These mini Italian gluten free meatloaf muffins may look like cupcakes, but they are a savory and delicious dinner idea. Your kids will love these, even when they realize these meat loaves are healthy!
This easy dinner recipe would have been a perfect April Fool’s joke for my family….but I am often behind the times because it’s already May. These mini meatloaves looked so plain, and quite frankly quite ugly sitting on their plate.
I couldn’t resist making these little meatloaf muffins to look just like cupcakes.
I wanted to see what my kids would think. Would they eat it?? This has all of the classic ingredients of a fabulous trick to play on my family.
Vegetables…check. Hidden sources of nutrition…check. Looks like a dessert…check.
Taste? Let’s not go there yet…but if you insist, my kids gobbled this gluten free meatloaf up. Even my picky eater loved them. The secret was lots of cheese. I may even try to make this meatloaf recipe with bacon next time too.
TIP: You can freeze this recipe and thaw out the loaves as needed so feel free to make a lot. (The mashed potatoes won’t freeze on top of the muffins, so you may want to make that when you thaw them out.)”
(*If you love to hide veggies in your cooking, give these Gluten Free Acorn Squash Caramel Cookies or Gluten Free Butternut Squash Caramel Cake Bars a try!)
Green Garlic
Spring is my favorite time for green garlic. Green garlic is garlic before it the inside cloves become defined. This is usually only available for a couple of months a year. This green garlic is the last of the bunch I got from our CSA. It is almost on the border of being full on garlic, but not quite.
How to make gluten free meatloaf:
I chopped up the green garlic, added the gluten free panko, egg, fresh basil, and mozzarella cheese.
Spread it out in a muffin tin to bake. Whip mashed potatoes and you can put it on top to look like your frosting.
Unfortunately, nobody was fooled for long. My son really dug in and enjoyed this new way to eat a meatloaf. My picky one…well, let’s just say her teenaged palate was not impressed. More for everyone else who loved them:-).
Click here to see all of the meat recipes on this blog.
Substitutions and Tips:
- Feel free to make these with ground beef, or use ground turkey to make gluten free turkey meatloaf.
- If you want this to be a low carb meatloaf, grind up pork rinds and use these instead of breadcrumbs. Super yum!!
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Tools You Need To Make This Recipe:
- Muffin pan: This is the easiest way to get those cute cupcake shapes for these meat loaves.
- Electric mixer: My favorite way to whip up potatoes so they are creamy and fluffy! This is the brand I use. I also like that it has dough hooks and a whisk attachments.
How to make gluten free meatloaf:
Easy gluten free meat loaf.
- 1 1/4 pounds organic grass fed ground beef
- 1/3 cup gluten free panko
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 bulb fresh green garlic thinly sliced
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil thinly sliced
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
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In a large bowl, add all ingredients.
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Mix well.
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Take a muffin tin and fill each cup 3/4 full with the meat mixture.
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Bake for 20 minutes until done.
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Optional, serve with mashed potato.
Check out these fabulous April Fool’s Day Food Pranks…next year I am planning ahead more to try a few of these out on my family!
More Delicious Dinner Ideas!
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- Apricot Bourbon BBQ Grilled Chicken
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- Deconstructed Grilled Eggplant Parmesan
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- 5 Ingredient Crockpot Pot Roast
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- GF Grilled Chicken with Citrus Vinaigrette
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- Asian Marinaded Chicken Legs
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- Butternut Squash Chili
Looking for a side dish to serve with these Italian Mini Meat Loaves? How about trying these Sweet Potatoes with Honey and Leeks?
Michelle @ The Complete Savorist
I adore these little “stacks”. I am a huge meatloaf fan, in any way, shape or from.
Sandi Gaertner
Awww Thank you Michelle 🙂
Eileen Kelly
I absolutely love the idea of making gluten-free mini meatloaves in the muffin tins. I love the idea of using the green garlic in the loaves. I have garlic in my garden and I love adding the green garlic to recipes. My niece is so picky but I am making these for her and with the meatloaf being minis and styled like a cupcake- I think I can finally get her to eat something other than grilled cheese. The mashed potatoes as the “frosting” is a keeper.
Sandi Gaertner
I would love to know how you use green garlic Eileen. I am experimenting more with it, I love the flavors.
Chrisy
Okay, I LOVE this idea! Great way to spice up regular meat loaf 😀 My family is always requesting it, so this will be a VERY welcome change!
Sandi Gaertner
I am so glad you like this Chrisy. Let me know how your family likes these 🙂