Meatloaf Pie

Meatloaf Pie is comfort food at its finest! A meatloaf “crust” is filled with creamy mashed potatoes and topped with a layer of caramelized onions and melty cheese.

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This Meatloaf Pie recipe combines all of the best classic comfort foods into one unbelievably delicious dish.

It starts with a meatloaf “crust” that’s then filled with creamy mashed potatoes. Next, the potatoes are topped with a savory layer of caramelized onions. Finally, a layer of melty cheese tops off the entire dish for a can’t-resist finish!

How to make Meatloaf Pie

Although this recipe might seem like it requires some extra work, it really doesn’t. If you usually make meatloaf and mashed potatoes together, this is essentially the same process and time commitment.

Meatloaf pie starts with a basic meatloaf recipe that becomes the pie “crust.” It’s a combination of the following ingredients:

• Ground beef
• Breadcrumbs
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt
• Italian seasoning
• Garlic powder
• Black pepper
• Egg

All of the ingredients are mixed together, as in a typical meatloaf. Then, the meatloaf mixture is pressed into a crust shape.

You can use a deep-dish pie plate for this recipe. However, if you have a springform pan on hand, that’s what I recommend. (This is the one I use and love.)

I recommend this method because it allows you to easily remove the pie in whole and place on a serving dish for a beautiful presentation.

After you’ve pressed the meatloaf mixture into the pie plate or springform pan, bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes.

Start working on the mashed potatoes by boiling cubed potatoes while the meatloaf bakes.

Assembling the Meatloaf Pie

Once you’ve removed the meatloaf crust from the oven, you’ll need to remove the extra grease before proceeding with the next step.

To do that, use either a spoon or turkey baster to scoop out the excess grease and then pat up any of the remaining grease with some extra paper towels.

When the potatoes are done cooking, drain and return to the pot. Mash well and then combine with butter, milk, sour cream and salt pepper. Stir until desired consistency. Scoop into the pre-baked meatloaf crust.

Next, caramelize the onions by cooking thinly sliced yellow onions in butter for about 15 minutes. Spoon on top of the mashed potatoes.

Cover the onions with a generous cup of shredded cheese and return the whole dish to the oven for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted.

Can I make this dish ahead of time?

You can absolutely make meatloaf pie ahead of time!

And what’s even better is that there are several different levels of “making-ahead” that you can use.

Each of the individual components of the pie can be made in advance.

You can mix up the meatloaf mixture and then refrigerate.

You can also make the mashed potatoes and caramelized onions ahead of time and refrigerate until you’re ready to assemble.

Then, when it’s dinner time, you can prep and bake the meatloaf crust, assemble the pie and continue as directed.

Another option is to bake the meatloaf crust and prepare the potatoes and onions. Then assemble the full pie and refrigerate. Bake for 15 minutes to warm through and melt the cheese before serving.

If you want to make this more than just a day or two ahead of time, you can freeze the fully assembled pie.

If you’ve made your pie in a pie plate, I recommend you freeze in that plate. In this instance, I’ve found it easiest to use a disposable, foil pie pan. To warm, cook from frozen for around 30-45 minutes, until heated through. (Important Note: if you froze your meatloaf pie in a glass pie plate, make sure that you let it come to room temperature before baking. Otherwise the glass has the potential to shatter in the oven.)

On the other hand, if you used a springform pan, remove the completed pie and wrap in freezer paper. Place in a large plastic freezer bag or wrap tightly with freezer-friendly plastic wrap. To warm, unwrap and place on a cookie sheet. Bake from frozen for 30-45 minutes, until heated through.

How can I customize this recipe?

There are lots of ways you can play around with this recipe and all of them are delicious! In fact, I’ve yet to try something that didn’t turn out awesome.

This recipe is the basic version of meatloaf pie and it is 100% delicious and absolutely stands on its own. You will never go wrong making and serving this as is.

That said, here are some of my favorite customization options:

• Add a layer of barbecue sauce or gravy on top of the onions.
• Stir some frozen, chopped spinach into the mashed potatoes.
• Add a layer of corn under the onions.
• Replace half of the potatoes with cauliflower to make a cauliflower mash.
• Cook some sliced mushrooms with the onions.
• Stir some cooked and crumbled bacon and sliced green onions into the mashed potatoes.

Other recipes you might enjoy:

• Ground Beef Stew
• Glazed Meatloaf
• Homemade Hamburger Helper Cheeseburger Macaroni