I really wasn’t a fan of meat loaf until I tried this Glazed Bacon-Wrapped Meat Loaf! This recipe takes a classic comfort food and makes it even better with a smoky bacon wrap and a sweet, tangy glaze. The flavor is bold, the texture is tender, and every bite has that perfect balance of savory and sweet. It’s simple enough for a weeknight dinner, but special enough to serve guests. Pair it with your favorite sides, and you’ve got a hearty meal everyone will love.
Ingredients Needed
- Glaze
- chili sauce – you could also substitute ketchup, but I liked chili sauce
- brown sugar
- cider vinegar – you could also use white vinegar in a pinch
- Meat Loaf
- vegetable oil
- onion
- garlic
- eggs
- dried thyme
- salt
- black pepper
- Dijon mustard
- Worcestershire sauce
- hot sauce
- plain yogurt – you could also use whole milk. This is an important ingredient, as it adds a ton of moisture.
- ground beef chuck
- ground pork
- ground veal – the original recipe called for veal, but I opted to use more pork instead
- Saltine crackers, or quick oatmeal, or fresh bread crumbs. I used saltines and it works great!
- fresh parsley
- bacon – thin sliced
- You’ll also want a large baking sheet, not a loaf pan!
How to Make Glazed Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf
This is a simple overview of the recipe, you’ll find a full printable recipe below!
- Glaze: simmer glaze ingredients in a saucepan until slightly thickened; set aside.
- Prep meat mixture: sauté onion and garlic until softened, then mix with ground meat, eggs, seasonings, crackers, and parsley until combined.
- Shape loaf: form into a loaf on a foil-lined sheet pan, brush with glaze, and cover with overlapping strips of bacon. Note: Do not use a loaf pan! In other words, ignore my photos haha. I was trying to use a pretty pan for photos and then I realized I needed to actually switch it before baking. Do as I say, not as I do.
- Bake: cook until bacon is crisp and meat reaches 160°F, about 1 hour.
- Finish and serve: let rest briefly, reheat remaining glaze, brush over loaf if desired, and slice to serve with extra sauce.
Storage & Other Tips
- I always recommend reheating meatloaf in the oven if you can. Cover meatloaf with foil, then warm in a 325°F oven for 20 – 30 minutes. You can also reheat an individual piece in a skillet on the stovetop. I try to avoid the microwave, as it tends to dry it out. If you do choose a microwave, do it at a reduced power in short intervals.
- This is a great make-ahead meal. You can mix it, shape it, wrap it with bacon, and refrigerate overnight. When ready, just bake according to the recipe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I freeze it, and how?
Yes! It freezes beautifully, either wrapped in tin foil, or even unbaked.
How do I prevent the loaf from drying out or cracking?
The bacon really helps with this! You can also avoid over-mixing the meat.
Can I bake this in a regular loaf pan?
Short answer, no. Just don’t. Three reasons off the top of my head: first, the bacon won’t crisp properly. Second, baking it on a baking sheet rather than a loaf pan allows the juices to run off the meatloaf, so you avoid that unappetizing fat-layer floating on top. Third, baking it in a loaf pan tends to boil it rather than bake it, so the texture and flavor are nowhere near as good. I hope that’s enough evidence for you…just don’t do it!
Any tips for moisture? I hated dry meatloaf as a kid.
Didn’t we all. The main problems that cause this are over-mixing and over-baking, so as long as you don’t do either of those things, you’ll be all good.
Glazed Bacon-Wrapped Meat Loaf
A juicy meat loaf gets wrapped in smoky bacon and brushed with a tangy-sweet glaze. This is a melt-in-your-mouth dinner that's both comforting and impressive. Inspiration from America's Test Kitchen.
Servings servings
Equipment
Ingredients
Glaze (If you'd like extra sauce for serving, double this!)
- ½ cup chili sauce or substitute ketchup, but I liked chili sauce
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 4 teaspoons cider vinegar or white vinegar in a pinch
Meat Loaf
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 onion, medium chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 eggs, large
- ½ teaspoon thyme, dried
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon hot sauce
- ½ cup plain yogurt or whole milk
- 1 pound beef chuck, ground
- ½ pound pork, ground
- ½ pound veal, ground I used more pork instead of veal
- ⅔ cup Saltine crackers crushed (about 18), or quick oatmeal, or 1 1/3 cups fresh bread crumbs
- ⅓ cup parsley, fresh minced
- 6 – 8 ounces bacon thin sliced (8 to 12 slices, depending on loaf shape)
Instructions
Glaze
- Mix all ingredients in small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 2-3 minutes or until slightly thickened and set aside. Note: I like to double the sauce so I have extra for serving over the finished meatloaf, but that's optional. If you choose to double the sauce, remove half of it after simmering and place in a separate container to save for serving.
Meat Loaf
- Heat oven to 350℉. Line a sheet pan with foil or parchment for easy clean-up Heat oil in medium skillet. Add onion and garlic; sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool while preparing remaining ingredients.
- Mix eggs with thyme, salt, pepper, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, pepper sauce, and milk or yogurt. Add egg mixture to meat in large bowl along with crackers, parsley, and cooked onion and garlic; mix with fork until evenly blended and meat mixture does not stick to bowl. (If mixture sticks, add additional milk or yogurt, a couple tablespoons at a time until mix no longer sticks.)
- Turn meat mixture onto work surface. With wet hands, pat mixture into approximately 9-by-5-inch loaf shape. Place on your prepared baking pan. Brush with half the glaze in your sauce pan, then arrange bacon slices, crosswise, over loaf, overlapping slightly and tucking only bacon tip ends under loaf.
- Bake loaf until bacon is crisp and loaf registers 160 degrees, about 1 hour. When meatloaf comes out of the oven, brush with remaining glaze. Cool 10-15 minutes. Slice meat loaf and serve with extra glaze (if you doubled it).
Nutrition
Calories: 208kcal, Carbohydrates: 17g, Protein: 10g, Fat: 11g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 64mg, Sodium: 995mg, Potassium: 280mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 412IU, Vitamin C: 8mg, Calcium: 48mg, Iron: 1mg
Calories: 208kcal
Cost: $10
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Questions & Reviews
I didn’t a bacon wrapped meat loaf recently too. Sooooo good!
Ok…ground pork…same as pork sausage, or no?
Nope- just regular, unflavored ground pork. Sausage is full of seasonings and other stuff. If you can’t find regular ground pork, just ask the person at the meat counter.
Me again! I have a question… the recipe says to “mix all the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan”. Do you heat it up? Boil? Help! Thanks!
That’s exactly how they wrote the recipe- you’ll see at the end it says to simmer it before serving so it thickens a little bit. I simmered mine at the very beginning and just reheated it at the end, but it doesn’t matter, either way 🙂 Actually, I’ll re-word the instructions to make that more clear.
Mmmm…looks fantastic!!! I think this meatloaf has a place in my future!!!
Okay funny story. Just a couple of days ago I made meatloaf for dinner. I went straight to your cookbook then blog in search of a recipe. But alas, nada. So I modified the Pioneer Woman’s recipe with whatever we had in the house. We live with my aunt and uncle, who dont live super close to a grocery store and I had already been out of the house that day haha. So I made the meatloaf and it was good. When we ate dinner the first thing my uncle asked was if I got the recipe from your cookbook. Lol. This one sounds even better than the one I made – why didn’t I think to use worcestershire sauce?? So I’ll be trying this soon. 🙂
Now when you say chili sauce do you mean the Asian chili sauce?
Adrienne- no, NOT Asian chili sauce. Chili sauce is similar to ketchup, but with a little more flavor. You find it in smaller bottles, right near the ketchup in the grocery store.
This sounds fabulous! I’ll have to try it. I put my meatloaf on a broiler pan with the bottom wrapped in foil so that the atery clogging junk runs down and clean up is pretty easy.
OHmygoodness! We love meatloaf around here, but I’ve never had great success with it ~ I wonder if the loaf pan was maybe the problem all along! Must test that out…
…while trying out your amazing-looking and sounding recipe! Man, my mouth is watering already!!
Okay, you evil woman! Bacon? Really? 🙂 I’ve always used the same recipe I had growing up (minus the sauce). This one might just replace it! I love the idea of NOT putting it in a loaf pan. And, yes, you CAN get creative! I shape my meatloaf into smaller “mounds”. It cooks faster that way, and it’s more fun for the kids to each have their own!
How long do you cook the mounds? Is it less time?
Oh man that looks good….I will be giving this recipe a try.
Thanks
Happy Day
This was so great, who doesn’t love meat, wrapped in more meat?! Great job on this one babe!