I was never a fan of meatloaf as a kid. My Chinese mother did most of the cooking, so we didn’t eat that stuff at home. When I was over at a friend’s house and they were having meatloaf, it was basically just a convenient way to get ketchup into my mouth. When I thought of meatloaf, I thought of a grayish, greasy, bland, hunk of meat. No, thank you!
But then we went paleo, and so much of paleo cuisine is about the meat, so I figured I should try to find some sort of meatloaf dish that the family would eat. I lucked out and discovered this amazing recipe for paleo mini meatloaves on the Paleo Spirit blog. I switched zucchini for mushrooms, tweaked the spices a bit, and a new meatloaf fan was born! This meatloaf is full of flavour and veggies. It’s basically a complete meal in and of itself, and the kids love it. They eat it all up, and without having to drench it in ketchup. My 3 year old thinks all muffins are delicious, so these were dubbed meatloaf muffins.
This recipe is very simple to make, but all the cutting and grating take a while so I usually make a double batch and freeze the extras. These meatloaf muffins freeze really well and defrost quickly as needed for lunch or dinner in a hurry.
In a large mixing bowl, dump in two pounds of ground beef, a package of thawed and drained spinach, one minced onion, 3/4 cup grated zucchini, two grated carrots, four eggs, and 1/3 cup coconut flour. Next add your seasonings: 2 teaspoons sea salt, 2 teaspoons pepper, 2 teaspoons onion powder, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon thyme, 1 teaspoon garam masala, and 1 teaspoon ground ginger. Mix it up well with your hands (clean, please!) and fill up your muffin tins or mini loaf pans. You can also do these as hamburger patties and freeze them to be cooked later on, providing you’re using fresh, never frozen ground beef of course. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees until done.
Paleo Meatloaf Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 10 ounce package of frozen chopped spinach defrosted and excess water removed*
- 1 large onion finely diced
- 3/4 cup zucchini grated
- 2 large carrots grated
- 4 eggs beaten
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit.
- Place all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix with clean hands until everything is well combined.
- Fill 18 regular or 12 jumbo muffin tins with the meatloaf mixture.
- Bake approximately 30 minutes or until done all the way through. (Remember for food safety, the internal temperature must reach at least 160 degrees F.)
Love the recipe and that it’s in a muffin form! Pinned ๐
Thank you! The kids love anything muffin-shaped… ๐
YUM! These look amazing! I’m going to try this!
Yay! Please let me know how they turn out!
I love the idea of making into patties! Thank you for linking up with our weekly Tasty Tuesday linky.
Thank you for hosting! The patties freeze really well too.
I never thought to do little muffin loafs! This is so adorable!!!
Thanks, Shary. The kids definitely love that format.
Wow that looks GREAT, I love incorporating lots of diets into our routine soo many great options ๐
Thank you! We really enjoy the variety and mixing it up with different foods.
This sounds like a seriously amazing recipe. And since my husband is doing keto, it’s friendly for his diet plan.
Absolutely. You could up the fat with some avocado as well.
I need to give these a try. My three year old hates all things protein, but he surely like muffins!
My 3 year old is particular about what she eats as well, but I love I never have any issues getting her to eat her “muffins”!
I love the idea of muffins for this! Great idea and I will have to try out this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, and thank you for hosting! It’s great having so many GF recipes in one place!
Nice way to get your veggies for the day! The individual servings are convenient too! Good idea, Thanks,
Sandra (anyonita’s nibbles party)
I forgot to add the coconut flour but they came out delicious anyway!!!
These are good! I was missing some ingreds so simply used beef, fresh spinach, carrot, and the herbs & spices. Turned out great!
These are so good! I love that they’re portable and can be frozen. Thanks so much!!
Thanks for letting me know you liked them! Yes, freezing them for later is a great idea.
These look so delicious!! I love the idea of baking them in muffin shapes rather than a loaf.
These sound just fabulous!! I will have to make them this weekend!! I love that they are full of veggies!