Chicken Bacon Vegetable Meatloaf
Servings: 4
This Chicken Bacon Vegetable Meatloaf is a tasty and nutritious spin on classic meatloaf. Packed with hidden veggies, lean chicken mince, and a crispy bacon wrap, it's perfect for family dinners or meal prep.
Ingredients
- 1 red onion/s -peeled, halved
- 2 clove/s garlic -peeled
- 1 stick/s celery -roughly chopped
- 1 carrot/s (large) roughly chopped
- 1 red capsicum/s (small) roughly chopped
- 30 g baby spinach (handful approx.)
- 1 tsp dried thyme (or 2 teaspoons of fresh)
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 60 g rolled / flaked quinoa (½ cup) or fresh breadcrumbs
- 1 egg/s
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper -to taste
- 500 g chicken mince
- 4 rasher/s bacon
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180℃/350℉ (fan-forced).
- In a food processor, chop the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, capsicum and spinach finely. Place in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the thyme, paprika, rolled quinoa, egg and salt/pepper and mix to combine. Add the chicken mince and squeeze together to combine the ingredients well.
- Now line a loaf tin with your bacon rashers so they cover the base and sides of the tin.
- Press the minced mixture in the tin (so it's firmly packed) and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until cooked through.
- Once cooked, drain the delicious juices from the tin into a little jug and invert the loaf onto a tray. Place it under a moderate grill for 5 minutes or so to crisp the bacon.
- Slice with a serrated knife and serve with the reserved pan juices.
Thermomix method
- Preheat your oven to 180℃.
- In the Thermomix, chop the onion, garlic, celery, carrot, capsicum and spinach 10 seconds, speed 5.
- Add the thyme, paprika, rolled quinoa and egg and mix to combine, 10 seconds, speed 2. Add the chicken mince and mix, reverse, 20 seconds, speed 2 (you will need to scrape down the sides to help it combine fully).
- Now line a loaf tin with your bacon rashers so they cover the base and sides of the tin.
- Press the minced mixture in the tin and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until cooked through.
- Once cooked, drain the delicious juices from the pan into a little jug and invert the loaf onto a tray. Place it under a moderate grill for 5 minutes or so to crisp the bacon.
- Slice with a serrated knife and serve with the reserved pan juices.
- Note - it can also be steamed in the Varoma for 45 minutes (then bacon crisped as above).
Serve
- With steamed vegetables or a big salad.
- I also love meatloaf with mashed potato or sweet potato or this Magic Mash. To make a simple mashed sweet potato, place washed whole sweet potatoes in the oven to bake alongside the meatloaf. Once they are cooked, simply scoop the flesh out of the skin and mash with a dollop of butter and sea salt.
Make-ahead
- Re-heat in a low oven, covered until just hot.
Store
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Can also be frozen (either raw or after cooking). Fully defrost before cooking/ re-heating.