Barbecue Meatloaf Recipe (5-Ingredient)

I recently came across a meatloaf recipe online that called for 20 ingredients. I was perplexed because my mom’s meatloaf recipe has just five ingredients and is, in my humble opinion, one of the best and easiest meatloaf recipes I’ve ever made. 

With just a few pantry items and two pounds of ground beef, her recipe is just as good, if not better, than all those long-winded meatloaf recipes out there. As an added bonus, you probably already have everything you’ll need on hand right now, and you don’t need to chop a thing!

 Simplifying Meatloaf

Some recipes rely on fresh breadcrumbs to keep the ground beef moist and to bind the ingredients together. My mom is 100% a practical cook who has no patience or time to make fresh breadcrumbs. She also doesn’t keep dried breadcrumbs in the pantry, so she turns to what she always has on hand for snacks: buttery crackers. Just a quick bash with a rolling pin and voilà: pre-seasoned breadcrumbs! 

Many meatloaf recipes use a ton of different vegetables like peppers, onions, carrots, and/or celery. Beyond all the chopping, they also require you to sauté them before adding them to the meat. My mom narrowed down the ingredients over the years to just onion, and since she doesn’t love knife work, she grates it instead. 

A box grater actually does a great job of finely cutting up the onion and making the pieces nice and juicy. I’ve discovered there are far fewer tears during grating if you use a sweet onion like Walla Walla or Maui. This less sulfurous onion also lends a milder flavor to the meatloaf—an extra bonus since the onion goes in raw.

 Barbecue Sauce Adds Moisture and Tons of Flavor

To add moisture and bind the meatloaf mixture together, mom adds eggs, which is typical of most meatloaf recipes. But unlike other meatloaf recipes, she doesn’t fuss with milk, ketchup, or a litany of other ingredients some folks use to add more moisture. My mom, ever the pragmatist, figured out that bottled barbecue sauce adds the most flavor, plus it’s an ingredient she always has on hand. 

The barbecue sauce is mixed into the meat mixture and serves as a glaze for the top of the meatloaf, contributing sweetness, tang, and a touch of smokiness. I use Kinder’s Mild BBQ Sauce when making this recipe, but you can use whatever brand of store-bought barbecue sauce is your favorite.

Free-Form It

Mom usually tucks her meatloaf into her well-worn meatloaf pan, but I find that baking the meatloaf on a parchment-lined baking sheet is quicker and tastier. Using a sheet pan also allows for more air circulation during baking, which equals more browned bits around the edges. Those browned bits are much more flavorful and have a better texture than loaf pan meatloaf, and are absolutely my favorite part.

How To Make My Mom’s 5-Ingredient Barbecue Meatloaf

To make six servings, you’ll need:

• 1 sleeve (about 29) buttery round crackers such as Ritz, crushed to fine crumbs
• 1 cup barbecue sauce, divided
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pounds ground beef, 10 to 20% fat
• 1 medium sweet onion, grated on the large holes of a box grater (about 3/4 cup)

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, 1/2 cup of the barbecue sauce, eggs, salt, and pepper. Stir and set aside for 10 minutes to soften. Once the cracker crumbs are moistened, add the ground beef and grated onion and stir or mix with clean hands to thoroughly combine. 

Put the meatloaf mixture in the middle of the prepared baking sheet and form it into a 9 x 5-inch loaf. Bake the meatloaf for 30 minutes. 

Spread the remaining 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce on top of the partially-baked meatloaf, then continue to bake until the center of the meatloaf reads 160°F on an instant-read thermometer, 25 to 35 more minutes. 

Let the meatloaf cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes so it slices more neatly. Use a sharp knife to cut the meatloaf into thick slices and serve. 

Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Reheat slices of meatloaf in the microwave, covered with a paper towel, until heated through.