Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf in the Crockpot

It's been a long time since I've had a post but this turned out SO WONDERFUL that I just had to share it with everyone.... I've tried meatloaf again, and I've finally found success!! So exciting, this is only the 3rd meatloaf recipe I've ever tried and it's a keeper. It's also probably very bad for you, even with my edits. :)

For this recipe I basically combined the crockpot meatloaf and potatoes recipe I found over at Melissa's blog way back at the beginning of December and a Paula Dean recipe I had been dying to try.

Here is what you'll need:


For Meatloaf:
1 1/2 pounds ground beef (I used 93% lean)
10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I used a bag of bacon crumbles – they had a light version)
1 (8-ounce) package grated sharp reduced fat cheddar cheese
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
6-10 saltines crushed – depending on how much beef you use (I used 10 - whole wheat)
1/4 cup mayonnaise (I used olive oil light)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 (3-ounce) can French fried onions (I couldn’t find the can for some reason, but did find that big bag in the salad dressing aisle)

For potatoes:
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 red potatoes, cut into 1 to 1-1/2” chunks
Garlic seasoning and/or seasoning salt/pepper/chives to sprinkle on potatoes

First, combine oil and potatoes in crock pot, toss to coat. Spread on the bottom of the crock and sprinkle with seasonings and pepper:

Next, in a small bowl, combine the ketchup and mustard:

Then in a large bowl, combine remaining meatloaf ingredients, except the onions - save those for later:

Then you'll add a little bit of the ketchup/mustard mixture to the meat mixture (1/4 cup or so), I also added my cheese last because I forgot to grab it before:

Okay, if it weren't for Melissa's blog, I'd have no idea where to go from here, so her note said that to make the meatloaf easier to remove you need to take two long pieces of foil and fold them into strips, then place them across each other over the potatoes and set the meatloaf on top. This will make your life easier later because you can use the foil as handles to remove when the meatloaf is done.

After you have your strips in place, form an oval/circular loaf, depending on what fits in your crock, and place on top of the foil:

Then spread with what's left of the ketchup/mustard mixture. (I ended up adding a smiley face of ketchup later on, wish I had used more ketchup altogether, or at least had some ready at the table!):

Now for cooking: cover and cook on high for 1 hour and then reduce heat to Low and continue to cook for 6-7 hours.

I opened my crockpot lid about 7 hours later to find this:

Looking good!! Especially those potatoes, let's get a close up:

Those are bad for you. All that grease has been dripping down on them all day long, and they are very very bad for you.

In the last 30 minutes of cooking sprinkle the top of the meat with the French fried onions and let them warm up:

When time is up – use tinfoil handles to remove meat to plate. Cut like a pie. Serve with the deliciously seasoned potatoes (they soak up all the drippings from the meat (SO NOT good for you but SO YUMMY).


NOTE: You can do corn on the cob in the crock if you have room for it. It only needs about 2 hours though – wrap it in tinfoil with butter and salt and pepper and set it on the sides of the meat if there is room and let it cook for 2 hours. I didn’t have any room so I just steamed mine.

Here is how the meatloaf looks on the inside if your curious:

Trust me when I say that this didn't last very long at all with my boys.

I've missed blogging, I'll try and get back into it, I've got some more great recipes I've been sitting on. We'll see!! Linking up with Crockpot Wednesday, The Ultimate Recipe Swap, Cooking Thursday, and Works for Me Wednesday (because making meatloaf in the crockpot works for me!!!)

Let me know if you try this!!

Love and Luck to you,

The Packet Queen