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!
If you are new to gluten free living, don't forget to check out my easy guide to help you get started.
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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.
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!
Freezing 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!)
What is Green Garlic?
Spring is my favorite time for green garlic. Green garlic is garlic before the inside cloves become defined. This is usually only available fresh 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.
🔪 Instructions:
You will love how easy this recipe is. No need to pre-cook anything, it comes together so quickly. Just dump all of the ingredients into a bowl and mix.
I chopped up the green garlic, added the gluten free panko, egg, fresh basil, and mozzarella cheese.
If you are looking for a healthier version, you will love this Gluten Free Turkey Meatloaf recipe!!
Spread the meat mixture out in a muffin tin to bake. Whip up this easy cream cheese mashed potatoes recipe 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 meatloaf. My picky one...well, let's just say her teenaged palate was not impressed. More for everyone else who loved them:-).
🥗 Side dishes:
- Cinnamon Brown Sugar Carrots
- Grandma's Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Bacon
- Kid-Friendly Kale and Apple Salad (Yes, kids do love this!)
- Pan-Fried Sweet Potatoes with Honey
Click here to see all of the dinner recipes on this blog.
📖 Variations:
- 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!!
Reader adaptations:
Pinterest user, Sunshine changed this recipe up in a delicious way! "I made mine a little differently. Oregano, garlic powder, gluten free bobs red mill brown rice ground flour, 1 egg, and ground meat. I just added the ingredients to the taste I wanted. Ketchup and brown sugar mixed together to put into muffin tins than the meat mixture. Baked at 350º F for 23mins. Perfectly delicious!"
Tools:
- Muffin pan: This is the easiest way to get those cute cupcake shapes for these meatloaves.
- 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 whisk attachments.
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📖 Recipe
Gluten Free Italian Mini Meat Loaves
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ pounds organic grass fed ground beef
- ⅓ cup gluten free panko
- ½ cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 bulb fresh green garlic thinly sliced
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil thinly sliced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, add all ingredients.
- Mix well.
- Take a muffin tin and fill each cup ¾ full with the meat mixture.
- Bake for 20 minutes until done.
- Optional, serve with mashed potato.
Nutrition
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Nichole
Can you substitute the green garlic with something else? Our grocery store didn’t have any so I’m assuming it’s out of season.
Sandi Gaertner
Hi Nichole, feel free to substitute 2 cloves of garlic. Mince them through a garlic press. Thank you!