(VIDEO)This Turkey Meatloaf Turned a Meatloaf Skeptic Into a Fan, The Glaze Is Everything!

Meatloaf has a PR problem. It took me a while to come around to it; I didn’t grow up eating it, and certainly nothing about the name — a loaf, a loaf of meat — convinced me I was missing a thing. But, slowly, I have tiptoed into the light, and now I get it. It’s not cute, but it’s objectively delicious. Imagine if we only ate things that were camera-ready — it would be a world without gravy, mushroom soup, and lopsided made-with-love frosted cakes. We absolutely must not stand for that.

But I’d only made meatloaves with either ground beef or ground pork, never turkey. Turkey, which I suspected would be too dry or bland for any recipe to overcome, was the final frontier, and I tried it a whole bunch of ways before realizing that what I wanted most on top was not strips of bacon or a thick layer of ketchup, but a simple barbecue-type sauce. In the oven, it gets glossy and dark, and it goes really well with Crushed Ranch-y Potatoes (recipe follows). Unlike their mashed counterparts, crushed potatoes are full of contrasts: big and small chunks, some parts puddled with cream, some parts saltier—and that slight chaos of forkfuls plays well off the reliable, steady slices of meatloaf.

Video:

Turkey Meatloaf for Skeptics

At-a-glance

Meatloaf

Ingredients

Method (paraphrased, same order):

Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Lightly coat a 9×13-inch baking dish or small sheet pan with nonstick spray. Finely dice the onion, garlic and carrot on a board or pulse them in a food processor. Heat a skillet over medium; add olive oil, then the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, until they begin to brown—about 7–10 minutes. Transfer the softened vegetables to a large bowl.

To the vegetables, add the panko, chicken broth, tomato paste, Dijon, Worcestershire, parsley, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper; stir to combine. Beat the egg directly into the vegetable mix (a fork works well) and add the ground turkey. Combine just until the egg-vegetable mixture is dispersed through the meat—do not overmix. Pack the turkey mixture into the prepared dish, shaping it roughly into a 4×8-inch loaf.

Glaze

Ingredients

Method (paraphrased, same order):

In a small bowl combine the glaze ingredients. Brush or spoon the glaze over the meatloaf before baking. Bake the loaf for 30–35 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 160°F (70°C). If you don’t have a thermometer, insert a knife into the center and hold it there for 10 seconds: the blade should feel hot and meet no resistance. Let the meatloaf rest for 5 minutes, then slice into 1-inch pieces and serve alongside the potatoes.

[Image omitted — original showed plated meatloaf slices]

Crushed Ranch-y Potatoes

At-a-glance for side

Ingredients

Method (paraphrased, same order):

Put the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with cold salted water, and simmer until fork-tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and keep warm in the pot off the heat if needed. In the emptied saucepan, warm the cream and garlic together until simmering—watch so it doesn’t boil over. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter until melted. Stir in the scallions, sour cream, and vinegar; season with salt and plenty of black pepper (the author uses up to 1 teaspoon kosher salt here).

In a large bowl, smash each potato once or twice with a fork or masher, leaving mostly craggy chunks. Pour the cream-garlic mixture over the potatoes, add the herbs, and fold through with big, gentle stirs so you keep pockets of cream. Serve hot with the meatloaf.

Practical Tips (pulled from the article)