Honey BBQ Meatloaf

 Have you ever met a man who didn't like meatloaf?  I haven't.  I'm pretty sure such a specimen doesn't exist.  Stay tuned for a great recipe that will get you major brownie points with that special man in your life!  

Meatloaf is also one of the first dishes I made for my husband back when we were dating and I had my first apartment.  I was delighted at how great he thought such a simple meal was.  It made me feel like I was some kind of kitchen hero.  But at the same time, I felt guilty taking so much credit for something that took about 5 minutes to put together.  You see, for almost all of my life, I have made meatloaf from a seasoning packet.  And it has been good.  I have seen other recipes for meatloaf from scratch, but I figured that if it wasn't broken, there was no need to fix it.  

Then I came across this recipe for honey BBQ meatloaf.  It sounded delicious and didn't look like it would take much more time than my dirty-little-secret meatloaf.  My meatloaf wasn't broken, but it was about to get a whole lot better.  It kind of reminds me of the people with straight teeth on the Invisalign commercials.  What's that about??

Ladies and gentlemen, there is officially a new favorite meatloaf recipe in our house.  This is the one.  It is seriously almost as easy as my packet meatloaf.  So I have to measure out a handful of ingredients.  Oh, well.  At least I can feel like I have actually earned the inevitable praise I will be receiving from my eternally grateful husband!

This stuff is awesome.  It was moist and tender, slightly sweet, a little smoky, and totally delicious.  I used oatmeal in my recipe, because that's easier than cutting up bread for breadcrumbs.  Yes, when it comes to meatloaf, I am that lazy.  And the original recipe for this meatloaf didn't have an egg.  When I made it, it was basically falling apart.  As you can see in the first picture on this page, it was crumbly and hard to slice.  So I added an egg to help keep things together.  The picture below is a meatloaf that has its stuff together.

So if you have been making the same old meatloaf for years, shake things up and try out this yummy honey BBQ meatloaf.  If you like your current meatloaf method, still try this yummy honey BBQ meatloaf.  You might, like me, find yourself with a new favorite!

Honey BBQ Meatloaf
Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 large egg
1 Tbsp + 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp spicy brown mustard
1/2 cup smoky barbecue sauce, divided (add some liquid smoke to what you have on hand if its not smoky)
2 Tbsp honey, divided
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
In a large bowl use your hands to mix together ground beef, oats, egg, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, spicy brown mustard, 1/4 cup of BBQ sauce, 1 tablespoon of honey, salt and pepper.
Shape the mixture into a long, thick log and place in a baking dish.  
In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 1/4 cup BBQ sauce, 1 tablespoon honey, and 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce.  Spread half of this mixture evenly over the meatloaf.  Reserve the other half for serving.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until the middle of the meatloaf reaches 165 degrees.  Slice and drizzle with remaining honey BBQ sauce.

Recipe adapted from Can You Stay for Dinner?