In an ideal world, family dinners are simple, fun and tasty. Meatloaf cupcakes certainly tick all those boxes, especially as those savory little fellas do indeed look like actual cupcakes. Which incidentily makes this dish a great crowd pleaser with the kids. Hence it’s a wonderful family dinner idea, especially as these meatloaf cupcakes take significantly shorter in the oven than your standard meatloaf version as you know it.
What makes them even more of a weekday dinner fave is the fact that they are suitable for meal prep as you can freeze them with ‘frosting’ and all.
I would say, one other great plus of meatloaf cupcakes is their serving size. My 4 year old would be quite content with one of those savory goodies, whereas I could happily have two as a filling and satisfying dinner or add a nice serving of oven roasted veggies on the side. Bonus points for having the roasted veggies in the oven with the meatloaf cupcakes.
As for the mashed potato ‘frosting’, I am a huge fan of blending ‘normal’ potatos with sweet potato. It somehow adds a really nice twist in terms of taste.
Overall, even though this is clearly a meat and carbs festival, if we are honest, it’s also not too heavy on the calorie side due to the natural restriction of space for the mashed potatos on the meatloaf cupcake.
At a glance
- Servings: 4 as in 8 cupcakes
- Difficulty level: easy
- Calories per serving: 364 kcal
- Preparation time: 15 min
- Oven time: 20 min
- Time from start to finish: 35 min
Ingredients for the meatloaf cupcakes
- 1 lbs ground beef (450 grams)
- 1/2 cup of panko breadcrumbs (75 grams)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 onion (finely chopped)
- 1 cup of ketchup (235 grams) (1/3 for the meatloaf, 2/3 for the glazing)
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon of paprika poweder
- 1 tablespoon of mustard
- 1 dash of brown sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Ingredients for the mashed potato ‘frosting’
- 1/2 lbs potatos (225 grams)
- 1/2 lbs sweet potato (225 grams)
- 1/2 cup of milk (120 ml)
- 1 teaspoon of butter
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 dash of nutmeg
- Salt and pepper to taste
How to prepare meatloaf cupcakes
Start by adding the ground beef, panko breadcrumbs, egg, ketchup, tiny onion bits as well as the garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper to a bowl and mash them well.
Preheat the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (175 degrees Celsius).
Devide the meat mix into 8 even parts and place each of them in a muffin mold.
Mix the remaining ketchup, mustard and brown sugar and apply it on top of the meatloaf cupcakes.
Place the meatloaf cupcakes in the oven and let them bake for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the peeled potato, sweet potato and garlic clove in a pot until soft and tender. Afterwards place them in a bowl and add the milk, butter, nutmeg, salt and pepper and mash them until smooth.
Place the meatloaf cupcakes on a plates and add the mashed potato to a piping bag. I actually use a normal small plastic bag of which i simply cut one of the buttom edges off – sort of as an improvised piping bag. Apply the mashed potato on the meatloaf cupcake in the same manner and style of a standard cupcake frosting. And voilà: dinner is ready to be served. Enjoy!
Don’t forget to check out more great kid-friendly family meals on Mareike’s Cozy Corner.
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