Carnivore Meatloaf Recipe (No Filler, No Breadcrumbs)

Meatloaf has a bad reputation and it earned every bit of it. Not because of the meat, but because of everything that got added to stretch it.

It anchors the Thursday slot in our 7-day carnivore meal plan.

One of the easiest of our carnivore ground beef recipes to batch-cook and slice cold.

Take the filler out and what is left is one of the best things you can do with a kilo of ground beef. It slices, it reheats, it travels, and it costs very little. Cold meatloaf out of the fridge at eleven at night is one of the underrated pleasures of this diet.

Why Meatloaf Has Filler In The First Place

Breadcrumbs, oats, crackers and milk-soaked bread are not in there for texture, whatever the recipe tells you. They are in there for arithmetic. Meatloaf is a depression-era dish, built to turn a small amount of expensive mince into a meal for a family of six. The filler was the point.

Nobody needs that arithmetic now, and the ketchup glaze on top is just sugar doing a victory lap. What the filler genuinely did do was hold moisture, so if you remove it and change nothing else you get a dry, crumbling brick. That is why most carnivore meatloaf attempts fail. The fix is not to add something back. It is to get the fat and the binder right.

What Actually Binds A Carnivore Meatloaf

Two eggs and a decent handful of hard cheese. That is the whole answer.

The eggs set as the loaf cooks and hold the structure together. The cheese does something more useful: cheddar melts into the mince and keeps it moist, while parmesan is dry and salty enough to give the mixture body without loosening it. Use one or the other and it works. Use both and it works better.

Resist the urge to add cream. It sounds like it should help and it does the opposite, because you are adding liquid to something that already has plenty and no starch to absorb it.

The Fat Ratio Decides Everything

Use 20% fat mince at minimum. Lean mince makes a dry loaf and no technique will rescue it, because there is nothing in there to render and baste the inside as it cooks.

Adding a quarter of pork mince gives a softer crumb and a slightly looser texture, which is closer to the meatloaf most people remember. It is optional. If you would rather keep this to ruminant meat only, and there are good reasons to prefer that, use all beef and add another handful of cheddar.

How To Cook It Without Drying It Out

The bacon lattice on top is not decoration. It renders down through the whole cook and bastes the loaf continuously, which is precisely the job the ketchup glaze was pretending to do.

Cook to temperature, not to time. Seventy one degrees in the centre. Ovens vary more than people think and a loaf tin holds heat differently to a free-form loaf on a tray, so the clock is a suggestion and the thermometer is the fact. Then rest it for ten minutes. A loaf straight out of the oven has not set and will collapse into loose mince the moment a knife touches it.

Carnivore Meatloaf

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 55 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings 4 servings

Calories 820 kcal

Equipment

• Loaf Tin
• Mixing Bowl
• Meat Thermometer

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1000 grams 20% Ground Beef
• 250 grams Pork Mince optional, for a softer crumb
• 2 large Eggs
• 100 grams Grated Cheddar
• 40 grams Grated Parmesan
• 200 grams Streaky Bacon to lattice the top
• 1 tsp Salt

Instructions

 

• Heat the oven to 180C fan. Take the beef out of the fridge twenty minutes before you start, because fridge-cold mince does not bind.
• Beat the eggs, then combine everything except the bacon in a large bowl. Use your hands.
• Mix until it just comes together and then stop. Overworked mince goes springy and tight when it cooks, which is what makes most meatloaf feel like a sausage.
• Press into a loaf tin, or shape it free-form on a lined tray if you want more crust and less steaming.
• Lattice the streaky bacon over the top so the whole surface is covered. This bastes the loaf as it renders.
• Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the centre reads 71C on a thermometer.
• Rest for ten minutes before slicing. Skipping this is how you end up with a plate of loose mince.

Nutrition

Calories: 820kcal

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Carnivore Meatloaf: Common Questions

What can I use instead of breadcrumbs in meatloaf?

Nothing, and that is the point. Breadcrumbs were doing a job you no longer need done. Egg binds it and cheese keeps it moist. Pork rind dust is the usual carnivore substitute and it is unnecessary here.

Why did my carnivore meatloaf fall apart?

Either you skipped the egg, or you sliced it straight out of the oven. Ten minutes of resting does most of the structural work.

Can I make it ahead?

It is better the next day, like most things built on slow heat and fat. Keep it whole in the fridge and slice as you go, because a cut face dries out and a whole loaf does not.

How much of this should I actually be eating?

Depends on your bodyweight and what you are asking of yourself. The macro calculator will give you a protein and fat target in about ten seconds, and a slice of this is roughly a quarter of the loaf.

If this becomes a staple, and it will, the cheeseburger casserole is the same principle applied on a weeknight timescale.

A loaf lasts three days. The Carnivore Diet Plan is the rest of the month, worked out in advance.