauce:
3/4 cup of ketchup
1 tbsp. of balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. of brown sugar
Kitchen stuff:
Instant Pot (or pressure cooker)
trivet
measuring cup
measuring spoons
aluminum foil
cutting board
knife
large mixing bowl
mixing spatula
baking dish
cookie sheet
You ready!? You’ll get a little messy- so have some napkins or a dish towel that you will wash right away on hand!
The team. What? Why is there Reese’s in there? Oh my! hehe.The special sauce!Melt some butter in your instant pot. Or you can spray some nonstick spray. Alternatively you can just swipe the butter around.Toss in them taters!Pour in your chicken stock.Mix in your minced garlic.Sprinkle some parsley flakes in. (You’ll put more on when you plate them)Add some salt… just a sprinkle. That’s my salt shaker- isn’t he adorbs.Ok- so before you put in your trivet- place some butter slices on top of your potatoes. Some recipes say to sprinkle parmesan. I did that and my Instant Pot kept giving me a burn message because the cheese melted and burned on the bottom. So! I would save the cheese for last.Now we move on to making the meatloaf! Slice up your bread into cubes.I totally cheated and bought a pre-chopped onion. But here’s where you chop your onion if you didn’t cheat too.Put the bread and onion in a large mixing bowl. Add your meat and two eggs.Add 1 tsp. of garlic powder.Add 1 1/2 tsp. of onion salt.Add in 1 tsp. of ground mustard. I know, I thought this was strange too- but just go with it.Toss in 1 tsp. of ground black pepper.Now for 1 tsp. of parsley flakes.I love this stuff. 1 tbsp. of Worcestershire sauce.Pour in 3/4 cup of milk.Ok. Now it’s time to get out some stress. Or feel gross, I’ll let you decide. Before you dig in- lay down two strips of aluminum foil in a cross shape. I didn’t do this and did a lot of hand washing in between.Squish and squash until it’s all mixed.Now you’re all “mama meat hands” or “manly meat hands”.It will look like Halloween came to visit- and it will be mushy- that’s ok- because Halloween is my favorite!Ok- here is why having that aluminum foil done already is awesome! Now plop down your meatloaf! Wash your hands!Ok- get your ketchup in your measuring cup. Use 3/4 cup (not shown above- I was a little photo happy).Add in 1 tbsp. of balsamic vinegar.Yum. Add in 2 tbsp. of brown sugar.Spread some of that sauce on your meatloaf. It looks so gruesome. Form the aluminum foil in a bowl shape around your meat. I did it like a square shape.I tried to make it a little less gruesome for those of you that don’t like the scary stuff. Put it in your Instant Pot on top of the trivet. Make sure there is space on the sides so the steam can rise properly.Put on the lid and set to seal.Ok- so I set mine to 23 minutes. The few recipes I read say between 20 and 25 minutes. I have an 8qt pot- so this was actually a great time for me. The meat was just a tinge of pink- which I like. So, if you want no pink- start with 25 minutes. Remember- we are going to broil this for a bit too.While your meatloaf and potatoes are cooking… you can have a snack. But you guys know what I like to do! Clean up! I also put my daughter to bed and cleaned up her toys- AS WELL as watched a little bit of TV with my Bubbins.Ok- so the timer has gone off- you want to do a quick pressure release. If you do a natural release (where you don’t move the nozzle) your meat will overcook. No, ma’am.Go ahead and set your oven to broil. I did 400 so I could watch it and not burn the sauce. When you’re taking out the meat be careful as there will be lots of juice! I just tilted it so it fell in with the potatoes. Take the meat off the trivet and put it on the sheet- still in the foil.Spread more of that yummy sauce on top.Put your meat in your oven. I let it sizzle a bit.Then I blasted it. Things escalated quickly so you want to def keep your eye on it. I would say broil time total was about 2 minutes.Come here you big hunk of meat. Now I transferred the meat to my cute little baking dish.After the meat was in- I put in the potatoes. I layered cheese in as I put them in. If you aren’t having photoshoots with your food. I would drain the Instant Pot- THEN toss in your cheese in there. Save some to sprinkle on when plated.This was it’s Blue Steel look. (Zoolander reference just in case you were under a rock) Please note- I sprinkled in some more parsley flakes on the potatoes and a dash of salt.That’s it! This was so wonderfully delicious. It’s even better the next day. I paired this with a nice spring mix salad and a walnut raspberry vinaigrette- and of course the potatoes.
And now for the outtakes:
Remember how I said not to put in the cheese with the potatoes…
Well this is what happens.Well- good thing I had an EXTRA Instant Pot insert. I have a nonstick and two regular inserts. This comes in handy when I’m making multiple things. This time it came in handy b/c I just took out the meat, dumped the potatoes and juice into another and popped it back in.I don’t recommend adding cheese before pressure cooking.
If you make this recipe, be sure to take a photo and hashtag it #MADMADAMMOM
Looks delicious