World's Best Meatloaf with Tomato Relish

4.88 from 8 votes

World's Best Meatloaf with Tomato Relish

This is from the cookbook Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen. It's his dad's meatloaf recipe and after you make this you will know where Tyler got his skills. If you want to bump this meatloaf out of this world, try grass-fed ground beef or chuck.

Prep Time25

Cook Time50

Total Time1 15

Servings:

Calories: 476kcal

Author: Good Dinner Mom

Ingredients

For the Tomato Relish:

Extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 whole bay leaves
2 whole red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and finely diced
2 to 3 whole tomatoes, halved, seeded, and finely diced
¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1- 12 oz. bottle ketchup
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Meatloaf:

2 ½ pounds good quality ground beef
3 eggs
Leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
¾ to 1 cup bread crumbs, or 2 or 3 slices stale bread, crusts removed, pulsed in the food processor
3 slices bacon

Instructions

One Quick Tip:

Cut and chop all the vegetables and herbs for the sauce before you even begin so you can add everything quickly.
Coat a skillet with a 2-count of oil and place over medium heat. Saute 1 diced onion, 2 minced garlic, and 2 bay leaves for a few minutes to create a base flavor. Throw in 2 diced red peppers and cook them for a couple of minutes to soften. Now, add 2-3 diced tomatoes; adding them at this point lets them hold their shape and prevents them from disintegrating. Stir in ¼ cup parsley, 12 ounces ketchup, and 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire; season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer the relish for 5 minutes to pull all the flavors together. Remove it from the heat; you should have about 4 cups of relish.
Preheat the oven to 350F. This is where you get your hands dirty! In a large mixing bowl, with your hands, loosely combine 2 ½ pounds ground beef with 1 ½ cups of the tomato relish, 3 eggs, and thyme; season with salt and pepper, tender meatloaf (and meatballs, but that's another recipe). You want all the ingredients mixed well but use a gentle hand. That is one secret to Add ¾-1 cup bread crumbs in stages, starting with ¾ cup; you may not need all of them. I just keep adding until the mixture is still pretty moist. Most times I only the ¾ cup of bread crumbs.
Turn out your meat mixture onto a baking sheet or roasting pan. Mold loosely into a loaf shape. Cover with another ½ cup of the tomato relish. Lay 3 slices bacon across the top lengthwise.
Bake the meatloaf for approximately 45-50 minutes. If you're using the baking sheet method, you don't need to cook longer than this. Don't overcook your meatloaf so it doesn't dry out. (If cooking in a loaf pan, you will need to cook for 55 to 60 minutes.)
During the last 5 minutes of cooking, I usually turn the oven onto low-broil and watch carefully just to crisp the bacon a bit more. Remove meatloaf from the oven and let it rest 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with the remaining tomato relish on the side. This is unbelievably moist.

Cook's Note:

Turkey may be substituted in place of the ground beef, just lessen cooking time to around 40 minutes and only add about ½ cup bread crumbs.

Nutrition