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.
Nutrition
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62 comments
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.