Bobby Flay Meatloaf is a Southwestern dinner made with ground chuck, ground pork and a honey chile glaze, ready in 2 hours. The loaf serves six to eight, and only forty minutes of that time is active. Corn chips replace the breadcrumbs, so it happens to be gluten free.
Flay made this on The Bobby and Damaris Show in an episode called Taste of Home, and it never sees a loaf pan. The meat gets shaped free-form into a six by twelve inch oval on a lined baking sheet. That exposes every side to the oven, so the whole thing crusts instead of steaming.
The glaze waits forty-five minutes before it touches the meat, and that delay is deliberate. Half a cup of honey will scorch black over a full hour at 375 degrees. Brush it on in layers during the last fifteen minutes and it sets glossy instead of bitter.
Bobby Flay Meatloaf
Course: MainCuisine: SouthwesternDifficulty: Medium4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalTwo chile varieties go into the glaze, anchos for raisin sweetness and New Mexico reds for brightness. Keep the leftover soaking water, since it is what you thin the glaze with if it sets too thick to brush.
Ingredients
- For the Red Chile Glaze:
2 ancho chiles, stems and seeds removed
2 New Mexico chiles, stems and seeds removed
2 cups boiling water, for soaking
1/2 cup clover honey
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the Meatloaf:
Nonstick spray
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 poblano chile, seeded and chopped
1 large red onion, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped to a paste
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 large eggs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound ground chuck (80/20)
1 pound ground pork (80/20)
1 1/2 cups finely ground white or yellow corn chips
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
Directions
- Soak and blend the chiles: Put the ancho and New Mexico chiles in a bowl, cover with 2 cups boiling water and let sit for 30 minutes. Transfer the chiles to a blender, add 1/2 cup of the soaking liquid and blend until smooth, saving the rest of the liquid.
- Finish the glaze: Add the honey, vinegar and some salt and pepper to the blender, then transfer to a bowl. If the glaze is too thick to spread, add a bit more of the reserved soaking liquid.
- Cook the aromatics: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then spray lightly with nonstick spray. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat, add the poblano and onion and cook until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute, then the cumin for 1 minute longer, and remove from the heat to cool slightly.
- Mix the loaf: Whisk the eggs with a splash of water in a large bowl and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add the ground chuck, ground pork, the cooled onion mixture, the corn chips and the cilantro, then mix until just combined.
- Shape, bake and glaze: Transfer the meat to the prepared baking sheet and form into an oval loaf about 6 by 12 inches. Bake for 45 minutes, then begin brushing with a good amount of the red chile glaze. Bake, glazing occasionally, until the meatloaf reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees F, about 15 minutes longer.
Food Network rates this Intermediate with a yield of 6 to 8; the card uses the lower end. The 2 hour total includes the 30 minute chile soak. No nutrition panel is published, so the calorie figure is estimated from the ingredients.
The corn chips are doing more work here than anyone expects.
FAQs
Is this meatloaf really gluten free?
One and a half cups of ground corn chips stand in for breadcrumbs, which is why Food Network files it under gluten free. Check the bag anyway, because some corn chip brands run on shared lines with wheat. Crushed tortilla chips work the same way if you prefer them.
Can I use all beef instead of the beef and pork mix?
You can, though the pound of ground pork is what keeps it tender over a full hour in the oven. Chuck alone at eighty-twenty will come out firmer and a little drier. Ground veal is the closest substitute if pork is off the table.
No ancho or New Mexico chiles at my store. What now?
Picture the glaze without them: honey and vinegar with nothing underneath. Two tablespoons of ancho chili powder plus a tablespoon of smoked paprika gets you close, whisked straight into the honey. Guajillo chiles are the better swap if your store carries dried chiles at all.
How do I know when it is done?
A thermometer in the thickest part reading 160 degrees F is the only reliable test here. Time will not tell you, because a free-form loaf cooks faster than one packed into a pan. Start checking at the fifty-five minute mark rather than waiting the full hour.
Why does my meatloaf come out dense?
Mix only until the meat just holds together, and stop the second it does. Overworking ground meat develops the proteins into something closer to sausage, which is where dense rubbery slices come from. A gentler route is this vegetable packed meatloaf, where the zucchini keeps it loose.
What do I do with the leftovers?
Cold slices hold four days and fry better than they reheat, so sear them in a dry pan for sandwiches. Freeze whole slices rather than the loaf, since a two pound loaf takes most of a day to thaw. If you would rather a skillet version of the same ground beef idea, try these seared beef patties in gravy.
