For the past year or so I’ve been working on the side making step by step photo tutorials for Food.com. Ever since I made this basic meatloaf tutorial, I’ve wanted to make it again and again. I always feel bad for meatloaf because I don’t think its reputation lives up to just how comforting, filling, and delicious it is. Meatloaf may not be pretty, but it’s pretty damn good. And that’s just basic meatloaf. When you go and add all sorts of goodies, like in these Mini Garden Turkey Loaves, it gets even better.
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Because even ground meat is super expensive these days, I decided to use my favorite “meat extending” trick for this meatloaf. I like to add equal parts shredded vegetables, beans, or lentils to double the volume of ground meat without doubling the price (see Sloppy Joes Plus). Vegetables, beans, and lentils are not only less expensive than meat, but they also add a considerable amount of flavor, fiber, and other nutrients to the mix. For these Mini Garden Turkey Loaves, I went the vegetable route, and added a medley of sautéed onion, garlic, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms. SO much flavor!
I also opted to make this loaf into single serving sized muffins instead of a whole loaf. Why? A) Automatic portion control and B) they bake faster. One of the only things I dislike about normal meatloaf is that it takes so long to bake. Breaking it up into smaller pieces helps it bake in about half the time. The only down side is that unlike baking it open on a sheet pan, the little muffin tins hold in the juices and that can make them extra moist and delicate. Extra moisture is great for flavor, but bad for keeping them in one piece. So, we just have to be extra careful and cook out most of the vegetable moisture beforehand. As long as you make sure to do that, you’ll have tasty little garden turkey loaves that you can keep in the freezer for a quick re-heatable dinner later. Win!
See this recipe used in my weekly meal prep.
Mini Garden Turkey Loaves
Servings 6 (2 mini loaves each)Ingredients
LOAVES
- 1 Tbsp olive oil ($0.16)
- 1 small onion ($0.36)
- 1 clove garlic ($0.16)
- 2 medium carrots ($0.27)
- 1 small zucchini ($0.73)
- 8 oz button mushrooms ($1.79)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.05)
- Freshly cracked pepper ($0.05)
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce ($0.06)
- 1/4 cup ketchup ($0.20)
- 1 large egg ($0.18)
- 3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs ($0.36)
- 19 oz package ground turkey 93% lean* ($4.59)
GLAZE
- 1/2 cup ketchup ($0.41)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar ($0.03)
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar ($0.12)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Sauté both in a large skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat until soft and transparent. Peel the carrots, then use a large holed cheese grater to shred them into the skillet. Cut the ends off the zucchini and shred it into the skillet as well. Continue to sauté over medium heat.
- While the onion, garlic, carrots, and zucchini are sautéing, roughly chop the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms to the skillet and season with 3/4 tsp salt and a generous dose of freshly cracked pepper. Continue to sauté the vegetables over medium heat until they release all of their moisture and it has evaporated from the bottom of the skillet (there should be no juices pooling on the bottom of the skillet).
- After the vegetables have sautéed and are mostly dry, transfer them to a bowl and let them cool for 5-10 minutes. Begin to preheat the oven to 375 degrees and coat the wells of a muffin tin with non-stick spray.
- Once the vegetables have cooled some, add the Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, egg, and breadcrumbs to the bowl. Mix these ingredients well until they are evenly combined. Add the ground turkey and use your hands to gently mix it into the vegetable mixture. Try to avoid over mixing.
- Evenly divide the meat mixture between the 12 cups of a muffin tin. Bake the mini loaves in the preheated 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.
- While the loaves are baking, mix the tomato glaze. Combine the ketchup, brown sugar, and apple cider vinegar in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Once the loaves have baked for 15 minutes, spoon the glaze over the muffins and let them bake with the glaze for the remaining 15 minutes.
- Allow the loaves to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before carefully running a knife around their outer edges and lifting out of the tin with a fork. The rest time will help solidify the loaves and keep them in one piece.
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Notes
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Step by Step Photos
Start with this mix of vegetables: one small onion, one clove of garlic, two carrots, one small zucchini, and an 8 oz. package of mushrooms. I bought these baby portobellos because they were on sale for $1.79, but white button mushrooms, which are generally less expensive than portobellos, would do just as well.
Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Begin to sauté them in a large skillet with 1 Tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Sauté them until the onion are soft and transparent.
Peel the two carrots, then use a large holed cheese grater to grate them right into the skillet. Cut the ends from the zucchini, then grate it into the skillet as well. Continue to sauté the vegetables over medium heat.
Roughly chop the mushrooms into small-ish pieces. Smaller pieces will also help the meat loaves hold together.
Add the chopped mushrooms to the skillet, then season with 3/4 tsp salt and some freshly cracked pepper. The salt will help draw the moisture out of the vegetables and you’ll begin to see it pooling on the bottom of the skillet. Keep sautéing until that moisture evaporates away and the skillet becomes dry. This is very important to keep the meat loaves holding together in one piece.
Transfer the sautéed vegetables to a large bowl and let them cool off slightly. It’s okay for them to be warm, just not so hot that they cook the egg. Once they’ve cooled a bit and stopped steaming, add 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1 large egg, and 3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs.
Also, begin to preheat the oven to 375 degrees and coat the wells of a muffin tin with non-stick spray.
Mix all the ingredients together very, very well. This is your opportunity to get the egg and seasoning evenly distributed before adding the meat (because you don’t want to over mix the ground meat).
Finally, add a 19oz. package of 93% lean ground turkey to the bowl. If you use a higher fat content ground meat it may affect how well the loaves hold together because that fat will be trapped in the muffin tins instead of draining away like meatloaves that are cooked on a baking sheet.
Use your hands to gently mix the ground meat into the vegetable mixture until everything is even and no large chunks of ground meat remain. Divide the mixture between the 12 cups of a muffin tin. Pop the filled muffin tin in the preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 30 minutes (glaze will be added at the 15 minute mark).
While the loaves are baking, mix together the tomato glaze. Combine 1/2 cup ketchup, 2 Tbsp brown sugar, and 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar in a small bowl until smooth.
When the loaves are 15 minutes into their 30 minute baking time, pull them out and spoon the glaze over each one.
Like this. Just a little on top of each one. Then pop them back in the oven for the remaining 15 minutes of the cook time.
And after about 30 minutes of total baking, the mini garden turkey loaves will be cooked through, juicy, and delicious! Let them rest for 5-10 minutes before trying to remove them from the tin. Run a knife around the outside of each one to loosen it, then use a fork to carefully lift it out of the tin.
And then enjoy your healthier and delicious “comfort” food! (recipe for the mashed potatoes coming SOON!)
I love these and can not stop making them with all the zucchini I get from my garden!! Thanks :)
I’ve been making several of your recipes over the last year from both your book and this website as I learn to cook and they have all been so outstanding. This especially was so great – my carnivore boyfriend loved it and praised every veggie in there! The only adjustment I made was I added a little thyme to the mix. Thanks so much for your awesome work!
My loaves fell apart a bit. In the future, I’ll probably add another egg and some more breadcrumbs just to make them bind together better.
Next time I try this, I might use it as a stuffing for vegetables. Maybe use the scooped out flesh from the zucchini or use eggplant and/or peppers. I think throwing in a little cooked or instant rice as a stretch could work really well.
Is there anything else other than ketchup that I can use in the loaves? I’d like to make these for my baby but would rather avoid ketchup because of the sugar
You can try adding a little plain tomato sauce (usually they just contain puréed tomato, salt, and a few spices) or a tablespoon or so of tomato paste. These changes will change the flavor, though, as the sugar helps balance the flavors.
Thanks Beth! It’s a big hit with my picky baby and hubby :D. Hubby said its the best thing I’ve ever made so far (I don’t cook that often). I ended up using ~1/8 ketchup and about 1/2 tbsp tomato paste
How many calories is in a serving and how much is a serving
Each serving is two of the mini loaves (you can find that info on the recipe template), but unfortunately I don’t have any nutritional information.
Your recipes look great. But, it would be great to have the nutritional information. They look healthy and a nice addition to the Weight Watchers diet.
Sparkpeople has a great recipe calculator you can use to determine the nutritional data.
Beth, thanks so much for this recipe! I cooked it last night along with the spinach and feta mashed potatoes and they was a hit! It’s definitely boyfriend approved! Will be making this again very soon.
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I dislike mushrooms, can you recommend a veggie to substitute?
I’m not sure there is anything like it that I’d use in it’s place, but you could certainly just leave it out. There are plenty of other vegetables to go around. :)
Beth- Hi! I made these before and they were delicious. I have a couple of questions. 1) it took forever to get the liquid out of the vegetables, how long should that take? I ended up draining the liquid both times. 2) I ended up with more, not quite double but at least a quarter more. I didn’t add another egg. Will it hurt to add another egg next time if I think I will have more than 12 muffins? I didn’t have enough to fill another 12 tin but I had a mini loaf pan and used that.
Draining the liquid out of the skillet is actually a great idea. That will cut your time down. If you use a large skillet so that the vegetables are spread out more instead of piled on top of each other, the process will be faster. Also, you can try turning the heat up a bit. That might help.
Adding another egg won’t hurt a bit. :)
And save the drained liquid for soup stock–just freeze in ‘baggies’ or ice cube trays and then in baggies.
For this I actually used a paper towel. I grated them and then used paper towels to suck some of the moisture out. :)
This also works great for hair before you blow dry it!
the 1st and 2nd times I made this were freaking delicious.
the 3rd time i used super discount bargain basement ketchup and it was terribly dry and mealy.
use decent ketchup.
If I made this into a regular meatloaf in a loaf pan, how should I adjust the cooking time?
It will need to cook much longer, but I’m not sure of an exact time. Probably in the neighborhood of 45-60 min, but you should use a meat thermometer to make sure the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.
I have never been disappointed with any of your recipes. I love meatloaf but the hubby doesn’t. I thought I would try these, figuring I could freeze them if he didn’t like them. Turns out we both loved them. They were very flavorful. I will definitely be adding them to our rotation!
I have made several of your recipes and we have loved every single one of them, until today. (I’m sorry for admitting it.) This was not our favorite. I’d definitely try it again, with several tweaks… maybe cutting back a bit on the veggies or adding some sort of additional seasonings.
Hi~ I love these! I used the last of the ketchup in the loaves so I put cheese on top of these. Sooooo delicious! And my cats liked that I let them lick the plate after I was done ;)
My kids could not get enough of these meatloaves along with the spinach/feta mashed potatoes. Excellent meal. Definitely will be part of our regular meals. Thanks!!!
This is heaven sent… do you think it would be ok to drop the egg? I have an allergy (egg, dairy, soy, peanut) tot.
Well, the egg acts as a glue to help hold them together, so they will probably be crumbly without it.