Cheesy Bacon Kale Meatloaf
I took the CHOPPED at home challenge, and made Cheesy Bacon Kale Meatloaf! It’s so yummy, gooey and deliciously meatloaf-tastic that I had to share it with you!
So, just like on CHOPPED, you’re given certain ingredients, and you have to make up a recipe that includes all of them.
My CHOPPED ingredients were: Kale, Oyster Crackers, Bacon, and Sargento® 4 State Cheddar Cheese. That screamed meatloaf to me!
To Make Cheesy Bacon Kale Meatloaf You Will Need:
- 2 Pounds of Hamburger Meat
- 1 Bag of Sargento 4 State Cheddar Cheese
- 2 Slices of Bacon
- 1 Cup of Oyster Crackers
- 2 Sticks of Kale (but just the leafy part, not the stalk part)
- 2 Eggs
- Salt, Pepper, and Ketchup to Taste
How to Make Cheesy Bacon Kale Meatloaf
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and cook your bacon. You can do this the regular way, in a pan, but it’s just two pieces, so I wrapped mine in a paper towel and set the microwave for three minutes
Your bacon will come out with just the right amount of crisp, but be careful because that grease is CRAZY hot. Let it cool a minute.
While that’s cooling, get your food processor ready. We are going to mix together our kale leaves, the oyster crackers, and the bacon.
Pretty.
Chop them up until they are nice and fine. We don’t want anyone eating their meatloaf and pulling out a weird leafy strand of something!
Add the meat, Sargento 4 Star Cheddar cheese, and eggs to your mixer.
Pour in your kale-cracker-bacon mixture and this is where you can add salt, pepper, and even a little ketchup if you like your metload to have a little twang. I love a good twang, don’t you?
Mix all that together in a beautiful medley of flavors. (I am kidding, I don’t even know what that means I just really wanted to use the word medley)
You want to mix until everything is combined really well, but do it on a really low speed and for not too long you don’t want to overmix the meat. That is a mistake you can’t fix.
Perfect. Now, you just need to dump it into your favorite loaf pan. (If you don’t have a loaf pan, I pity you. No but seriously, you can just shape it into a loaf on a cookie sheet)
Since it’s meatloaf, you want to make sure it’s packed together pretty good, I usually use a baggie as a glove on my hand and give it a little squish.
Now spread some ketchup on top to give it a nice glaze. Don’t be stingy, this makes an amazing crispy crust of delicousness.
After about an hour and ten minutes, (if you have a meat thermometer, you’re looking for 160 degrees) when your house starts smelling like heaven, pull that meatloaf out of the oven.
Need some inspiration? Check out Sargento’s Pinterest board!
Available in 30 versatile varieties, unique blends and distinct cuts, Sargento Shredded Cheese is always cut from blocks of 100% real, natural cheese. For more inspiration, check out the Sargento Pinterest page Pinterest.com/sargentocheese/ or visit Sargento.com for more information. The Chopped at Home Challenge gives viewers a chance to create their best recipe using the selected basket ingredients, including Sargento Shredded Cheese, for a chance to win $10,000!
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sargento. The opinions and text are all mine.
