Now, truth be told, if I can, I’m going to smoke my meatloaf. Now, having said all that, I was all over this cheesy pepper jack meatloaf recipe when I came across it. I figured how can it be bad? And it wasn’t. At all. It reminded me of a Juicy Lucy hamburger in ways. There’s nothing but flavor in bite after bite. Oh, and my meatloaf favorite: chunky vegetables. If a meatloaf is going to have veggies in it, I want to taste them, see them and get some crunch from them.
The Best Meatloaf Sandwiches
I really liked the celery in this Pepper Jack meatloaf too. It added a nice crunchy contrast to the meat and the velvety cheese. The leftovers also made for fantastic meatloaf sandwiches. I just slice the meat loaf thick, pile it on thick Texas toast, and squirt on a bit of ketchup.
Also try my BBQ meatloaf sandwiches!
Pepper Jack Meatloaf
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 cup celery diced
- ½ cup yellow onion diced
- 1 cup saltine crackers crumbled
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups Pepper Jack cheese shredded
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ⅛ teaspoon chili powder
- kosher salt
- ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 F.
- Spray a loaf pan or baking dish with non-stick spray.
- Combine the beef, celery, onion, crackers, and eggs. Mix well. Get in there with your hands and work it!
- Place half of the meat into the pan. If you’re using a baking dish, form the meat into a loaf.
- Sprinkle the cheese over the meat.
- Add the remaining meat on top and pinch down along the sides to seal the cheese inside.
- Spread ketchup over the top of the meat and sprinkle with chili powder, salt and pepper.
- Cover the pan with lose-fitting foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove foil and increase oven temperature to 425 F. Let bake another 20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the meatloaf is 160 F.
- Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are approximate.
