Mini Zucchini Meatloaf
Mini Zucchini Meatloaf
I went WAY too long without posting a new meatloaf recipe…I am SO sorry! Thank goodness I can now redeem myself and add my eleventh meatloaf recipe. Okay spoiler alert, I made another meatloaf recently and will likely post it next week….
Zucchini has such a high water content that the meatloaf stays very moist with this bonus ingredient! If you struggle with beef, adding zucchini and taking very small black bean sized bites will help you feel comfortable after your meal.
I’ve mentioned before how awesome muffin pans are to create mini meatloaves but have I mentioned how easy it is to simply shape your own smaller meatloaves? This is perfect for bariatric patients looking to batch cook several meals in advance. I made four meatloaves out of this recipe. Serving this meal is so easy because you don’t have to slice up meatloaf or even remove them from the muffin pan!
Everyone gets their own personal meatloaf and it cooks faster than a traditional meatloaf. Make any meatloaf recipe this way! Gastric sleeve and bypass patients can portion meals out to their liking and have lunches ready for a few days. Jackpot!
Mini Zucchini Meatloaf
Ingredients
- 1 lb 93% lean ground beef
- 1 medium zucchini, grated
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed/minced
- 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 1 tsp each salt and peper
- 4 tbsp low sugar ketchup for topping
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350F. Combine all ingredients except ketchup in a bowl.
- Scoop meat mixture into six loaves onto a large stoneware baking pan or a large rimmed cookie sheet lined with foil or parchment paper.
- Use hands to shape each pile into a small meatloaf. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and top with a one tbsp of ketchup to each loaf. Bake about 8 minutes more. Remove, let cool and serve.
Does this work with ground turkey?
Yes!
We made this tonight using a mini-meatloaf pan (like a muffin pan, but with rectangles) and it was really good. It made six mini loaves, and one was plenty for me.
I’m so glad you liked it Connie!!! Yes, that solid protein is very filling! :)
Please tell me about how much per loaf..1/2 cup? I have a problem judging portion size!
These were so tasty!! I use the app so I had to guess on the calories. Definitely will make again!!
If I want to freeze some of this (it’s just me and my husband) should I freeze it cooked or uncooked?
@pahoneyb I would cook and then freeze personally. I would pull them out the night before and then reheat in an oven. It feels a little better to me in terms of food safety.
Can you tell me the calories for this
@Elizabeth On serving would be an estimated 181 calories depending on brands of ingredients (grated cheese and ketchup in particular)
Made this last night in my Pampered Chef brownie pan so it made slightly smaller individual loafs. We loved it. My only issue was there was a LOT of liquid. I didn’t have the low-fat ground beef on hand so I used the regular mix, which may have been the culprit. However, I didn’t squeeze out any excess water from the zucchini. Should that be done in the future?
@Greta, what a great idea to use the Pamp Chef Browning Pan!! That is a great question. I bet it was all of the above and would squeeze the liquid from the zucchini in the future. I will update the recipe to make a note about that! Thank you for commenting!
Hi! Just found your site/recipes and am so thankful! If I used ground turkey for this one, how different would the nutritional info be? Would I just input the turkey info from package instead of beef? Thanks for sharing!!
@Stephanie McDaniel I’m so glad the recipes are helpful!! Using ground turkey is perfectly fine (look for at least 90% lean) and yes if you use a digital food journal that calculates recipes for you (Baritastic and MyFitnessPal both do) then you can get a more accurate count using turkey.