Italian Meatloaf Parmesan

I don’t like dry Italian meatloaf, no one does.

I make my Italian Meatloaf Parmesan similar in style to a Chicken Parmigiana or a dish called Carne Pizzaiola. Using one of my meatball recipes, I bake the meatloaf parmigiana smothered in a tangy marinara sauce, topping it off with shredded Fontina cheese. Simmering the meatloaf in the sauce helps produce one of the most tender, moist, and flavorful meatloaves you’ve ever tasted. As far as leftovers go, this makes the most incredible meatloaf sandwiches!

I love this easy Italian meatloaf recipe. I’ve made it with beef, turkey, bison, pork, and chicken, and every one of them was a huge success with my family. Big on flavor and never bland or boring, it’s an easy meatloaf recipe that’s fun to make. The hardest part about making it is sautéing the onions and garlic.

This meatloaf recipe can easily be made into meatballs if you prefer. I like to stuff a small cube of fontina or mozzarella cheese into the center of each meatball so that they all have a gooey, melted cheese center.

Why is Meatloaf Dry?

1. The main reason most meatloaf recipes turn out dry is due to overcooking. One of the secrets to a great meatloaf recipe is the instant-read thermometer. Just like grilling a hamburger, once you overcook the meat it will dry out. Know the cooking temperatures for whatever meat you’re using, and don’t go beyond that temperature.

• • Ground beef, pork, and bison: you need to cook it to 160°F
  • Ground Poultry: 165°F

2. The second thing to prevent a dry Italian meatloaf is to add milk, yogurt, stock, or half & half to your bread crumbs. This technique called a ‘Panade’ and is a combination of starch and liquid that is mixed into ground meats in order to bind them. By adding liquid to the binder, you keep the cooked protein tender and juicy.

3. The third thing needed to conquer dry meatloaf is to sauté the onions and garlic prior to mixing them into the ground meat. The added fat from the olive oil is especially important in lean cuts of meat such as bison, and turkey. Even with beef, I like to get the leaner ground beef and add my own fat to the mixture, I like to know the fat is actually a good source from olive oil, eggs, and cheese rather than the weird bits of animal fats that go into some ground meat.

A few simple ingredients are all it takes for an amazing Italian Meatloaf

Ingredients in Italian Meatloaf Parmesan

A good quality meatloaf recipe needs good quality ingredients, these are the ingredients in my Italian meatloaf parmesan recipe:

• Ground Meat: Always use leaner cuts of beef like 90:10 for my meatloaf recipe. That way the olive oil, eggs, cheese, and half & half don’t make the recipe too unhealthy. This Italian Meatloaf recipe works with pork, beef, bison, turkey, and ground chicken. Personally, I like Italian meatloaf made with turkey.
• Onions and garlic: I sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil then let them cool prior to mixing all the ingredients together. Meatloaf is only cooked to a low temperature, raw onions and garlic will never cook properly if not sauteed prior to adding the other meatloaf ingredients.
• Eggs: The eggs are what help bind the meatloaf ingredients together.
• Breadcrumbs and dairy: I like half & half, I always have it on hand for my coffee, so it’s a staple in my household. I loved it after the first time I tried it and never went back. Traditionally I believe milk and breadcrumbs are what make up a ‘panade’, but if you’re using a lean cut of meat for your Italian meatloaf, you need a little extra fat in it to keep it from being dry. Regular plain breadcrumbs or Panko bread crumbs both work fine, but I wouldn’t use a preseasoned breadcrumb. For a Gluten-free option, you can use gluten-free Panko breadcrumbs.
• Cheeses: I mix a good quality Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated into the meatloaf mixture. The taste difference between real parmesan cheese and the fake stuff in a can is like night and day. On top, I use either grated low-moisture mozzarella or freshly grated fontina cheese. My personal preference is freshly grated fontina, but either will work.

Marinara Sauce

• Fresh herbs: Fresh rosemary and fresh parsley wake this recipe up; fresh basil is a good substitute for rosemary. I use dried oregano in the sauce, fresh oregano can be a little too intense.
• Canned tomatoes: I use San Marzano crushed tomatoes for the sauce. For Italian sauce recipes, I always prefer to use San Marzano tomatoes. They were originally grown in a small town named San Marzano outside of Naples, Italy. These tomatoes have exactly the taste you want in a tomato sauce that no other tomato seems to match.
• Marinara sauce: This sauce recipe has only 5-ingredients and takes about 3-minutes to prepare. It serves 2-functions here, first, the Marinara sauce tastes amazing with this meatloaf recipe. The second is that after the Italian meatloaf is browned, the sauce is poured over the top. It covers the meatloaf for the second half of the cooking, locking in moisture and letting it gently simmer until it reaches temperature.

Here is my recipe for Italian Meatloaf Parmesan

Print Recipe

4.72 from 7 votes

Italian Meatloaf Parmesan

Using one of my meatballs recipes, I form the meatloaf, bake it halfway through then smother it in a tangy marinara sauce, topping it off with shredded Fontina cheese. Simmering the meatloaf helps produce one of the most tender and flavorful meatloaves you’ve ever tasted.

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: italian Meatloaf, meatloaf, Meatloaf Parmesan

Servings: 8

Calories: 495kcal

Ingredients

• 2 Pounds Ground Beef Lean, 90/10
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Cup Onions Diced
• 1 Teaspoon Garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 2 Teaspoons Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 Cup Breadcrumbs Plain or Panko
• 1/2 Cup Half & Half Or milk
• 1/2 Cup Parmigiano-Reggiano Grated
• 1/2 Cup Flat-Leaf Parsley Chopped
• 2 Tablespoons Rosemary Finely chopped

Marinara Sauce

• 1 28-Ounce can Crushed Tomatoes San Marzano
• 2 Teaspoons Salt
• 2 Teaspoons Dried Oregano
• 1/2 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
• 2 Teaspoons Olive Oil

Topping

• 4 Ounces Fontina Cheese Or low-moisture mozzarella, shredded

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Place a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat, add the onions and olive oil and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic for 30 seconds, remove from the heat and add the onions to the mixing bowl to cool.
• Add the breadcrumbs and half & half to the mixing bowl, stir to combine. Then add all remaining meatloaf ingredients to the bowl.
• Wash hands thoroughly after handling eggs, then using clean hands, mix all the ingredients together until combined. Form the mixture into a loaf and place it in the ovenproof skillet. Place the skillet in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
  
• Combine all of the Marinara sauce ingredients in a mixing bowl. and shred the Fontina cheese.
  
• After 30 minutes, remove the meatloaf from the oven and pour the Marinara sauce over the top. Sprinkle the top of the meatloaf with Fontina cheese, and drizzle some of the sauce over the cheese
  
• Return skillet to the oven and set timer for the remaining 30 minutes. Then test using an instant-read thermometer. 160°F for beef and pork, 165°F for turkey or chicken
  

Nutrition Facts

Italian Meatloaf Parmesan

Amount Per Serving

Calories 495 Calories from Fat 315

% Daily Value*

Fat 35g54%

Saturated Fat 14g88%

Cholesterol 148mg49%

Sodium 1579mg69%

Potassium 443mg13%

Carbohydrates 14g5%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 2g2%

Protein 29g58%

Vitamin A 668IU13%

Vitamin C 7mg8%

Calcium 243mg24%

Iron 4mg22%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Moist, juicy, and cheesy Italian meatloaf, it doesn’t get much better!

Thank you for visiting my Food Blog. I hope you enjoy my recipe for an Italian Meatloaf Parmesan. Please come back again soon! Bon appetit, Steven