Meatloaf Bites Recipe

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I love easy to prep meals for busy school nights and it’s even better when my kids actually like to eat what I make. I realized that I haven’t shared one of our favorite kid-friendly meals with you all yet. What started as a funny April fools joke turned into a meal the whole family can enjoy year round. These fancy “cupcakes” are just meatball bites topped with mashed potato “frosting”. “Cupcakes” for dinner will surprise any child and they can be made three different ways to please everyone in the family.

First, you’ll want to gather your ingredients. I was delighted to see that my favorite mustard brand (French’s) had started making ketchup as well. French’s Ketchup uses real ingredients, like real sugar and high quality tomatoes, which make it taste great. Plus, it has no GMOs, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, or artificial flavors and colors so I can feel good about including it in our favorite recipes and as a dip for our favorite appetizers.

(Recipe yields a dozen meatloaf “cupcakes”.)

Ingredients needed:

• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 2 eggs
• 1 pound of mashed potatoes
• 1 cup of French’s Ketchup
• 1 cup of stuffing mix (uncooked)
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon of onion salt
• 1 tablespoon of parsley
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 pinch of sage
• 1 pinch of garlic
• French’s Crispy Fried Onions (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all ingredients other than ketchup, brown sugar, mashed potatoes and fried onions in a large bowl.

Once fully combined, press mixture into muffin tins.

In a small bowl, mix ketchup and brown sugar.

Using a spoon, spread the ketchup and brown sugar mixture on top of each meatloaf bite in the pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meat is at least 165 degrees.

Spoon warmed mashed potatoes on to the meat. For fancier cupcake bites, you can make the mashed potatoes look like “frosting” that was piped on them. You can do this one of two ways- either by using a frosting decorator or using a sealed ziplock bag with one corner cut on a diagonal so the mashed potatoes can be piped out. I love using a frosting decorator with a special frosting tip.

Serve as is or with French’s Crispy Fried Onions sprinkled on top. If you have someone in your family who does not like mashed potatoes you can serve the meatloaf without the mashed potato topping. A side of fries or tater tots with ketchup would be perfect with the plain meatloaf bites.

You can even top the meatloaf bites with a dollop of French’s Ketchup on top to look like a “cherry” on top of the “cupcake”.

As you can see, this recipe can be easily customized for your family. If you have a favorite meatloaf recipe you like you can make that mixture instead of the one in this recipe and then just cook it in the muffin pans instead of your typical meatloaf pan. You can also substitute bread crumbs for stuffing mix if that’s what you have on hand. We prefer using cornbread stuffing mix if we have it because it adds flavor but we have used bread crumbs in the recipe and it turns out just as well. It’s all about whatever is easiest for you to get dinner on the table for your family.

You can find French’s Ketchup at Walmart in the condiment aisle. As you can see in the video below, it’s the perfect compliment to your favorite foods!

Feel good about your purchase because, not only are you getting a better-for-you option that’s delicious, but French’s is doing its part in the community through a partnership with Feeding America and donating 10 million meals in 2017.

I hope your family loves these meatloaf bites aka dinner “cupcakes”! Find more recipe inspiration here.