Grilled Meatloaf, No Oven Required!

I admit it, I’m a meatloaf fanatic.  I love it, just about any way or variety, and it’s a crowd pleaser at our house, especially with our 9 year old son, who is going through a growth spurt and inhales food at a staggering rate.  We probably have it a couple times a month, often for Sunday night supper in the winter, when there is time to let it bake slowly in the oven.  Leftovers are great, too, for lunch sandwiches. 

But no other ground meat dish is probably as maligned, misunderstood, and sometimes just plain awful.  To me, meatloaf is just like barbecue, there are no really bad ones, just some better than others.  (OK, I’ve had a few that were terrible, usually in cheap diner-type restaurants and church potlucks, greasy, under seasoned, and pretty much forgettable.) 

At its best, though, meatloaf has a pleasant beefy taste, is seasoned appropriately, and slices and holds together well, no added grease dripping out of it, either. One of the real problems with meatloaf is cooking it in a high sided loaf pan, I used to do it that way, and you get no crust, grease soaked into the meat, and poor slice-ability.   Some people swear by crockpot cooking for meatloaf; the meat swimming in grease for hours.  Yuck.  There has to be a better way….

Since I’m all about all things grilled, and the weather this year has already been warm, I was struck with a weeknight meatloaf craving and didn’t want to heat up the kitchen or wait an hour or more for it to cook.  I figured that a combination of direct and indirect grilling would turn out a flavorful crusty loaf, tender but not greasy, in under an hour, and it worked out well.  Here’s how to do it.

The ingredients

1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef (I use 90/10 ground round)

1/3 cup dry seasoned bread crumbs

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

About 3-4 tablespoons finely minced onion (our 10 year old daughter freaks if she actually sees it, so it’s pretty fine)

¼ cup spicy barbecue sauce (my favorite is Zarda’s, a Kansas City sauce that’s not as sweet as say, KC Masterpiece or Sweet Baby Ray’s)

Garlic powder, kosher salt, and black pepper to taste

Couple shakes of hot sauce, I like Cholula

The cooking

Mix it all together in a large bowl with your hands, of course.  Form it into an oblong loaf shape, put it on a plate, and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes or more.   This will help the loaf to hold together on the grill.

Set up your grill for indirect heat.  You will also need to be sure your grates are pretty clean; this can stick if they are really dirty.  Preheat on high for 10-15 minutes, and then reduce heat to medium.  Place the loaf on the direct side of the grill carefully, so as to not crack it, and leave it be, cooking covered.  Check on it every few minutes, you are just trying to develop a crust without burning.  A slight char, as per the pictures I took, is fine; you just don’t want to incinerate it with high heat.  Once the loaf crusts on the bottom, and you need a couple large grill spatulas, roll it over to the other side and lower the cover again.  Crust the other side, and then carefully roll it to the center or side of the grill, where the heat is indirect. 

Lower the cover again, and cook until the internal temperature reaches about 160 degrees, using a quick read meat thermometer. This took about 40 minutes total cooking time on my grill.  Using the large spatula again, remove it to the serving plate, cover with foil, and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing. 

The resulting meatloaf; see the picture of the finished product; was flavorful, crusted, tender on the inside, and sliced very well without crumbling into greasy bits.  The meatloaf had a slight smoky flavor too, not as smoky as a brisket, perhaps, but definitely different than using your kitchen oven.

The serving

The 15 minute resting time gave us plenty of opportunity to grill some spring asparagus with some olive oil, coarse salt and fresh cracked black pepper; serve that with a squeeze of lemon juice.  On the side, some boiled small Yukon Gold potatoes, the only pan required to cook this entire menu.  The family just loved this whole meal.   Without the added grease hanging around the loaf, this is a healthier way to cook meatloaf also!

The only cautions I have to emphasize on the technique is to

1)       Have the patience to wait until it crusts to turn, so it doesn’t stick.  Just like a steak or chicken breast, the meat sticks to the grates at first, then once it’s crusted, it releases more easily.

2)      Use large spatulas, 2 should be available.  Your small hamburger flipper probably isn’t up to the task. 

3)      Don’t forget the indirect method requires that the lid be down on your grill for most of the cooking time.  Just like barbecuing, you need the oven effect to cook through a large piece of protein.

Enjoy your grilling this week!  Let us know what you think!