Bacon Burger Meatloaf

This meatloaf will have your taste buds singing at the top of their lungs...seriously it's that good! I have always hated the word meatloaf - it just sounds weird. Maybe even a little dirty if you have that type of mind LOL. But anyway, I have always liked eating meatloaf. It's an easy to make comfort food that is tasty as I don't know what, and really hard to mess up too bad. It also calls to mind childhood memories for me. I don't remember a lot of things from my childhood, but I remember watching my Dad making meatloaf...one of the few things he made back then. He would be crumbling up what seemed like a whole box of saltine crackers and mixing the meat, egg, cracker mixture together with his hands. I would sometimes help mix it up and my fingers would always be freezing by the time I got it all mixed up. Then we would sit and savor the delightful meat mixture as a family, usually with corn and mashed potatoes...so yummy.

Now I usually eat meatloaf by itself, and definitely not with canned corn. But, don't get confused - this recipe is not low-calorie. It will fill you up. This is a feel good recipe that is straight out of the food porn urban dictionary. It has healthy, natural ingredients, and packed with protein but if low calorie is your goal just take it easy on the portion sizes. Enjoy! I know I do every time I make it.

Prep time - 15 minutes

Cook time - 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings - 6

Bacon Burger Meatloaf

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time1 hour 30 mins

Yields 6 servings

Ingredients

1 pound bacon
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork (i prefer sage seasoned sausage for this typ of meatloaf)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1/4 red onion, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup dill relish
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 egg

For the caramelized onions

2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
salt to taste

For the garnish

1/2 cup low sugar ketchup
2-3 jalapeños, thinly sliced
cilantro, roughly chopped
Anything else you love to eat on burgers

Directions

Preheat oven 350 degrees F. Line a baking baking sheet with aluminum foil and place a wire rack on top. Place all bacon on the wire rack and into oven to bake for 12-15 minutes, until crispy. Place bacon on paper towels and then add 3 tablespoons of the rendered bacon fat into a large sauté pan - this will be used to caramelize the onions later on. Dice bacon into small pieces.

In a large bowl, mix together ½ the diced bacon, beef, pork, bell pepper, red onion, garlic, almond flour, mushrooms, dill relish, both of the mustard types, salt and garlic powder and 1 egg. Use your clean hands to mix all of the ingredients until completely combine. Press mixture into a parchment paper lined 9x5 loaf pan(lining it with parchment paper helps with easy removal later on). Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, until the meat is completely cooked through in the middle to an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.

When the meatloaf goes in the oven, add the thinly sliced yellow onions to the pan with the rendered bacon fat and saute on medium-low. Toss onions in the bacon fat and let cook down for 30+ minutes. The slower they cook, the more they will caramelize and not burn. Toss onions every few minutes to help cook evenly throughout. Cook until sweet and brown. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and toss. Keep on low heat until meatloaf is done cooking.

After 1 hour spread the ketchup on top of the meatloaf and return to the oven. Once the meatloaf is cooked through, let it cool for a few minutes then dispose of the excess liquid left behind in the pan, then remove meatloaf from pan.