Turkey Loaf

I don't care what anyone says, meatloaf is an American classic, and it's delicious if it's done right. I think most people associate meatloaf with a school cafeteria. For me, I think of my mom's cooking. We had it pretty frequently because my little sisters loved it, and they were obnoxiously picky eaters. That said, the idea of a meat "loaf" is a little gross. I'd be open to an alternative name.

The ingredients: ground turkey, bread crumbs, onion, garlic, egg whites, milk, ketchup, dijon mustard, and worcestershire - which I forgot to include in the picture. Oops. 

Dice the onion. Sauté it with the garlic in a little olive oil until the onions are tender. 

Put them in bowl and set aside to cool down. 

Separate the egg whites from the yokes. 

In the bowl of onions, add the ground turkey and bread crumbs. 

Then add in the ketchup, worcestershire, egg whites, milk, salt, and pepper. 

Mash it all up with your CLEAN hands until its well combined. But don't mash it up too much or it won't hold its "loaf" shape. It's not glamorous, but it's tasty.

I got distracted watching Wheel of Fortune and forgot to take a picture of it pre-oven, but you'll put in a square baking dish or a loaf pan if you have one. Take your ketchup-dijon mix and spread it over the top. Bake at 350 for an hour, and use your handy meat thermometer to make sure its at 160 degrees before serving.  

Yum.

 Turkey Loaf


1.25 lbs. ground turkey
1 small onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, pressed
3/4 cup bread crumbs (Panko is preferable)
1/3 cup skim milk
2 egg whites
1 tbsp. worcestershire
1/2 cup ketchup, divided
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray your baking dish/loaf pan. Sauté diced onion and pressed garlic in 1 tbsp. olive oil over medium heat for a few minutes until the onion is tender.  Put in a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool. Separate your egg whites. Once the onions have cooled down enough to touch, add your ground turkey and bread crumbs to the bowl. Then add in the egg whites, milk, worcestershire, 1/4 cup ketchup, salt, and black pepper. Dig in and mix all the ingredients together with your hands until they're well combined. Put the meat mixture into your baking dish or loaf pan and squish it in evenly so it touches all the edges of the pan.  Take the remaining 1/4 cup ketchup and dijon mustard and mix together. Spread over the top of your loaf. Bake in the oven for about an hour or until it reaches 160 degrees. I made a little extra of the ketchup-dijon sauce to serve over the top.

I slightly adapted this recipe from Good Housekeeping's "Healthy Makeover Meatloaf." I opted out of celery because I refuse to buy an entire bag of celery to only use three stalks of it. I also opted to use Panko bread crumbs instead of piecing apart whole wheat bread. I'm partial to Panko - I use them in meatballs, breadings, etc... I also used about 1.25 lbs. ground turkey instead of the recommended 2 lbs because that would be a very large meatloaf for two people to consume. According to Good Housekeeping's recipe, the turkey loaf yields 8 servings at 230 calories per serving. Not too shabby!