This flavorful sausage meatloaf is topped with a balsamic ketchup glaze and is easy to prepare with a blend of county sausage and ground beef.
If you are looking for a new way to craft a delicious meatloaf, this is it. Country sausage is already heavily seasoned with herbs and spices, so it brings a lot of flavor to the party. This makes for an easy meatloaf because there aren't a lot of other ingredients required.
Sausage Meatloaf
Sausage meatloaf is not made entirely with sausage. It is actually a blend of ground beef and country pork sausage (check out the link if you need a visual example). Since country sausage is so heavily seasoned, only ½ pound is needed and can be blended with one pound of ground beef.
Every meatloaf needs a proper glaze. Yes, you can simply use ketchup, but that is a bit boring. This recipe blends balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce with ketchup and it really makes an exciting glaze.
Sausage Meatloaf Ingredients
- Ground beef - 80/20 beef is typically recommended for meatloaf, but since pork sausage is so fatty you can use 85/15 instead.
- Country sausage - Country sausage, or breakfast sausage, is best for this recipe, however, Italian sausage would work well as a substitution.
- Breadcrumbs - Breadcrumbs keep the meatloaf tender.
- Egg - A beaten egg serves as a binder to hold the meatloaf together.
- Milk - Milk soaks into the breadcrumbs to help keep everything moist and tender.
- Sweet onion - Onion adds texture and flavor.
- Garlic - If you are out of fresh garlic, substitute ½ teaspoon of garlic powder.
- Kosher salt - Salt is always needed to wake up the flavors.
- Ground black pepper - Fresh ground is best.
- Ketchup - Ketchup is the backbone of the glaze. Chili sauce could probably be substituted.
- Balsamic vinegar - Adds a bright tangy punch.
- Worcestershire sauce - Deepens the flavor of the glaze.
How to make meatloaf
There are a few tricks to making great meatloaf. First of all, I always use a bread pan, because it is the perfect shape. If you don't have one, you can use any baking dish you want, however the cooking time will vary if your meatloaf is a different shape. For example, a thinner, wider, meatloaf will bake faster because heat can get to the middle quicker.
My other recommendation is to line your bread pan with foil. This not only allows for easier cleanup, but you can lift the foil right out of the bread pan to easily remove the meatloaf when everything is done baking.
Each time I cook meatloaf the exact baking time seems to vary by ten minutes, or so. This is why I always recommend using a digital meat thermometer to track the temperature. Remove the meatloaf when it reaches 160 degrees.
More meatloaf recipes
- Brown sugar meatloaf - My most popular meatloaf recipe for a reason.
- BBQ meatloaf - The bold flavor of barbeque infused throughout.
- Cheeseburger meatloaf - If you love burgers, you need to try this.
- Classic meatloaf - This classic meatloaf is even better than your mom's!
- Chicken meatloaf - Not craving beef? Try chicken!
- Smoked meatloaf - Smoking meatloaf makes the flavor insane!
Sausage Meatloaf
Equipment
Ingredients
Meatloaf
- 1 pound ground beef
- ½ pound country sausage
- ¾ cups breadcrumbs
- 1 large egg (beaten)
- ¾ cup milk
- ½ medium onion (finely chopped)
- 2 small cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Glaze
- ½ cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Gently crumble beef and sausage into a large bowl.
- Add breadcrumbs, beaten egg, milk, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix together thoroughly with your hands to ensure everything is evenly combined.
- Prepare the glaze by mixing ketchup with balsamic vinegar and Worcestershire sauce.
- Paint the bottom of your bread pan with two tablespoons of glaze.
- Add the meatloaf mixture into the bread pan and press to fill out the pan.
- Add all remaining glaze to the top of the meatloaf and place it in the oven.
- Bake for 60 minutes, or until it reaches 160 degrees.
- Remove from oven, let cool slightly, slice and serve.
Mrs Haigh
I cook for our house and my father in law next door and this is a huge hit all around!
Jen
Very good. I used sweet Italian sausage instead of country sausage and used gluten free bread crumbs. The only other change I made was to use a shallot instead of the onion. So juicy and tasty. Will definitely make again. The leftovers made terrific meatloaf hoagies too!
Teresa Doyle
Each year when one of us gets a deer, my husband gets maple sausage made. I think he would enjoy this made with venison using a lb of maple sausage and a lb of the regular burger. I’ll have to try your recipe. Sounds like one he’d love. TFS!