Homemade meatloaf, loaded with fresh herbs and topped off with warm garlic butter sauce.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Let’s talk about meatloaf. It’s one of those things that can be really good, or really, really bad. If you’ve ever had some bad meatloaf, you know exactly what I mean.
But when it’s done right, meatloaf can be absolutely amazing. And this Herb and Garlic Meatloaf with Garlic Butter Sauce is absolutely amazing!
This, people, is by far, THE most EPIC meatloaf recipe I have ever made. I don’t want to belabor the point…just do yourself a favor and make it. It’s a showstopper for your family, your most intimate friends for a dinner party or any other peeps you’re trying to impress. Make it NOW!
Allison
You’ll notice some of the components of your typical meatloaf in this recipe, like beef, pork, and breadcrumbs. But you’ll also notice that popular meatloaf ingredients, like ketchup, are missing.
Instead, this meatloaf is flavored with tons of fresh herbs and garlic, and then it’s topped off with even more garlic, in the form of a garlic butter sauce.
This is, hands-down, the best meatloaf I have ever made or eaten. And my boys loved it too! In fact, I made it twice in one week, that’s how good it was.
Honestly, I would order this meatloaf in a restaurant. Provided it came with a big side of mashed potatoes!
This meatloaf will definitely feed a crowd. Or leave you with some leftovers, which is not a bad thing at all. Everyone happily ate the leftovers at my house!
Now, if you think you’ll miss that tomato-based topping that is so popular on meatloaf, or maybe some good, old-fashioned gravy, don’t worry.
This meatloaf recipe is truly Epic!!!!!!! I have never liked ketchup based meatloaf and have been searching for a great recipe…….. This is it! Everyone in my house ran for seconds. Truly a keeper!!!!!!!!
Courtney
The garlic butter sauce is fantastic, and like I said, with a side of mashed potatoes, everything comes together for what I would call some true comfort food.
If there is such a thing as “fancy” meatloaf, this is it right here! I can confidently say I would serve this meatloaf to company, and probably have everyone ask for the recipe.
This is my new meatloaf recipe!! Thank you for sharing.
Nadine
I hope you love it as much as we did!
Be sure to save this recipe to your favorite Pinterest board for later.
Ingredients
- Ground beef
- Ground pork
- Canola oil
- Produce: celery, garlic, onion, chives, fresh parsley, fresh sage, fresh thyme
- Bread
- Eggs
- Milk
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- Chicken stock
- Butter
Herb and Garlic Meatloaf with Garlic Butter Sauce
Ingredients
For the meatloaf:
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 cup diced onion
- 4 slices bread
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4-1/3 cup milk
For the garlic butter sauce:
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 8-10 garlic cloves
- 2 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Place the beef and pork in a large bowl.
- Heat the oil in a medium saute pan over medium heat. Add the celery, garlic and onion and cook until vegetables are soft, 5-7 minutes. Cool slightly, then add to the meat in the bowl.
- Add the parsley, chives, sage and thyme.
- Tear the bread into large chunks and place in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to form coarse crumbs. Add the bread crumbs to the meat mixture, along with the fresh herbs, eggs, salt and pepper, and 1/4 cup of milk.
- Mix until well combined. Let stand for 5-10 minutes. If mixture doesn’t hold together well after 10 minutes, add additional milk, as needed, to reach desired consistency.
- Place the meat mixture onto the parchment lined baking sheet and pat it into a rectangle. Then press in the sides of the meatloaf to form a cylinder down the middle of the pan.
- Bake for about 40 minutes, or until meatloaf is browned and internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
- While meatloaf cooks, make the garlic butter sauce. In a small sauce pan, combine the oil and garlic and bring to a boil.
- Lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until garlic is lightly browned. Do not let the garlic burn. Remove the garlic from the oil and set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, combine the chicken stock, water, butter and cooked garlic and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until slightly thickened.
- Mash the garlic with a fork. Just before serving, stir in the parsley, then season with salt and pepper.
- Spoon the warm sauce over the meatloaf to serve.
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Nutrition
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60 comments
George Moy
I don’t have any thing against the tomato based meatloaf,its just when you look at a so called different meatloaf recipe the first thing in the recipe says tomato,as sauce or juice,then it goes back to the original recipe on the oatmeal container,too bad you don’t have a Cheez it meatloaf recipe,its even delicious when you use bacon cheddar Cheez It crackers and,no it doesn’t use ketchup in it either.
Elizabeth W Mulgrew
Nice change from tomatoey-ketchupy meatloaves. I’d say a cut above most recipes. The garlic butter sauce was the outstanding feature – I am looking forward to using it on other meats/veggies. Mine was a tad dry so I would recommend adding an egg and roasting it covered per comments above. Shoutout to Nadine for the suggestion of adding sherry shaken together with cornstarch to thicken it. I served it over mashed potatoes and peas along with the meatloaf. This meatloaf can hold its own with other entrees you would serve to guests, but DON’T SKIP THE SAUCE!
Kay
DON’T THINK, JUST MAKE THIS TONIGHT!!! I very rarely leave a review however…
We’ve been making this for years now. Mostly we use fresh herbs(so much better), sometimes dried, when necessary(and old sourdough is our favorite for the breadcrumbs)… the only problem I have with this recipe is that it NEEDS to be doubled!!! Even my pickiest eaters have seconds. This is the only recipe I’ve ever made that doesn’t yield leftovers. Usually paired with a simple mash and some roasted brussels, no gravy necessary(just double the sauce) Now we double the recipe so the following day we can enjoy easy leftovers that reheat perfectly with a little extra oil/butter and pair it with Parmesan cacio e pepe and broccoli for a change up. It takes a bit of elbow grease and a full sink of dishes but is sooooooo worth it and if you double it, there’s minimal work the next day and two delicious meals for a family of four!
Also, don’t be surprised if your kids’ neighborhood friends stay for supper… it’s a lovely problem we have in our house!
Marie
Love this! Hit with the whole family, kids and adults! Been looking for something without tomatos that is still tasty. Made it with almond milk and a dairy free maragine instead of butter because of allergies and it was a hit. My kids don’t like the look of the veggies at first, but eat it up great after the first bite! Thanks!
Linda A Monteith
This looks suspiciously similar to 1770 House meatloaf, which I love.
Katherine Bendtsen
This*IS* the 1770 House meatloaf with a tiny tweak or two. She’s not giving credit to Ina Garten or Chef Kevin Penner and instead is passing it off as her own.
Vera
This meatloaf is AMAZING, and just what I was looking for because I am NOT a fan of ketchup in general, and I hate it on meatloaf.
I LOVE garlic and herbs, and this is right up my alley. I followed the meatloaf recipe exactly, but cut it in half because there are only two of us, and it came out perfect – tender, juicy and full of flavor. We had enough for dinner last night and leftovers for another meal – but I already started nibbling on it this morning – LOL.
I doubled the sauce because I wanted enough to use on my side dishes – egg noodles and steamed broccoli. I made two slight changes – used all chicken stock instead of stock and water. I also used an immersion blender to incorporate the garlic instead of mashing it with a fork, which helped to slightly thicken it.
I will never make meatloaf any other way!
Brett
Lol. I’m late to the party. This was AMAZING! At 40 I became horribly allergic to tomatoes!? I love to cook and now I search for ways to make my favorite meals with out them. With sides this will feed 4 or 5, but next time, I will double the recipe. I totally missed out by not having leftovers!!! Yes. That good!
Lisa
I tried this recipe and was astonished the amount of olive oil that went to waste.
Also didn’t care for the flavor of thyme and sage for a meatloaf.
The garlic sauce was sad too. Won’t be making again. Yuck..
Rachel
Hi, Lisa. I was almost relieved to find a comment about this meatloaf that wasn’t gushingly positive! I made it and it tastes good, but I couldn’t bring myself to make the sauce once I realized how much oil was needed. Also, the instructions….”bring to the boil” when you’re talking about oil? What recipe recommends that with oil? And if you let garlic simmer that long, won’t it pretty much fry to a crisp? Most recipes recommend sauteeing garlic for only a couple of minutes. Not to mention that the sauce requires several pans and a lot of fussing. I was pleased at first to find a meatloaf recipe that would work for a guest I’m expecting who can’t eat anything with tomato, but I’ll make something else next time – this one is just too messy. (And as one other reviewer said, why is the “shaping” instruction so complicated? Why couldn’t she just say “shape into a loaf,” like so many other meatloaf recipes say? That whole rectangle/cylinder business was so bizarre, I read it over several times and then asked my husband to try to figure out what it meant!)
Vera
The olive oil is easily reusable – save it to make salad dressing, cook veggies and a whole lot more. It is called “garic infused oil”.
As for the flavor, that is your personal preference. If you don’t like thyme or sage in a meatloaf, when why did you try the recipe in the first place.
Gail
Thanks so much for sharing this unique meatloaf recipe. I love the garlic butter sauce and the addition of fresh herbs. I look forward to checking out more of your recipes.
A reader’s indignant response to your admission that you usually discard the oil after cooking the garlic made me smile. I once confessed to a group of older women from farming backgrounds that I had “chucked” some leftover cake cause my husband and I didn’t need the calories tempting us. There was a shocked silence. They spent quite a bit of time giving me alternative solutions, such as giving it away or cutting it up and freezing it. I don’t know if they ever looked at me quite the same after that.
QueenBee Rider
Absolutely delicious! My boys are it with big smiles. I used 11 cloves of garlic for the butter. I used ground turkey instead of pork (pork intolerant) making the cook time a bit shorter. I also substituted rosemary for sage (sage at the market looked sad). Barley any leftovers from feeding a family of 4, I was looking forward to trying it up for a sandwich.
Jessica Serrano
If I want to sub dried breadcrumbs for making them myself, how much would I need exactly?
Danelle
I would use the same amount.
Tara
Delicious meatloaf! Whole family loved it, I did sub the beef and pork for 2 lbs of ground turkey and Panko bread crumbs instead of the bread.. will def make again!
Daniel
I made this recipe and I had to throw it in the trash it was not tasty at all and did not keep well.
Jen
Delicious! Quite a bit of work and many dirty dishes in the process, but a fabulous meatloaf! It tastes far more gourmet than meatloaf. The flavors are so “bright.” My entire family (husband, 3 kids, and me) loved it.
Julie
I’ve made this meatloaf before and love it. Never made the sauce though. I’m making it now. The 3/4 cup of oil used to boil the garlic. What do I do with it? Save it for another recipe? Thanks.
Angel
Don’t discard the oil! It can be used just the same as you would use olive oil for cooking lots of things–it’s just garlic infused now! I keep the old olive oil bottle and label it so I know which one it is so I don’t accidentally use it for something that doesn’t play well with garlic.
Also–Best. Meatloaf. Ever. 😉
Danelle
I usually just discard it. But you might be able to use it in another recipe.
vera
An absolute WASTE to discard the oil. The oil can be used as a base for salad dressing, to cook onions, or other veggies and a whole lot more. As a “cook” you should know better!!!
Linda Lum
Thank you for writing about saving the oil. That stuff is liquid gold. Why would anyone just throw it away?
Katherine
Tell the rest of us what it’s like to perfect please. That comment was really ugly. If it isn’t helpful its probably hurtful. Reevaluate the way you speak to people….as a “human” you should know better!!!
Minnie
I don’t have pork right now and only have Chilli meat! And my husband doesn’t like Chilli, so would that work?
Shannon Morscheck
Hello! I just made this meatloaf for my family and was SO excited about it! It was smelling delicious, but after the 40 Minutes (our oven is usually on the warmer side and cooks things faster than usual) I took it out and let it sit for 10 Minutes. I sliced in, and it was nowhere near done :(. I put it back in, and after checking it for another 30 Minutes, my family was starving, so I took it out and microwaved it. The flavor was good, But is the cooking time way off?? Or could you maybe explain about how long and wide the loaf should be? I made it to look like the photo, but man- it was not even close. Thoughts?
Danelle
I’m honestly not sure. I haven’t had anyone else mention it not being done. Did you by chance cover it? I don’t mention it specifically in the recipe, but it should be cooked uncovered. I should probably change that. Otherwise, I’m not sure what could have happened. It should be quite long (I shape mine on a large baking sheet) and around 5-6 inches wide and about 2-3 inches high. Sort of a long, flat oval. Really, the best way to check for doneness is with a meat thermometer. But if it wasn’t done after an extra 30 minutes, all I can think is that your shape was quite a bit different than mine, or you maybe had it covered, which would slow down the cooking time. Hope that helps.
Lisa
I have an oven that is hard to cook in, I added the usual 10 minutes (for my oven) and it was fine. Don’t know why the shape would be an issue, it sounds like the oven wasn’t working correctly… was it on broil instead of bake? I’d use a meat thermometer to test for doneness.
Danelle
Thanks Lisa. I wondered about the oven too.
Becky E.
Hi Danelle. 🙂
Do you think oatmeal would be ok in place of the bread? My son is gluten free, but can tolerate oats. And would it be a 1:1 substitution? This looks amazing!!
Lisa
I subbed oatmeal when I made it the 2nd time… I like the texture better.
Danelle
Yes, you can use oatmeal in place of the bread. But I don’t do a lot of gluten free cooking, so I honestly don’t know whether it’s a 1:1 substitution. My guess would be yes, but you might want to ask someone with more gluten free experience.
Nadine
I made this meatloaf today and I love it. Not a big fan of ketchup . I added shallots to the sauce. It wasn’t thickening for me so I made a slurry of Sherry and cornstarch. It turned out wonderful. This is my new meatloaf recipe!! Thank you for sharing.
Cindy
Hello! This looks delicious. I plan on making this completely of turkey (boring I know but my hubby doesn’t eat beef). Do you have any tips to keep it from becoming too dry? Also what kind of bread did you use? Would a pre-sliced wheat bread work? Thank you!
Danelle
Yes, wheat bread would work fine. It’s a very moist meatloaf, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble, even with turkey. You can always add an extra egg if you’re worried, and cover it while you cook it.
Corey
Hello, making this meatloaf for the first time. I decided to place it in a glass bread, casserole rectangular dish, when it reaches 160 internal temperature, I am going to broil it for 3 minutes, would this be ok? The Guy Cook, Corey. ☺️
Danelle
As long as you cook it to the appropriate internal temperature for ground beef, it should be fine.
Jill
Would you say that this recipe is able to be made using dried herbs instead of fresh? Looks delightful but I only have dried on hand…
Danelle
Yes, but you would need to use about 1/3 of the herbs as fresh.
Courtney
This meatloaf recipe is truly Epic!!!!!!! I have never liked ketchup based meatloaf and have been searching for a great recipe…….. This is it! Everyone in my house ran for seconds. Truly a keeper!!!!!!!!
Danelle
Thank you SO much! 🙂
Gabrielle
I tried this recipe for the first time today and both my husband and I loved it! I made a couple of changes but only because I didn’t have the exact ingredients. Instead of using the ground pork, I used a nitrate free pork sausage minus the casing; used gluten free Italian bread crumbs instead of the bread; and added a little hot sauce for added flavor, but I’m not sure it was necessary. It was WONDERFUL!
I have one question. Is the garlic sauce supposed to be so thin? The taste was incredible so it didn’t matter, I was just curious. Also, can I reuse the oil that was used to “fry” the garlic?
This was the absolute first time I ate meatloaf without ketchup! Thank you for a great recipe!
Mischa
Gabrielle, how much breadcrumbs did you use?
Emeraldglenn
1 cup
Nikki
Can you elaborate on “Place the meat mixture onto the parchment lined baking sheet and pat it into a rectangle. Then press in the sides of the meatloaf to form a cylinder down the middle of the pan.”? I don’t quite understand.
Nikki
Never mind… you meant just shape the whole thing like a cylinder!
Danelle
You want to shape it into a log.
Nikki
Thank you!! Took me a moment… loooong Monday!
Amber Robinson
Is the meatloaf supposed to be covered the whole time while cooking, or unconvered?
Danelle
Uncovered.
Georgianne
I really hate the unnecessary sarcastic attitudes when others respond to someone’s question!
Can you use minced garlic instead of the cloves?
Emeraldglenn
Yes you can. I use it all the time in the meatloaf. I have never made the sauce.
Amber Robinson
Thank you so much!
Allison Mottas
Ok, so I will just start off by saying I never, I REPEAT, NEVER, critique recipes. In fact, I have often thought I should comment on a few high contender recipes, but never do. Yes, I am a virgin recipe reviewer. This, people, is by far, THE most EPIC meatloaf recipe I have ever made. I am a foodie, so this is not written without respect for all things epicurean. I don’t want to belabor the point…just do yourself a favor and make it. It’s a showstopper for your family, your most intimate friends for a dinner party or any other peeps you’re trying to impress. Make it NOW!
Danelle
Thank you SO much Allison! 🙂
Lisa
Trying this recipe…. HOW much garlic is supposed to go into the Garlic Butter Sauce…. doesn’t give an amount of cloves… I’m winging it, but would really like to know.
Emeraldglenn
Reread the recipe. It clearly states 8 – 10 Cloves of Garlic
Rockstar
It says 8-10 cloves!!
vera
the recipe clearly states 8-10 cloves for the sauce
Kelley
Think it says 8 cloves