Chicken Meatloaf Recipe - Easy Chicken Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What ingredient keeps meatloaf from falling apart? ›

In meatloaf, this is most commonly the eggs and breadcrumbs. Your binding ingredient is only second to the meat itself in your recipe and the reason why meatloaf crumbles. When this happens, it's because you didn't use enough. Next time, try adding in an extra egg and/or some more breadcrumbs.

Milk and other dairy products, like heavy cream and buttermilk, contain both water and fat, adding two types of moisture to our meatloaf. There's a long-held theory that milk can tenderize ground meat, and this is the reason often cited for cooking ground meat in milk to make a Bolognese-style ragù.

Milk adds richness and moisture, while the bread helps keep the meatloaf texture softer. So, omitting milk would omit some creaminess and moisture. Those can be easily subbed out by many other ingredients like chicken stock, cream, butter, etc.

The Basic Meatloaf Formula

All recipes for meatloaf start with the same basic formula: 2 pounds of ground meat and a “panade” made of bread or crackers soaked in milk. Along with a few eggs, this panade helps to hold the ground meat together and adds some essential moisture to the mix.

Seriously, boil beef stock cubes with BBQ spice in water, place breasts in a sieve that just touches the broth, cover with the pot's lid and steam until just cooked, rotating the pieces every so often. Then blanch them a couple of times.

Bread Crumb Substitutes

¼ cup panko. ¼ cup cracker or pretzel crumbs. ¼ cup crushed cornflakes or other unsweetened cereals. ⅔ cup regular rolled oats (Use this only as a substitute for bread crumbs in meat loaf and other meat mixtures, such as burgers.

Fewer eggs will create a denser and firmer meatloaf that will be more compact and easier to slice, but more eggs can create a more tender and light texture that allows the meatloaf to melt in your mouth.

Yes, ground beef can sometimes dry out and get tough. However, baking soda mixed with water (slurry) and added to the ground beef will ensure tender meat. It will also speed up the browning process. I use 90% ground beef, but it is very tender by adding the baking soda.

Should I cook my meatloaf covered or uncovered? The meatloaf can be cooked uncovered. However, if you are concerned about it burning, you can cover the meatloaf with foil for the first 45 minutes and uncover it for the final 15 minutes to allow the meatloaf to brown on top.

When the meatloaf is done, remove the loaf pan from the oven and let the meatloaf rest for 10-15 minutes. Drain the extra fat and liquid off of the meatloaf and discard. Slice the meatloaf and serve.

What is the best binder for meatloaf? ›

The most traditional meatloaf binder is probably torn up bread soaked in milk, but you can also use bread crumbs, Panko, dehydrated potato (instant mashed potatoes), or just about any other grain.

The most common recipe nowadays consists of ground beef, carrots, sausages, boiled eggs and breadcrumbs, cooked in the oven and normally served with a side-dish of mashed potatoes or rice.

No bells and whistles - just a few ingredients including beef, egg, bread crumbs and a simple tomato-based topping. Use a gentle touch with ground beef. Over-mixing will result in burgers, meatballs or meatloaves with a firm texture.

Chicken (66%), Water, Maize Starch, Soy Protein, Salt, Seasoning, Mineral Salt (451), Preservative (223), Sulphites.

Ground chicken is made with special equipment called the meat grinder (electrical or hand). You place the chunks of chicken into the grinder and it pushes it through the spiral blades that are rather dull (I even double checked by looking at mine), grinding meat into paste-like consistency mass.