Try this Smoked Beef and Pork Meatloaf Muffins recipe
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tbs butter
- 1/2 up green onions chopped (ends and greens)
- 1 carrot, grated or chopped (i used 4 baby carrots)
- 3/4 onion, chopped fine
- 3/4 up celery chopped
- 1/3 up jeff’s barbecue sauce (purchase recipes here)
- 1.5 lbs ground chuck (80/20)
- 3/4 b hot ground sausage (jimmy dean potter, etc.)
- 2 tbs jeff’s rub (purchase recipes here)
- 1 cup of bread crumbs
- 1/3 up parsley leaves chopped
- large size muffin pan (pan)
- Carbohydrate 0.987437500001217 g
- Cholesterol 187.827708337694 mg
- Fat 8.02062708497829 g
- Fiber 0.0419999980926514 g
- Protein 5.45099791668391 g
- Saturated Fat 3.73263833437511 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (162g)
- Sodium 86.3800000116816 mg
- Sugar 0.945437501908565 g
- Trans Fat 0.971682083448487 g
- Calories 97 calories
Step-by-step
- Place the 2 TBS of butter into a large pan or skillet over medium heat.
- Let the butter melt.
- Add the green onions, celery, carrots, onions, and garlic to the melted butter. Let it cook for about 4-6 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Once the carrots get slightly soft, (won’t take long if you grated them) add the ⅓ cup of Jeff’s barbecue sauce to the vegetables and mix together well.
- Note: After about 4 minutes, if the carrots are not soft, cover the vegetables with a lid for a couple of minutes to help speed things along.
- Set the vegetable/sauce mixture aside to cool for about 10-15 minutes. It will need to be room temperature or less before adding it to the meat.
- Place 1.5 lbs of ground chuck (80/20) and ¾ lb of ground breakfast sausage (Hot) into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the slightly beaten eggs, bread crumbs, chopped parsley, Jeff’s rub, and sautéed vegetables to the mixing bowl and mix the meat and other ingredients together until combined.
- After it’s mixed well, form into a loaf and set it out on the cutting board.
- Separate the loaf into 6 equal portions and place each portion into an area of the large size muffin pan.
- Press the meat into place and flatten the top.
- Cover the top of the muffin pan with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight to firm it up.
- After 2 hours or the next morning, remove the muffins from the muffin pan and arrange them on a Bradley rack or cookie sheet.
- Note: if you have trouble getting them out, use a butter knife along the sides to help loosen them up. You could also line each hole with foil or wax paper to make it easier to get the meatloaf out.
- Setup your smoker or cooker for cooking indirect at about 225°F using your electric, charcoal, gas or wood smoker.
- If your smoker came with a water pan, be sure to use it.
- Place the meatloaf muffins into the smoker directly on the smoker grate or to make it easy, use the Bradley rack and just lay the entire rack on the smoker grate.
- Maintain 225 °F of the entire time and keep the smoke going for at least 1 hour but for better smoke flavor, just keep the smoke going for the entire time.
- About 30 minutes before the meatloaf is finished or at about 150°F, brush a layer of Jeff’s barbecue sauce (purchase recipes here) all over the top and sides of the meatloaf muffins.
- The meatloaf is done when it reaches 160 °F in the center.
- When the meatloaf is done cooking, serve immediately with mashed potatoes, corn, mixes vegetables, etc.
Dividing a standard meatloaf into individual muffin-sized portions solves a major structural problem by increasing the surface area exposed to smoke. Standard loaf pans trap heat and moisture uniformly, but splitting the ground chuck and sausage mixture into six distinct portions allows smoke to penetrate every side while drastically cutting cooking times. Managing individual portions requires specific hardware adjustments.
- Chilling the formed meat portions for at least two hours in the refrigerator firms the fats and prevents the portions from crumbling when transferred to the smoker grate.
- Using an 80/20 ground chuck ratio provides necessary rendering fat; substituting a lean 95/5 beef blend will result in dry, crumbly portions that fail to hold their shape during smoking.
- Maintaining an indirect cooking chamber temperature of 225°F ensures the exterior takes on deep wood smoke without burning the exterior barbecue sauce glaze applied in the final stages.
- Removing the meatloaf muffins from the smoker requires a digital probe thermometer confirming an internal center temperature of exactly 160°F.
Using a dedicated wire rack or perforated sheet simplifies transferring raw portions to the grill grates without breaking them apart. Brushing the final layer of sauce at the 150°F internal mark allows the sugars to caramelize properly without scorching.
