Mini Vegetarian Meatloaves
I don’t know about your kids, but mine love mini everything. If it’s in muffin form, they will eat it or at the very least try it without a struggle. These gooey cheese-filled mini vegetarian meatloaves are a fun change from everyday veggie burgers and a big hit with the kids. Not to mention I love them, too. If you’re buying your ground beef substitute, I suggest the squishy kind as opposed to the individual crumbles, as the squishy kind tends to form into meatballs more easily. I use a homemade Lentil and Rice Ground Beef Substitute and that works really well.
Mini Vegetarian Meatloaves
Author/Source:
Kristi @ Onceamonthmom.com Adapted from Kroger circular
Ingredients:
- 1 large egg, beaten (or egg substitute, I used 1/4 cup pumpkin puree)
- 0.75 cups milk
- 0.5 cups quick oats, uncooked
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups ground beef substitute (I used Lentil and Rice Ground Beef Substitute)
- 6 ounces mild cheddar cheese, cubed (or cheese of choice, I like Meunster)
- 0.67 cups ketchup
- 0.25 cups brown sugar or sucanat, packed
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Spray or grease muffin tins.
Combine beaten egg, oats and salt in large bowl. Add the ground beef substitute and mix well. Divide mixture into equal portions and insert one cheese cube into center of “meat.” Roll in your hands to form the “meat” into a ball around the cheese. Place into muffin tin and continue with remaining “meat” and cheese. (Alternate directions: You can scoop the meat mixture into the muffin tin wells and then insert the cheese cubes in the center and scoop “meat” over the top…I found this to be a little faster.) Combine ketchup and brown sugar in a separate bowl, stir thoroughly and spread over each mini meatloaf.
Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes at 350.
Freezing Directions:
AFTER baking, cool, divide among freezer bags and freeze. To serve: Thaw. Reheat in oven at 350 for 10-15 minutes or in microwave for 1 minute.
Servings: 4 (9-10 mini meatloaves)
This Post will be linked at:
- Mouthwatering Mondays at A Southern Fairytale
- Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist (Real Food)
- Just Another Meatless Monday at Hey What’s For Dinner Mom? (Vegetarian)
Fun idea, Kristi! I bet my kids would love these. I agree, if it’s in muffin form, it sells it!
Those looks great! My daughter loves anything mini too. I’m sure she’d love this. Thank you for the recipe :)
I’m not a regular, I came over from Monday Mania at the Healthy Home Economist, I am not really familiar with your blog. Why not just eat ground beef?
Melissa, this recipe is a part of the VEGETARIAN menu. If you wish to make these with ground beef, you may do so, but for our vegetarian audience this is a perfect alternative to those wanting a vegetarian alternative for meatloaves.
if you use ground beef, do you have to brown it first?
I believe you’d just need to bake it longer (30-45 minutes).
I made these last night, and let me tell you– they will be a regular on our menu! HOLY SMOKES they were tasty. My husband even said they were better than meat meatloaf. I did modify it a bit– I used pureed sweet potato in the brown rice and lentil substitute instead of regular mashed potatoes, and I ran out of catsup, so I did 1/3 cup of condensed tomato soup. Worked splendidly! Thank you so much!
I’m so glad you all loved them! We thought they were super tasty and your modifications sound yummy, too.
Question on using the lentil and rice substitute – did you bake it first and then use it in the meat loaves, or did you not cook it until you had the meat loaves made?
I bake it in big batches first, then divide and freeze. So mine was baked frozen and thawed prior to going into the meatloaves. You could try to do it without the pre-baking, but I think you’d likely have to bake it for an hour and by then the cheese in the center might be obliterated. Let me know if you give it a shot!
Made these last night and they were tasty! I’ve never had real meatloaf before, but I think I will omit the brown sugar from then ketchup next time. It was almost dessert sweet, but other than that good!
How do you tell how many servings a recipe makes?
This one makes 4 servings, about 9-10 mini meatloaves. The estimated serving amount is near the bottom of the post.