Easy Low Carb Meatloaf Recipe

Admission: I haven’t made meatloaf for my family in years. It used to be one of those recipes that was on our weekly meal plan but one week I stopped making it and for some reason I never started again. Now that we’re eating at home every night, I’ve had to pull out some of those old recipes that I had forgotten because the truth of the matter is, I’m running out of dishes to keep my family happy. Knowing that they used to always love meatloaf, I thawed some ground beef earlier this week but I knew that I wanted to mix up my recipe a little bit. Since I eat lower carb than the rest of my family, I wanted to see if I could reduce the carbs in my meatloaf recipe and still make it every bit as delicious. With a few simple substitutions, I was able to create what my entire family agrees is an even more delicious than the original Easy Low Carb Meatloaf Recipe.

Now, most people think meatloaf is lower carb in general and I guess compared to some things it is but my recipe which uses bread crumbs, regular ketchup and barbeque sauce can be a little higher on the carb count that what I like to eat. That’s why I decided to make a few substitutions and create a lower carb version and let me tell you, it’s delicious! The substitutions are simple and include a mixture of almond flour and shredded cheese instead of bread crumbs, sugar free ketchup instead of regular ketchup and sugar free hickory smoked barbeque sauce instead of traditional barbeque sauce. Even with the addition of half of a sweet onion (I love the crunch it provides) this dish weighs in at less than 4 net carbs per serving and it’s so easy to make! Here’s how I make this easy recipe.

I adore this recipe because it has a smokey flavor the little pops of shredded cheese are unexpected surprise. As anyone who has made meatloaf knows, it’s one of the easiest things every to make. To start I added my ground meat and egg to a bowl.

Next, I added in my diced onion, almond flour, shredded cheese, sugar free ketchup and sugar free barbecue sauce. As a side note there are lots of simple switches you can make on this recipe to make it your own. If you want to reduce carbs even further (or simple don’t like onion), leave it out or replace it with diced green pepper. If you like a sweeter meatloaf recipes, simple double the sugar free ketchup and leave out the barbecue sauce and alternately if you like a tangier meatloaf recipe, double the barbecue sauce and leave out the ketchup. The great thing is you can really experiment with this recipe to get the exact taste your family adores.

Once all of my ingredients were added to my bowl, I simply used my hands to squish them all together (I know, it’s a great term right?) until all the ingredients were well mixed. Then I simply pushed my mixture down into a greased baking dish.

I baked my easy low carb meatloaf recipe for 50 minutes on 350 degrees. Then I removed it from the oven, poured of any excess grease (you’ll see it around the edges from baking) and added a thin coating of barbecue sauce to the top. Again, you can use ketchup instead of barbecue sauce if you prefer or even skip this step completely. Once I had added my barbecue sauce, I returned my easy low carb meatloaf recipe to the oven for 10 minutes. Once the barbecue sauce had turned slightly darker, I removed it from the oven, checked the internal temperature with a meat thermometer to make sure it had cooked to 160 degrees F, and then allowed it to cool slightly.

I then served up my easy low carb meatloaf recipe with a side of wilted spinach. Any veggie side is great but I chose spinach to really keep this meal lower on the carbs and I have to say, the combination was delicious!

Every bite of my easy low carb meatloaf recipe was tangy and sweet and absolutely perfect. In fact, I liked this version much better than the original and I didn’t feel a bit of guilt at enjoying every bite of it.

Whether or not you’re living low carb, I encourage you to try this low carb twist on traditional meatloaf because I think you’ll enjoy the bold flavors and lighter texture as much as I do!