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I’m a meat girl and always have been. But even so, meatloaf can be a little hard to get excited about. And although meatloaf is a fantastic easy and quick weeknight dinner, it’s often taken for granted. I think meatloaf is akin to bran muffins in the sense that good one is hard to find. But when you do find the one, it can be life altering (well, as far as dinner goes, anyway). And trust me, this Old fashioned Dairy AND gluten-free meatloaf is definitely the one!
And while I’m a meat girl through and through, I’m not hard core. I regularly enjoy vegetarian and vegan meals. Although I have to confess – I have never ever considered switching to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. I like my meat and wouldn’t want to give it up. But sometimes I feel a little guilty about that, especially when I’m forced to think about it. I remember the day that my son realized meat actually came from an animal. He was about 6 years old.
I was driving and he was in the back seat of the van, we were chatting and somehow it came up in the conversation. And in his typical, adorable, processing of new information, little boy voice, he said,
“What?! Wait a minute…Are you saying that the chicken we eat is actually from a chicken?! Like the animal?”
Where does meat come from?
Then he started to make further connections: “So where does beef come from?” he said. “Cow,” I replied . “And pork chops comes from pigs, as does bacon. ”
His little face crumpled. He’s a sensitive, sweet soul and this obviously really hit him hard. He immediately started to go down the ‘how does it die? And does someone kill it?’ path. I could hear the horror in his voice and at the time, I was not prepared to go anywhere near there. It was bad enough being the bearer of the initial bad news. And he was so visibly upset that in trying to soften the blow of this new discovery, I blurted out, “but don’t worry -the animals are really sick and old.”
Yep. Apparently we like to eat sick, old meat at our house….
Hey, at the time, it seemed like a good answer, as it always appeared to comfort my kids when an older person passed away. You would say they had a good, long life and they were very old and sick and the kids would sigh, and say, “oh, okay then, ” and be able to process it, deal with it and move on.
This explanation appeared to have garnered the same effect. You could trace the wave of relief as it washed over his little face. “Oh, okay then,” he said, “If it’s sick and old…”
I guess if I had to go hunting for my own meat then things would be different. I’m sure there’s a lot of people that feel that way. But since I don’t….
Where does meatloaf come from:
There are many articles out there that talk about the history of meatloaf, so I’m not going to get into that. But if you want to learn more, check out Wikipedia. MY meatloaf comes from my Mom, of course , like most meatloaf does. Well, the base recipe anyway. I’ve made some changes, including making it a dairy-free and gluten-free meatloaf. It’s also an old recipe that she got the recipe out of the Five Roses Cookbook, which was originally published in 1913. It was my very first cookbook and I still use it all the time, as it houses many of my ‘go to’ recipes. You can see it’s been well loved.
Like I said, although meatloaf is a great make-ahead freezer weeknight dinner, it is easy to take for granted. However, I stopped taking this meatloaf for granted when I tried some other, not-so-good meatloaves. Like bad bran muffins, there are a lot of bad meatloaves out there. But this one is moist and flavourful with just the right balance of tomato. This traditional meatloaf is also the one I grew up on, yet it’s still one of my favourite comfort foods. And for those with allergies or aversions, it’s dairy-free and gluten-free so it contains no milk or bread. You can throw it together in 10 minutes and either freeze it to cook at a later date (right in the loaf pan) or cook ahead and then freeze.
Meatloaf comes from Mom:
Let’s just leave it at that.
My son is now 12 and although I’m sure he’s figured out the rest of the meat story by now, for a year or so after that conversation, he’d often seek meat reassurance at the dinner table with statements like, “Oh, we’re having cow for dinner? But it was really sick and old, right?”
Right…..
This could become a little awkward, especially when we had guests. At that point I’d be wishing I had not taken that particular fork in the meat conversation path. But as a parent, it’s natural to try to protect our children from the cold, hard, cruel realities of the world. As adults, we can just choose not the think about them.
In the end, I’m just grateful that I don’t have to hunt for my own meatloaf.
If you are looking for other easy and quick, make-ahead weeknight meals, give my 5 Ingredient Caprese Sheet Pan Chicken Breast a try!
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Old Fashioned Dairy free and Gluten-free Meatloaf
This classic meatloaf recipe is made without eggs, milk or bread crumbs. It is dairy-free, gluten-free, easy and can be made ahead and frozen for a quick weeknight meal.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs extra Lean ground beef
- ½ cup gluten-free ketchup
- ¼ cup gluten-free chili sauce
- 2 tbsp gluten-free relish
- ½ tbsp dry ground mustard
- ¾ cup gluten free quick oats
- 10 ounce can of mushrooms drained
- 1 small onion finely chopped
Garnish:
- sprinkle dried parsley
- additional ketchup (about 3 tbsps )
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 9X5X3 loaf pan with non-stick spray.
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Mix ground beef, ketchup, chilli sauce, relish, dry mustard, oatmeal, onion and mushrooms together in a large bowl.
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Press into a loaf pan with a spatula.
* You'll need to pack it down so the meatloaf will stick together!
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Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees F.
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Garnish with additional ketchup and sprinkle on parsley.
Recipe Notes
*If you don't feel like chopping onion, you can substitute 1 tbsp dried/dehydrated onion
This recipe is part of The Country Cook’s Weekend Potluck link up!
Love this meatloaf although I don’t use canned mushrooms anymore, prefer fresh onest. Love Mom.
I agree- fresh are best, Mom!Thanks for the recipe! ❤️
Meatloaf is a classic. I don’t make it as often as my mom did, but I can also never make it quite as good as she did either. It’s one of those recipes that always brings up warm feelings of family though. I like that yiu made a dairy free version for a different twist in a classic. It looks delicious!
Thanks, Natalie! Yes, Moms always make the best meatloaf! 🙂
I haven’t made meatloaf in forever! I like how this one gives a dairy free and a gluten free option since I do have a few friends that can’t have dairy or gluten!
Def a dish I could make ahead of time for a potluck !
Thanks, Lillian – yes, it always helps to have allergy-friendly recipes in our back pocket. I hope you and your friends like it!
It has been too long since I have had meatloaf, this post has inspired me to make it, and your version looks and sounds so good! Will be giving it a go!
Thanks, Albert! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
This sounds like my kind of meatloaf! I’ve never been a huge meat eater (or a meat loaf fan!) but I can definitely get excited about this version. Sounds delish!
Thanks Justine!
I’m excited to try this but am confused about the potato part in the instructions. ???
Hi Sarah: Thanks so much for pointing that out! About a month ago, my recipes were migrated to the new version of my recipe plug-in and nothing was supposed to change, but I’ve found a few odd glitches. This being one of them! That instruction is from a completely different recipe (caesar twice baked potatoes)! So odd that is ended up there and no wonder it confused you! I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. I hope the recipe makes sense now and that you enjoy it!
Is it ¾ cup cooked oats or raw oats? Will steel cut oats work? Thank you!
Hi Chris- the oats are raw, not cooked. Steel cut take much longer to cook and have a different texture so they don’t necessarily sub well for each other. Although some meatloaf recipes call for them I never use them for meatloaf. But if you do end up trying I’d love to hear how it worked. This is a long cook time meatloaf so it may turn out ok. Enjoy!https://amp.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-steel-cut-rolled-and-instant-oats-138355
Wow, thanks for such a quick and helpful response! I appreciate it 🙂
No problem!
I’d love to try this but confused about the little potatoes in the middle of the meatloaf? A previous comment you replied to said it was from a different recipe but it still shows up so not sure what the correct recipe is. Could you please fix this or email me the correct recipe? Thanks!
Hi Colleen,
Thanks for drawing my attention to this! I don’t know why this keeps happening! And this time it’s a different recipe. There was some kind of glitch on the website and 2 recipes (one that was a draft) were melded together). It’s now fixed! I sent you an email.
Terri