Sheet Pan Meatloaf and Green Beans Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to bake meatloaf on a sheet pan or loaf pan? ›

When choosing a baking pan, avoid a small loaf pan or baking dish. A tight fit means that the loaf will steam — think school cafeteria meatloaf. Instead, use a sheet pan or a large baking dish and leave some breathing room so the edges will caramelize nicely.

Vegetables are a wonderful addition to meatloaf — they add both flavor and texture — but it's best to use cooked vegetables instead of crunchy raw veggies.

Meatloaf should have a delectable outer crust

Whether it's coated in a traditional ketchup glaze or layered with strips of bacon, the outside is where a lot of flavor development happens. By free-forming a meatloaf—not cooking it in a loaf pan—we get maximum surface area exposure, and therefore maximum flavor.

Metal pans are great conductors of heat; in other words, they heat up quickly, but in turn, they also cool down more rapidly once removed from the heat source. Additionally, metal pans can withstand higher temperatures than glass.

Fat Is Your Friend

This is the reason most cooks choose ground chuck since it has this ideal proportion of fat to meat. During cooking, the fat will liquefy, making the meatloaf moist.

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.

I later learned how I could avoid this problem and make a fully smooth meatloaf by pre-cooking any vegetables, especially the onion, before adding them to the ground meat. This way the meatloaf gets the flavor without the rawness -- a method from the smart people at Cook's Illustrated.

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.

Is it better to cook meatloaf at 350 or 400? ›

Cooking your meatloaf at 350°F creates a tender and moist result. This lower temperature allows the meat to cook gradually, preserving its natural juices and flavors.

Anytime you're cooking meatloaf, you'll want to be sure to have an instant-read thermometer handy. This helpful kitchen tool takes all the guesswork out of knowing when meatloaf is done. Cook meatloaf until it registers 165°F when the thermometer is inserted into the center of the loaf.

If you've found that you don't typically like meatloaf made in a loaf pan, you may find that trying it in a sheet pan may be a better option for you and vice versa!

Best for Meatloaf

The Chicago Metallic Non-Stick Healthy Meatloaf Set is a game-changer for making meatloaf. Made of aluminized steel, it combines a pan and perforated insert that keeps the loaf elevated and allows for excess fat to drain away while baking.

Do not to over mix the ingredients, since this could cause the loaf to be dense. Always line your baking sheet with aluminum foil. I love this method because you're not dirtying up any loaf pans or baking sheets.

Overall, glass and ceramic pans seemed to brown the cake more quickly than the other materials — silicone barely browned the loaves — making them less ideal for sweet baked goods. However, we could see glass or ceramic loaf pans being the ideal vessel for savory loaves or dishes like meatloaf.

Lining your loaf pan with parchment paper creates a nonstick surface that makes it easy to get the meatloaf out of the pan when it's done.

Our favorite loaf pan is the Williams Sonoma Goldtouch Pro Nonstick Loaf Pan, which baked picture-perfect loaves. We also liked the round-edged Nordic Ware Treat Nonstick Loaf Pan. It had handles, making it easy to pull out of the oven.