Meat Loaf Recipes

Sweet Italian turkey sausage and freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese lend an almost meatball-like flavor to this moist and marinara-topped turkey meat loaf.

Breakfast sausage and cherries mixed into ground pork create an intensely flavorful and juicy meatloaf that is also really quick to prepare.

For a healthier meat loaf, Restaurant Divided host and weight-loss guru Rocco DiSpirito cuts back the meat and swaps in mushrooms. He uses earthy creminis along with ground beef and turkey for a loaf that's moist and tasty.

The original version of this recipe from Dine with Your Friends, published in 1936 by the Women's Faculty Club of Northwestern University Medical School, called for a mixture of boiled ham and ground veal. We substituted bacon for the ham to add a nice touch of smokiness.

This luxurious yet easy take on classic meat loaf gets stuffed with spinach, carrots, prosciutto and cheese. The vegetables can be leftovers, says Mario Batali: "Just make sure they're cooked long enough to be very soft--if they're al dente, the meat loaf will tear when you slice it and wreck your day." Mild and tangy caciocavallo cheese, made in Italy from cow's milk, is excellent in the filling, but provolone is a fine substitute.

David Burke bakes a simple ground-beef mixture in the oven, setting it between slices of bread to soak up all of the savory meat drippings. Then he slathers each sandwich with a supersimple chipotle-mayonnaise sauce.

Shea Gallante brushes his meat loaf with a red wine glaze, which caramelizes as it bakes. The glaze also makes the meat loaf especially easy to pair with red wine.

"This is a culmination of all the meat loaves I've ever eaten," says Andrew Curren, chef-partner of 24 Diner in Austin. "My mom always made a good meat loaf--it never had the tomato goo on top of it. Then I tasted a meat loaf that had cheese in it; that was a good idea. In Italy, I was introduced to soffritto and realized the importance of cooking with carrots, onion, celery." Curren serves the meat loaf with creamy gravy, which is also excellent on lunchtime meat loaf sandwiches.

Shape the meat into loaves then cook them in a spicy tomato sauce blended with prepared hummus.

If you like, serve half of the meat loaf one night and save the rest to make Sloppy Joes later in the week.