Meatloaf Muffin Recipe – Comfort Food with Quaker® Life #QuakerUp #LoveMyCereal

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Quaker. All opinions are mine alone. #CollectiveBias #LoveMyCereal #QuakerUp

Meatloaf Muffins Comfort Food 1 #QuakerUp #LoveMyCereal #cbias

There’s something about colder weather that makes me crave comfort foods. One of my favorite dishes my mom makes is meatloaf… Meatloaf will always bring back memories of childhood, memories of my mom, and the comfort those memories provide. The thing is, it doesn’t matter how hard I try, I cannot make my meatloaf taste exactly like my mom’s. So I’ve decided to make my version of her meatloaf.

Quaker Life at Walmart Collage

And while I was at Walmart the other day picking up cereal (cereal is a comfort food for my husband and son), I got inspired. Why not substitute the crackers my mom uses in her meatloaf recipe with Quaker® Life cereal?!?! I also decided to make meatloaf muffins, this way I can freeze leftovers — and maybe one day my son will feel the same way about “my” meatloaf.

Meatloaf calls for very basic ingredients I can get from Walmart, too, so that made it easy for me. It really is an easy recipe, it makes the kitchen smell so good, and nothing says comfort more than meatloaf. Oh, add some mashed potatoes, corn, and yeast rolls and it’s Sunday dinner any day of the week!

Check out the recipe and I hope you’ll give this meatloaf muffin recipe a try yourself:

Meatloaf Muffin with Quaker® Life

(Printer-Friendly Version HERE)

Ingredients for Meatloaf Muffins #QuakerUp #LoveMyCereal #collectivebias

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. lean hamburger
  • 2 cup crushed Quaker® Life Cereal
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 can tomato sauce
  • 1 cup diced onion
  • 1 cup diced green pepper
  • 1 tsp Bertolli olive oil
  • 1 pkg meatloaf seasoning mix
  • Ketchup

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place olive oil in small pan.

Chopped onions green peppers for Meatloaf muffins #QuakerUp #LoveMyCereal #cbias

Chop onion and green pepper and saute for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Meanwhile put all ingredients except ketchup in a large bowl. (I used 1 cup crushed Quaker® Life, but will use 2 cups from now on).

Meatloaf mixture #QuakerUp #LoveMyCereal

Add onion and green pepper after it’s cooled.

Now get in there and mix it altogether with your hands. (Tips: Remove rings and if you must, wear disposable gloves). It really tastes better if you mix it with your hands. It just does!

Mix it up Meatloaf Muffins #QuakerUp #LoveMyCereal

Scoop meatloaf mixture into your muffin pan. This recipe will yield 12 exactly. (You can double recipe for more).

Put 2-3 tbs of  ketchup on top of your meatloaf muffins and make a tent over them with aluminum foil.

Scoop Meatloaf mixture into muffin pan

Place in center of oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for 10-15 minutes.

Allow to cool for 3-5 minutes before serving.

Meatloaf Muffins with Quaker Life #recipe #QuakerUp #LoveMyCereal #cbias

They turned out so good! They had just a slight hint of sweetness that my husband really liked. In fact, he said it was the best meatloaf he’d ever eaten. I did only use one cup of Quaker Life®, but next time I will double it. I love making the meatloaf in muffin form so I can freeze them and just take out how many I want for a quick comfort food fix any time I want.

Meatloaf is even more of a comfort food for me right now since this will be the first Christmas I haven’t spent at least some time around the holidays with my parents in probably 20 years. But this year I won’t be traveling to visit them. My husband and son might as well get used to eating a lot of meatloaf, is all I’ve got to say.

Quaker Cereal 1 #cbias

As I mentioned above my family loves cereal, too. Not just for breakfast, or in meatloaf recipes, but as an anytime snack, so I stock up from time to time on Quaker Life® , Oatmeal Squares® , Real Medleys® , and/or Simply Granola® . I want my family to have quick access to “comfort” foods.

Get social with Quaker…

What’s your favorite comfort food and why?

 

83 Comments

  1. I love meatloaf and cooking them in cupcake pans is brilliant but I married a vegetarian. There is nothing equal to a good old fashioned meatloaf in the vegetarian world and I’ve tried lentil loaf, Special K loaf, quinoa loaf, etc. The fat in the meat mixed with the onion, spices, tomatoes, gives it the unique flavor I can’t duplicate in vegetarian food.

  2. This such a great idea and a nice twist to a traditional recipe #client

  3. That sure is different. I make my meatloaf totally from scratch using fresh bread crumbs. No dry mix. This may be good. I’m wondering about the cereal. How does that taste?

    1. Author

      Lisa, you really wouldn’t know it was cereal in it. You can taste a slight (and I do mean slight) sweetness, which my husband must have loved because he isn’t a huge meatloaf lover like me, and he loved this. As I said in my post I did just use one cup of cereal and plan on using two the next time I make it, so I may also add a tsp of salt to it, too. If you try it, let me know what you think!

  4. Thanks for the meatloaf recipe. We all around her love meatloaf.

  5. My son will like this recipe. He has been playing around with making meatloaf different ways lately. My aspiring chef. 🙂

  6. yummm…this sounds really good!

  7. I cannot wait to give this a try! I have tried corn flakes before and was surprised how much it changed the flavor of the meatloaf, so I’m looking forward to the taste and texture of this one. Love the use of muffin tins for portion control as well. Thanks!

  8. I love pasta smothered in cream sauce 🙂 What a great idea to use crushed cereal in your meatloaf. I’ll have to try that!

  9. sounds about like ours but I don’t use cereal, use 2 cups of quick cook oatmeal

  10. Perfect size meatloaf all I need is Mac n cheese. I love the recipe.

  11. This looks like the PERFECT comfort food. The only thing I would add is a good cheesy mac-n-cheese. 🙂

  12. i dont like meatloaf but my mom and brother do.i like the idea of using a muffin tin to make individual portions.

  13. looks like a great recipe. Happy Holidays

  14. Yum! I love comfort foods, especially meatloaf and mashed potatoes.

  15. I love meatloaf and I make mine just like yours except I used crackers. I will try the oatmeal next time I make meatloaf. Thanks for the recipe my comfort food is hamburger soup with lots of vegtables.

    1. Author

      Hi Judy! My mom uses crackers, too. She told me she is going to try it with Life cereal now. 🙂

  16. Meatloaf was one of my favorites before becoming a vegetarian, and my mom would make a mean meatloaf! I’ll have to pass this recipe to her for sure. 🙂

  17. An interesting take on meatloaf using cereal.I’ll try it. We love meatloaf and I like trying different recipes. Thanks for sharing.
    Carol L

  18. I can’t wait to try this recipe! We are always looking for ways to make meatloaf, this looks so yummy!

  19. I love that this recipe contains the cereal and also that it is baked in muffin pans. This is perfect portion control.

  20. My family loves meatloaf and I love the idea of making individual ones in a muffin tin!

  21. I grew up on Life cereal. I love it. I have not added to any sort of recipe before. I could see this being really good. Thanks for the inspiration.

  22. What a great idea! Mini meat loaves. I’ve tried using Corn Flake crumbs in my meatloaf, and like the flavour. I’m going to try this!

  23. i love meatloaf i look for recipes to make it all the time thanks for the recipe

  24. I’ve never tried Meatloaf with Cereal, but I will give it a try. I’ve been a favor of Quaker products for years. Thanks for the recipe.

  25. I love meatloaf but have never been able to make one that I like. I follow recipes that I’ve gotten from friends and family and mine just doesn’t taste the same. I’ll try your recipe and hope for the best.
    My favorite comfort food is fried chicken with mashed potatoes & gravy along with corn and a nice hot roll.

  26. No question about it, it is mashed potatoes and gravy. I don’t know why but I’ve always loved it!

  27. I love making meatloaf in smaller loafs to cut down on cooking time. This is great when you have kids and keeping portions smaller.

  28. This sounds very tasty! and I love my meatloaf but willing to give this a try with the cereal 🙂 and I really like how you used a muffin pan, I think its really great for the grandchildren 🙂

  29. I would never have thought that cereal would be included as an ingredient in a meatloaf recipe. I will have to try it.

  30. If you could use a rice cereal they would be gluten free so I could enjoy them with my grandchildren.

  31. I would never dream of putting life cereal in meatloaf, but it looks good I am going to try it. I love cooking them in the muffin pans.

  32. This sounds really good. We love meatloaf here too. I would love making these and freezing them for a quick meal later.

  33. This is fantastic, Thank you for sharing!

  34. I love this idea. I had made mini meatloves a couple years ago, and we just loved them. Different ingrediants, but we have dietary issues that we have to alter most recipes.

  35. Wow, i never thought about using cereal, that’s probably really good. I need to try it.

  36. thanks for sharing the recipe. You have great step by step directions.

  37. I love meatloaf, but my husband dislikes it. 🙁

  38. I totally love the idea of using Life in meatloaf. I’m a HUGE meatloaf fan anyhow!

  39. this is such a simple meal to make and i would have never thought of using cereal as “breadcrumbs” i am definitely going to have to try this one out!

    1. Me either, but I sure do like the idea. Plus, I could have the cereal for breakfast too. 🙂

  40. that great idea about doing it in the meat laof ilike to do it in the
    cupcke one

  41. My favourite comfort food is mac and cheese. thank you for the meatloaf recipe. I will try it, although I don’t have a whole lot of luck with meatloaf.

  42. I have made these and they are really good The other nice thing is you have portion control and its easy to even cut them in half for smaller kids.

  43. I love meatloaf! This recipe skunds rdally good a. Simple. I will try it soon.

  44. I LOVE it when recipes have a unique twist to them. I’ve never thought of adding cereal to my meatloaf but I love how it turned out so I’m going to have to give this a try myself.

  45. I would never have thought to use Life cereal…I use either bread crumbs or Oatmeal…I will have to try this..thanks for sharing!

  46. I use crackers in my meatloaf recipe. I’d love to mix it up and try it with Quaker Life instead. I know it’ll be fantastic.

  47. My sister lovesss meatloaf so she always try to find an opportunity to cook a pan of meatloaf! I think I will pass this recipe to her since it’s her favorite comfort food! Thank you!

  48. This is such a great idea! I would never have thought to make meatloaf in a muffin tin. My family loves meatloaf so I can’t wait to try this recipe. I love trying new twists to family favorites. Thanks!

  49. delicious 🙂

  50. great recipe! I’m definitely going to try this. Thanks for sharing 🙂

  51. I love grilled cheese sandwiches! I really like Life cereal, but never thought of grinding it up and including it in place of bread crumbs or crackers, what a great idea.

  52. Hi Donna!

    I never thought about using cereal but this looks amazing! Thanks for sharing this recipe with us. I love easy cooking like this :).

    I hope you had a very Merry Christmas! Have a great day and Happy New Year!!

  53. I love meat loaf and I am always looking for a new recipe to try. Thank you for sharing. Happy New Year!

  54. Yum! Those look so good! I will have to try these, I love bite size stuff! 🙂

  55. That’s so interesting, using cereal in place of crackers.

  56. I made meatloaf last night, it’s totally a delicious comfort food.

  57. Wow, what a great recipe! I love meatloaf and can’t wait to try this recipe! Thanks for sharing!

  58. I’d love to have much sauce for my meatballs so they’re not too dry. Great instruction!

  59. I have never heard of using Life Cereal in Meatloaf before, thanks for the Recipe, I will have to try this!

  60. I’m a vegetarian, so I wouldn’t eat this, but I have to tell you I think it’s super clever and would totally try it if I weren’t! 🙂 Very clever.

  61. We love meatloaf. Never tried adding cereal before. This is a first.

  62. i would have never thought to make them into mufins

  63. i will defo try it! thanks for sharin 🙂

  64. I love Life cereal but I can’t say I had every thought to use it in my meatloaf until now. Also, I usually do the traditional loaf but doing smaller muffin sizes makes so much more sense. Thanks!

  65. This is neat. Never made it in muffin pan I always just made a loaf. Thanks for the information.

  66. This definitely looks tasty. It looks like the perfect comfort food!

  67. I use actual Quaker oats in my meatloaf recipe and have attempted similar meatloaf cupcakes in the past, but used the mashed potatoes as frosting. They were a huge hit of course!

  68. Yum! Those look delicious!

  69. Meat has always been my favorite comfort food. I like this recipe and I’m to make it.

  70. Thanks for the recipe. The meatloaf looks so fancy made in the muffin pan

  71. I love how it is simple to make and tasty! my family would approve!

  72. I have never made my meatloaf like this,but I will give it a try. Thank you for the information.

  73. We are always looking for new ways to prepare meatloaf!

  74. I’m always interested to see other peoples recipe ideas. It gives me ideas on how to change mine up a bit. I haven’t tried this yet, but hope to soon.

  75. This is such a great idea. It makes for great portion size. I would have never thought to use Life Cereal. We love life cereal. Thank you so much for sharing

Comments are closed.