These were such a fun little dish to break up the cold and more snow. When will it ever end?!!!
But in true fashion, meatloaf to me says comfort food. And also, the toddlers in the house running the show are likely going to protest a large slice of meat on their plate. I figured I would try to make it a little fun and do mini meatloaves in muffin tins. My three year old helped me crack eggs and add all the seasonings into my KitchenAid stand mixer. I always use it for making meatloaf or meatballs. To be honest, it does all the gross meat mixing work and turns out the exact same as if you used your hands. Plus, it keeps little hands dirty which is no easy feat when cooking with a three year old.
The meatloaves are quick to cook, flavorful and nicely seasoned. Because the salt is added in the vegetables and on top of the meat, it doesn't dry the meat out while it cooks. Such an important step!!
I've made my meatloaf for years using leeks and mushrooms. Even before I was a mother trying to sneak in vegetables into basically every meal in order to fool not only my kids but my husband ;). Except that while I'm trying to add vegetables, I realized how much I not only love the mushroom and leek combo, but also, how amazing it tastes in meat loaf. The extra step of sautéing it before you add it to the meat mixture keeps it tender and not over powering after the cooking process is done.
I chop my mushrooms and leeks quite finely before I add them to the pan since these little meatloaves are pretty small. Last thing I want to hear is someone complaining because they got too big of a bite of mushroom.
I also added my salt and pepper to the veggies only, rather than dump it in with the rest of the seasoning mix. This ensures the meat does not dry out while it cooks since they do need to cook for a decent amount of time to cook through. I add salt at the end as well to ensure each bite is well-seasoned.
Once my veggies are cooking down, I add in a touch of garlic and finish cooking everything. Once the vegetables begin to soften, they can be taken off the heat.
In the meantime, it's time to mix up the rest of the meatloaf mixture. I am an egg and breadcrumb meatloafer. This is a big debate apparently, but it's how I have always done it and since they taste amazing, pretty sure you can't argue with that. Plus, it's not like I'm adding parmesan....they're definitely not meatballs!! I love the use of the smoked paprika in the mixture to add a little extra depth of flavor. Plus with the ketchup, it's such a nice combination.
Next steps are to mix it all up and then add in your mushroom and leek combo. Mix once without the mushroom and leek combo, and the second time very lightly with the vegetables. You don't want to liquify the veggies. It's definitely more enjoyable to have the taste and texture differences of having those added throughout the mini meatloaves.
After you scoop about a 1/4 cup of the mixture into each muffin tin, making around 24 total meatloaves, add a little well to the top to add your ketchup to. I used Primal Kitchen Ketchup as it's sugar free and I like the flavor quite a bit. Good, old fashioned Heinz Ketchup will do just fine though.
Lastly, I sprinkled a bit of salt and a bit more smoked paprika to the top of each meatloaf. Time to cook! 35 minutes in the oven at 375° should give you a juicy, delicious, but cooked through mini meatloaf! The kids really enjoyed these as did my husband. Plus they had no idea there was actually quite a few cups of veggies in there. Sneaky sneaky...
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