The Ground Beef Mistake That's Ruining Your Meatloaf

To a busy shopper, one kind of ground beef may look the same as another. Is 90% lean ground beef, for instance, that much different from 85% lean? Would it be such a crime to use one instead of the other? And sure, maybe "crime" is a strong word, but it's important to keep purpose in mind. Case in point: when you're making meatloaf, don't let things get too lean. Using overly lean mince ranks as one of the top mistakes that can ruin meatloaf.

Meatloaf may seem like a simple dish at first glance — just put a bunch of ground beef in a pan and bake it for a while — but there are plenty of ways to mess up meatloaf, most of which involve letting it get too dry. The ideal texture for meatloaf is firm but moist, meaning that it holds it shape well without tasting like a mouthful of sawdust. More fat means both more flavor and more moisture — so if you use lean ground beef, you're missing a vital part of what makes meatloaf so supremely palatable. What could be velvety and moist is instead dry and crumbly, and your dinner is a lot sadder than it otherwise might have been. But chin up: at least you didn't get it from Boston Market (if that reference resonated with you, here's the tea on what caused the downfall of Boston Market).

If you want to make a meatloaf that's properly moist, you need to start on the ground floor — the ground beef floor, that is. Make sure that the ratio of lean-to-fat isn't too skewed in the wrong direction; you'll want at least 85% lean meat to 15% fat, and ideally you should get 80% lean to 20% fat. (Be careful going further than that — if your meatloaf is too fatty, it will get greasy and gross.) That way, your meatloaf will remain succulent and tender after it's done baking in the oven, and you won't have to choke down clumps of gritty, dry, ground meat.

Of course, if you want to make your meatloaf even more moist, there are other things you can do. You can take care not to overmix your ingredients (a major meat loaf prep mistake you'll want to avoid), which will render your meatloaf dense and chewy in an unpleasant way. You can also implement a prep step that makes for far better meatloaf: Grating onion into your mixture. This will allow the onion's moisture to seep into the meatloaf. And finally, you can soak breadcrumbs in milk for a good old-fashioned panade, one of many ingredients you should try adding to your meatloaf.