Crowd Pleasing Turkey Meatloaf Recipe! (2024)

Did I ever tell you about the time I made a FIVE pound meatloaf?

When I first met Mr. V. I didn't really know how to cook. Growing up, I was active in after school sports and didn't really help my mom with dinner. But, when Mr. V. and I first started dating I obviously wanted to show him what good wife material I was so I searched for recipes that I thought I could pull off. This recipe for turkey meatloaf from the Barefoot Contessa looked easy enough and I actually knew what all of the ingredients were so that was a plus.Being that this was my first time making this recipe, I wanted to follow the directions exactly. I didn't really pay attention to where it said "yields 8-10 servings... in reality it actually made more like 15+ servings. Needless to say, we ate meatloaf for the next 5 nights.Over the years I've tweaked this recipe and changed a few things to make it easier and tastier. So, here is my take on turkey meatloaf - scaled way down to yield about 4+ servings.

The players

Ingredients:
1 pack (or 1.25 pounds) or ground turkey
1 medium to large sweet onion
1 egg
½ - 1 cup of plain breadcrumbs (may need a little more or less)
1 cup of chicken broth/stock
2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup ketchup + additional for topping the meatloaf.
1 teaspoon dried thyme (I actually add more like 2-3 but I'm a huge thyme lover)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp Olive Oil (may need a little more depending on the size of your onion)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Start by finely chopping your onion.

In a frying pan on medium-low heat, add the olive oil, onion, thyme, salt, and pepper to taste.

Cook this for about 10 minutes or so, stirring frequently, just until the onions are translucent.

Once onions are translucent, add in your chicken stock, worcestershire sauce, and ketchup.

Bring this mixture to a simmer and let cook for about 10 minutes or so, stirring frequently.

You want it to reduce down to a nice, thick consistency like the picture below.

If you have time, allow this to cool until room temperature -

I never seem to have time for that so see the step below.

In a large bowl, add your ground turkey and one egg.

If you've allowed your onion mixture to cool down then great - add it right in to the turkey and egg.

If you are crunched for time, add in a little bit of the hot onion mixture at a time - you don't want the egg to cook, so just add it in slowly and keep stirring. The turkey is probably cold so it should all work out okay.

Now that your turkey, egg, and onion mixture is all blended together it's time to add your breadcrumbs.

Start with ½ cup and add more little by little if needed. There is a fine line between a "too wet" or "too dry" meatloaf so just add the breadcrumbs slowly. Once it's firm but still a bit moist you're ready to form your meatloaf.

Go ahead and spray your cookie sheet with non-stick spray and then lay our your meatloaf. I like to make mine shorter and wider. This allows it to cook more evenly. Although, recently I've been splitting this into two smaller loaves to cut the cooking time. Plus, my hubby likes the really firm end pieces so this gives him more of those. Also, this meatloaf freezes really well, so that's another great reason to split it into two loaves.

Slather the top of your meatloaf with ketchup. Sometimes I like to add a little Worcestershireand brown sugar to the ketchup before spreading it.

Place your meatloaf in the oven with a small dish of water underneath.

This will help prevent the meatloaf from cracking.

Cook on 350 degrees for about 50 minutes to 1 hour.

When the internal temperature hits 165-170 degrees it's ready!

Serve and enjoy!

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