Some dishes like meatloaf take a long time to cook correctly, and if the heat is turned up too high, the outside layers of the meal may scorch.
Every piece of a meatloaf recipe should be juicy and flavorful if you have a precise balance of fresh ingredients, temperature, and cooking time. Every family needs a go-to homemade meatloaf recipe like this that keeps the old tradition alive.
Read on as you learn more about cooking meatloaf to your desired taste, I also included a cooking time to guide you through cooking a 4 lb meatloaf.
Meatloaf Nutrition Facts
Tips on How to Cook a 4 Lb Meatloaf
Cooking can be difficult due to the numerous variables that can influence your recipes. You will find that it mostly boils down to finding the right temperature and duration combination.
You should keep the following tips in mind so you can avoid eating a meatloaf that is charred on the exterior but raw on the inside.
The size of the meatloaf – Notably, the size and shape of your meal have an important effect in deciding the length and heat of your oven.
You will need to keep your oven at a respectable temperature for an extended period of time since you are cooking a piece of meat that is quite thick.
Doneness – A 4-pound meatloaf should be ready in approximately two hours. However, if you overcook it, the meat will become tough and crumbly, which is not ideal.
To ensure that your meatloaf is done at the correct temperature, all you need is a thermometer. Your meatloaf should be cooked to an internal temperature of 155 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit when measured with the meat thermometer.
Notably, as you remove your meatloaf from the oven, the temperature inside will rise higher, resulting in a nice moist loaf for you to enjoy every time.
Keeping the meatloaf moist – Many people would argue that using lean ground beef in the meatloaf will make it dry. Notably, other ingredients in the meat mixture, such as milk, egg, ketchup, and sliced onion, will all help to keep your meatloaf moist and flavorful.
Holding the meatloaf together – One of the most common reasons meatloaf falls apart is a lack of binding agents. To help your meatloaf stay together, add ingredients like eggs and bread crumbs, as these are the key ingredients for a fantastic meatloaf because they bind the meat together.
Meatloaf sauce – You can try southern meatloaf sauce, it is sweet, tangy, and absolutely delicious. It takes kitchen staple ketchup and morphs into a slightly sweet BBQ-sauce-like flavor with the addition of white vinegar and brown sugar, which the entire family will like. It’s the ideal meatloaf topping, and everyone enjoys it.
How To Cook a 4 Lb Meatloaf – It’s important to keep in mind that cooking different sizes will necessitate varied cooking durations. See this easy guide on how to cook a 4 lb meatloaf though:
- Preheat your oven to 375 F.
- Combine all of the meatloaf ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
- Now you can pour your mixture into a pan that hasn’t been oiled, and bake for 40 minutes at 350°F.
- Remove it from the oven and equally spread 1/4 cup of ketchup on top.
- Finally, proceed to bake it for a further 15 to 20 minutes until a meat thermometer placed in the center of the loaf shows and registers 160°F.
A 4 lb meatloaf will take 2 hours and 40 minutes to bake at 350 degrees F. In the meantime, you can still check the temperature of your meatloaf in the oven by placing a thermometer into the center of the meatloaf.
How Long to Cook a 4 Lb Meatloaf
| Oven Temperature | Preparation Time | Cooking Time | Total Time |
| 375 F | 10 minutes | 1 hour | 1 hour, 10 minutes |
Delicious Turkey Meatloaf Baking Dish (4 Servings)
This turkey meatloaf is perfect for when you want to up your protein intake while cutting down on fat. You can make it lighter by using some of the sauce, but you should use the entire amount to coat the loaf completely.
This dish is delicious yet not overbearing while remaining juicy and delicate. Note that the meat in this meatloaf recipe does not need to be wrapped in aluminum foil.
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How Long To Cook a 4 Lb Meatloaf
Ingredients
- Ground turkey
- Chopped yellow onion
- Bell pepper
- Ketchup
- Salt
- 1 tablespoon of creole seasoning
- A tiny amount of tomato sauce
- Freshly ground pepper
- a tablespoon of minced garlic
- A cup of chopped celery
- A little number of mashed potatoes
- Breadcrumbs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Go ahead to place the large baking sheet in the center of the oven.
- You can place the turkey in a large and deep enough basin.
- Get another large mixing bowl, you can combine the red and green bell peppers, a teaspoon of garlic, salt, ketchup, mashed potatoes, pepper, celery, chopped onions, egg, and bread crumbs in it. Make sure you mix all of these ingredients together gently until they have fully compounded into a meat mixture.
- Go ahead and fill a loaf pan large enough to hold a 1-pound loaf of bread crumbs with the meatloaf mixture. Try to make a domed loaf out of the turkey meatloaf mixture.
- To avoid burning the meatloaf, you will have to keep an eye on it as it cooks. You should allow it to bake until golden brown on top.
- When the 45 minutes are up, you can rest assured that your meatloaf will be ready to eat.
- When it is done, remove the roasting pan from the oven and set it aside for 5 minutes to cool down the meatloaf. The delectable turkey meatloaf is now ready for consumption.
- You can combine the remaining meatloaf with the spicy sauce in a baking dish and pour it over the meat to use up any leftovers. You still make it all even with the back of your spoon
Many meatloaf recipes call for beef mince that is high in saturated fat, which is unhealthy. The fat in the meatloaf burns away, leaving a greasy mess. This isn’t the case with this dish recipe.
You can watch this video recipe to know to cook a 4 lb meatloaf to perfection.