This turkey meatloaf is juicy and delicious — it gives meatloaf a whole new, yummy, exciting name!
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This recipe is…
This turkey meatloaf is so tasty! If you’re skeptical when it comes to meatloaf, rest assured that this loaf gives a whole new name to the dish. The ketchup, honey, and mustard topping is just classic enough while also giving this meatloaf a whole new life!
Make this on a busy weeknight (or, even better, make it over the weekend for a busy weeknight ahead!). If you’re game, grab enough of the ingredients to double — or even triple — the recipe so that you can freeze one or two for later!
Recipe Ingredients
Below, you’ll find all of the ingredients for this tasty turkey meatloaf — I’d be willing to bet that you have several of these hanging out in your pantry already!
- Ground Turkey – to start, you’ll need 2 pounds of ground turkey.
- Panko Breadcrumbs – a ½ cup of panko breadcrumbs not only acts as a binding agent here but also helps to keep the meatloaf nice and moist.
- Yellow Onion – ½ of a diced yellow onion adds both flavor and moisture to the loaf.
- Garlic – 3 cloves of minced garlic head into the mixture for another flavor add!
- Dried Spices – a ¼ teaspoon of dried thyme and a ½ teaspoon of dried oregano head into the meatloaf mixture for some really delicious flavor.
- Egg – 1 egg helps to further bind the loaf.
- Ketchup – you’ll also need a ½ cup ketchup, divided in half. Half of the ketchup will head into the meat mixture and the other half will be saved for the meatloaf topping!
- Honey – a ¼ cup of honey gets divided in half too, with half going into the mixture and half being saved for the topping.
- Mustard – as a last flavor add, you’ll need 6 tablespoons of yellow mustard. As with the ketchup and honey, half goes straight into the meat mixture and the rest gets added to the top of the meatloaf before it heads into the oven.
- Fresh Parsley – garnish your finished meatloaf with 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped parsley, if you wish!
Ingredient Modifications
This recipe is absolutely delicious, but if you need to make swaps, feel free! Here are a few that we know will work:
- Make it gluten-free: use GF panko breadcrumbs.
- Use a different mustard: for a fun twist, use a dijon or spicy brown mustard instead of regular yellow mustard.
- Use a different protein: if turkey isn’t your thing, use ground beef, pork, or chicken instead.
- Use different spices: if you’re unsure about the herby flavors of thyme and oregano, use a different spice combination or just omit the additional spices altogether.
- Use garlic and onion powder instead of fresh: if you’re out of fresh garlic or onion (or just don’t have it in you to chop the fresh stuff up — I get it!), use granulated instead. If you go this route, you’ll need a ½ teaspoon of garlic powder and a ½ tablespoon of onion powder.
How to Make
- Prep – preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Make the meatloaf mixture – in a large bowl, mix together the ground turkey, breadcrumbs, diced onion, minced garlic, spices, egg, and half of the ketchup, mustard, and honey. Add the mixture to a loaf pan, pressing down so that the top is flat and even.
- Make the sauce – in a small bowl, mix together the other half of the ketchup, honey, and mustard until fully combined. Then, spread the sauce over the top of the meatloaf.
- Bake – bake the meatloaf for 30 minutes covered with foil, then remove the foil, and bake uncovered for another 30 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the middle of the meatloaf registers 165°F.
- Broil (optional) – for a crusty topping, broil the meatloaf for 2 minutes, keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.
- Serve and enjoy!
How to Store and Reheat
Your turkey meatloaf will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator.
To freeze, keep your cooked turkey meatloaf in the loaf pan and cover it tightly with two pieces of foil (the double-foil will help to keep moisture off of the meatloaf). As an extra measure (totally not necessary, though), you can also tightly wrap the foil-covered loaf pan with plastic wrap — just be sure to remove the plastic wrap before popping it into the oven if you go that route!
As for reheating, you’ve got a few options. You can either reheat the meatloaf once thawed (my preferred method) or pop it into the oven frozen.
- Reheat from thawed: transfer your meatloaf to the refrigerator to thaw two days before you plan on enjoying it. On the day-of, simply transfer the meatloaf to a 375°F oven for 30 minutes, until warmed through.
- Reheat from frozen: transfer the meatloaf to a 375°F oven to heat through for an hour and a half. Then, remove the foil, and let it continue warming for 30 more minutes in the oven.
Frequently Asked Questions
You don’t need to grease your loaf pan before adding the meatloaf mixture to it — the mixture itself has enough moisture and fat in it to keep it from sticking.
Cook your turkey meatloaf until the internal temperature reads 165°F. If you don’t have an in-oven meat thermometer, I highly recommend snagging one — these little gadgets make cooking meat in the oven totally fail-proof.
Your meatloaf will bake for 30 minutes covered with foil and then for another 30 minutes uncovered.
The combination Cassy used here (ketchup + honey + yellow mustard) is really delicious, but if you’re looking for something totally different, you can top your meatloaf with BBQ sauce or a really delicious balsamic glaze (like the one used in this mini meatloaf recipe).
The egg + panko breadcrumbs act as binders here, so your meatloaf definitely shouldn’t fall apart. If it does, there’s a good chance you overcooked the meatloaf, so be sure to use a meat thermometer whenever possible.
More Favorite Turkey Recipes
Turkey Meatloaf
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground turkey
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
- ½ yellow onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 egg
- ½ cup ketchup divided
- 6 tablespoons yellow mustard divided
- ¼ cup honey divided
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a large bowl, mix together the ground turkey, breadcrumbs, diced onion, minced garlic, spices, egg, a ¼ cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons yellow mustard, 3 tablespoons honey, and salt. Add the mixture to a loaf pan, pressing down so that the top is flat and even.
- In a small bowl, mix together the other half of the ketchup, honey, and mustard until fully combined. Then, spread the sauce over the top of the meatloaf.
- Bake the meatloaf for 30 minutes covered with foil, then remove the foil, and bake uncovered for another 30 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted into the middle of the meatloaf registers 165°F.
- For a crusty topping, broil the meatloaf for 2 minutes, keeping an eye on it so it doesn’t burn.
- Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
I suspect there are some mistakes in this recipe. I followed it carefully and two issues arose: 1. My sauce was much more yellow than the red in the photos. If you follow the directions / ingredients list, that means the sauce has equal parts mustard and ketchup (4 TBSPs / 1/4 cup leftover of each). The color wasn’t very appetizing. 2. An *additional* half hour of baking (90 mins total) was required for the inside center temp to reach 165 F. My husband was a little hangry by the time it was done . 3: The result was pretty dense and a bit dry despite the fact that it had boiled liquid over during baking onto the bottom of my oven :/ I should’ve known better than to not put a pan on the shelf below to catch drippings!
Enjoyed recipe but added salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder. And cooked longer than called for.
Thank you for the feedback!
Love love love all your recipes! This one caught me off guard because I saw that it had a 30 minute cook time but it’s actually an hour!!
We are so sorry about that, Hazel! We have updated the recipe card to reflect the correct cooking time. Thank you for bringing it to our attention! -Team F&F
This is easy to put together, so no complaints, but it says total time is 45 minutes but that’s not right. It’s 1 hour and 15 minutes. Can that be corrected?
Hi Tessa! Our sincerest apologies! There was an error on the recipe card. We have updated to match the accurate cook time. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. -Team F&F
Cook time needs to be updated, it currently says cook time is 30 minutes but recipe reads 30 covered and 30 uncovered, 60 total.
So sorry about that, Nicole! Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We have updated the recipe card. -Team F&F