Cheeseburger Meatloaf with Pickles

I truly don’t know why meatloaf gets a bad rap. I remember when I was younger, I assumed meatloaf was gross and I never tried the meatloaf my mom would always make just because I had heard somewhere that meatloaf was gross. Her recipe is not gross by the way. It is made with ground beef, rolled jelly roll style, filled with ham, cheddar and broccoli. During a recent pediatrician appointment with my youngest daughter Lauren, the doctor talked about good nutrition choices for toddlers. When he started listing off the recipes that could be made with toddler friendly ground meat, he mentioned meatloaf and then immediately said, “Eww, gross, I am sure nobody in your house wants to eat meatloaf!” After he said that I was too embarrassed to tell him that we actually eat meatloaf a few times a month! My family loves it. I have at least 5 different meatloaf recipes that I regularly rotate into our dinners.

Cheeseburger meatloaf made with lean ground turkey topped with ketchup, mustard, cheddar cheese and bread and butter pickles is by far our family favorite. My recipe calls for ground turkey, bread crumbs, onion, eggs, Worcester sauce, salt, garlic powder, pepper, ketchup, Dijon mustard, yellow mustard, cheddar cheese and bread & butter pickles. Meatloaf is very easy to make. All you have to do is mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl and then let the oven do the work! My cheeseburger meatloaf recipe makes two loaves of meatloaf. If you have a large family like mine then two loaves are necessary. If not, then you have just made dinner and meal prepped either lunches or dinners for a few more days of the week. Meatloaf freezes well too. If you know you want to freeze a portion of this recipe then I would leave off the pickles and cheese and instead add them when you plan to reheat and eat.

The only thing that you need to be aware of BEFORE cooking meatloaf is that it takes a LONG TIME to cook! After you have spent 15 minutes prepping and assembling your ingredients, you need to prepare for about an hour of cook time plus 10 minutes to cool off. In our house this is a dinner that needs to go in the oven by 5:00 pm at the latest.

This recipe calls for the meatloaf to be made in two loaf pans. I regularly make meatloaf on a sheet pan, but with this recipe, the diced pickles and cheese stay on top of the meatloaf where they are supposed to stay, so much better than if they are on a sheet pan.

Before you get started, prep your nonstick loaf pans. To prepare your meatloaf pans, line them with a strip of parchment paper. Cut the parchment paper down so it is the length of the inside of the loaf pan. Leave an overhang of parchment paper on both sides of the loaf pan. This will allow you to easily remove the meatloaf from the loaf pan once it is cool. I just purchased the Wilton loaf pans pictured below from Amazon and I really love them. They are heavy duty and so far the nonstick coating has worked perfectly.

Now you can mix together the bread crumbs, salt, garlic powder, pepper, eggs, Worcester sauce, ketchup, Dijon mustard and grated onion.

Now mix in the ground turkey. Do not over mix the turkey. Work the turkey into the other ingredients until it is just mixed. Over mixing will result in a dense meatloaf – just like it would if you over mixed meatballs.

Next you will divide your mixture into two even halves. Press each half into the meatloaf pans evenly. After you have evenly pressed the meatloaf into both pans, top the meatloaves with a mixture of ketchup and mustard.

Now it’s time to let the oven do the work! Put both meatloaves into your oven preheated to 375 degrees. Bake for 50 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the loaf registers 165 degrees Fahrenheit. After the meatloaves cooked through, remove from oven and top each loaf with 1/2 cup diced bread & butter pickles and 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Put back in the oven and cook until cheese is melted. About 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Cheeseburger Meatloaf with Pickles

---

• Author: Katie Y.
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 55
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 12 1x

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

Description

Everything you love about a cheeseburger made into a meatloaf.  Instead of spending time flipping burgers on the grill, let the oven do the work!  

---

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 cups bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 medium onion
• 2 tablespoons Worcester sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup divided in 2 equal portions
• 1/8 cup Dijon mustard
• 2 pounds lean ground turkey
• 1/4 cup yellow mustard
• 1 cup diced bread & butter pickles
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

---

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line two loaf pans with parchment paper. Cut the parchment paper down so that it is the exact length of the inside of the loaf pans.  Leave several inches of overhang on both sides.  This is so that you can easily remove your meatloaf from the pan once it is cooked and cooled off.  
2. Peel your onion and grate the onion using a box grater. Using the large holes on the wide side of a 4-sided box grater, grate the onion until you have 1/2 cup onion. 
3. In a large mixing bowl mix together the bread crumbs, salt, garlic powder and pepper.  After the dry ingredients are mixed, add in the eggs, grated onion, Worcester sauce, 1/4 cup of the ketchup and the Dijon mustard.
4. Next mix in the two pounds of lean ground turkey.  Be careful not to over mix.  Mix until just combined. 
5. Divide the ground turkey mixture into two equal portions.  Place each portion into your prepared loaf pans.  Press down and spread out evenly into the bottom of each pan.
6. Mix together the remaining 1/4 cup ketchup and the 1/4 cup of yellow mustard.  Spread the ketchup mustard mixture evenly onto the top of both meatloaves.
7. Place both meatloaves into the preheated oven and bake for 50 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted in the center registers 165 degrees Fahrenheit.  
8. After the meatloaves are cooked through, remove from oven and top each meatloaf with 1/2 cup each diced pickles and 1 cup each shredded cheddar cheese.  Put back in the oven and bake for an additional 5 minutes to melt the cheese.  Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.  

• Category: dinner
• Method: baking

Keywords: cheeseburger, meatloaf, cheeseburger meatloaf, pickles, ground turkey, ketchup, mustard