Old Fashioned Meatloaf Recipe (2024)

This Old Fashioned Amish Meatloaf Recipe is simple, easy, and delicious! It was a favorite growing up and will surely be a favorite around your dinner table now.

Old Fashioned Amish Meatloaf

Meatloaf is something virtually all of us saw on the dinner table now and then growing up. It’s just ground beef with a few spices, but it’s so much more than that too; it’s comfort food.

My mom used to serve it for dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy one night and then make meatloaf sandwiches for lunch the next day. These days, my little family and I like to serve it with baked sweet potatoes, which I bake alongside the meatloaf and a garden salad. It never gets old!

This recipe is one I’ve used for many years now and came from an Amish friend who is one of the best cooks I’ve ever known! So simple. So easy. So good!

An old favorite made gluten-free! I made just a few tweaks to the original recipe to make it compatible with our food allergies which meant using oats instead of breadcrumbs. Either will work in this recipe, depending on what you have.

What Is Amish Meatloaf?

Amish Meatloaf is a simple recipe, made with common, everyday ingredients and a basic brown sugar glaze. It can have additional flavor added with bacon and cheese.

Ingredients in Amish Meatloaf

• Ground Beef. When I was growing up, we used a mixture of beef and bison ground meats because that was the cheapest for us, but you can use straight beef or beef mixed with pork.
• Eggs. These will be your binder to hold the loaf together and add flavor.
• Oatmeal. This helps with the texture and also helps to stretch your meat a little further. You could also use bread crumbs or even Ritz cracker crumbs.
• Onion. Fresh tends to have the best flavor, but you can use dried if that’s what you have on hand.
• Salt and Pepper. For flavor.
• Bacon and Swiss. These are optional. If you make this often and want to switch it up once in a while, lay some bacon strips on top of the meat loaf before you add the glaze. You can add a few slices or some extra shredded swiss cheese on the top of the meatloaf (or on top of the slices of bacon!) to add even more flavor and change it up.

Sauce Ingredients

• Brown Sugar. Brown sugar is the best sweetener choice in this glaze topping as it has the best depth of flavor.
• Mustard. I use regular yellow mustard in this recipe but you can use dijon mustard based on what you have on hand.
• Ketchup. You can use store-bought ketchup or Homemade Ketchup.
• Garlic powder and Onion powder. For flavor.

Instructions for Making Amish Meatloaf

Preheat oven to 350º.

Mix the meatloaf ingredients together well. Divide into two loaves and bake in bread loaf pans, a cake pan, or another kind of baking dish. Bake for an hour. Remove from oven.

Mix the glaze ingredients together in a small bowl and drizzle over the meatloaf. Return to the oven for 5-10 minutes. (You can also lay bacon or cheese on top of loaf at this point as well.)

Let it cool ten minutes before slicing. Serve and enjoy!

Want to print this Gluten Free Amish Meatloaf Recipe for your Recipe Binder? Grab it below:

How to Store Leftover Meatloaf

Since this is a 3lb meatloaf recipe, you might have some leftovers! Use your leftover meatloaf in a sandwich like my mom did when I was growing up. It’s similar to this Homemade Taverns Recipe. Yum!

If you want to serve the meal again, store the leftover meatloaf in an airtight container in the fridge until you are ready to reheat. You could also put it in the freezer in a freezer container or bag and reheat in the oven later.

Here’s another deliciousSimple Meatloaf Recipethat you may also want to try! Or for something a little different, you can try this yummy Mozzarella Stuffed Meatloaf!And if you are wondering how to save money on meat, you might also want to check out this post on Buying Meat in Bulk.

More Comfort Food Recipes

• Old Fashioned Bread Pudding Recipe
• Homemade Macaroni and Cheese Recipe
• Amish Chicken Casserole Recipe
• Cheesy Potato Casserole
• Recipe for Chicken Pot Pie
• Mom’s Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Trying to plan better, more frugal meals for your family so that you always have a warm meal on the table and aren’t wasting money at the grocery store? You’ve got to check out my ebook Meal Planning Made Simple. Even if you thought meal planning didn’t work for your family, this ebook will help you find the perfect fit for your family’s style.

Have you ever made meatloaf with oatmeal? What is one of your favorite winter comfort foods?

Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a star rating on the recipe card above! And if you enjoyed it share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and through Email using the sharing buttons below!

Merissa has been blogging about and living the simple life since 2009 and has internationally published 2 books on the topic. You can read about Merissa’s journey from penniless to the 100-acre farm and ministry on theAbout Page. You can send her a message any time from theContact Page.

This Old Fashioned Meatloaf Recipe was originally published on Little House Living in September 2014. It has been updated as of March 2023.