Last Updated on December 8, 2023
These kid-friendly paleo meatloaf muffins are a quick, healthful meal. They are keto, low-carb, Whole30, and gluten-free compliant because they are made with ground beef and snuck in some spinach. An interesting and tasty revision of a classic!
Guys. Seriously, excellent paleo meatloaf muffins are these, trust us. They are truly rather difficult to stop eating since they are so amazing. Your friends and family will take in five at once to fill their tummies. These are fantastic, well-rounded dinner pieces because they have a ton of nutritious protein and some “disguised” vegetables.
In order to gather the ingredients for these, we’re advising you to run—not walk—to the grocery store. After you’ve eaten your first bite, you’ll thank us. The actions necessary to prepare them may seem lengthy, but they are actually quite simple and don’t take very long.
Paleo Meatloaf Muffin Recipe
# 1 Make Spinach and Onion Ready
Heat the temp of your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). A large knife (which must be sharp too) should be used to peel the onion and then roughly chop it on the cutting surface. The onion needs to be diced in a blender. Don’t have a blender? You can physically dice the onion with a knife. Without removing the onion, set it aside.
Remove the frozen spinach from the pack, trimming any extra if necessary. Use the microwave or the refrigerator to defrost. Place it on multiple paper towels once it has thawed, then squeeze any extra water out over the sink. To remove the water, you might have to repeat this process numerous times. Don’t forget to drain the onions and spinach. If you do, the meatloaf will lose moisture while cooking, and the muffins’ flavor will suffer.
Place the spinach and onion in the food processor in clumps after removing the spinach from the paper towel (part of it could be stuck to the towel; simply scrape those off with your fingers). In the food processor, thoroughly blend the two ingredients. You can also complete this step manually with a sizable, sharp knife. The onion and spinach mixture should be removed and spread out on numerous paper towels. Over a sink, squeeze any extra water that remains out of them using your hands.
# 2 Make the Muffin Mixture
A muffin tin should be taken out and left aside. After removing the spinach and onion mixture from the paper towel and placing it in a large bowl, add the ground meat. The remaining ingredients—all save the ketchup—should be measured out and then added to the bowl: kosher salt, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and coconut aminos. Egg yolk and white should be combined gradually in a bowl using a fork or tiny whisk before being thoroughly mixed with your hands. Instead of using breadcrumbs, use almond flour to help bind the muffins together and absorb some of the moisture.
These meatloaf muffins can be prepared in advance. The night before, prepare the beef mixture and wrap it in plastic. However, take it out of the bowl and wrap it rather than just covering it with plastic wrap inside the bowl (since this would cause it to dry out).
# 3 Put the Meatloaf Muffins Together
To ensure that the muffins are the same size, divide the meatloaf mixture into four equally sized portions in the bowl. One portion should be taken, divided into four portions, and then each component should be pressed into a muffin pan cup. It should be repeated with the other three bigger pieces (after handling the raw meat, wash your hands with warm water and soap).
By dividing the meatloaf ingredients in the bowl, it’s really important to divide them into as many equal chunks as you can. Next, take up two and compare their sizes. Pick up two more and compare their sizes. To level things out, if necessary, take a tiny bit from one and apply it to another section.
# 4 Bake the Meatloaf Muffins and Add Ketchup Over the Top
Set a muffin tin (if you’re using a silicone-made one) on a cookie sheet and bake it. Put a standard muffin tin in the oven by itself if you’re using one. We stress that you must set a silicone muffin tray on a sheet pan before placing it in the oven. After the muffins are cooked, some liquid will leak out, and if there’s nothing under the muffin tray to keep it flat, the juice will easily drip into the oven (or, worse yet, into your hands or clothes!).
After baking for 10 minutes, remove the muffin tin from the oven and fill each one with one-half tbsp of ketchup. Each muffin should be coated in ketchup using a brush for pastry or another implement. If your oven heats up unevenly, put the muffin pan back in and bake for an additional 25 minutes, spinning it 180 degrees once. Let it rest for five minutes after bringing it out of the oven. Either pull the meatloaf muffins out of the silicone mold or take them out of the metal tin using a spoon or other instrument. Serve and savor it!
Equipment:
- a cutting surface/board
- the big, sharp knife;
- a simpler but optional: food processor;
- paper towels;
- a muffin pan (metal or silicone both work OK, but silicone is preferable);
- a big bowl;
- measuring spoons;
- a spoon (or little whisk);
- if using a silicone muffin tin, a cookie sheet;
- a pastry brush (or some similar tool).
Ingredients:
- 5 ounces (140 grams) of spinach, frozen;
- a medium-sized yellow onion, ½,
- beef ground to 1.33 pounds (600 grams);
- almond flour, ¼ cup;
- kosher salt, ½ tsp.
- garlic powder, ½ teaspoon;
- Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon;
- coconut aminos, 1 tablespoon;
- one XL egg;
- ketchup, 6 tablespoons (compatible with Whole30).
Notes and Suggestions
What foods complement meatloaf? There are, of course, the traditional mashed potatoes. However, any of these additional dishes (which are all paleo and Whole30 compliant) would be excellent with meatloaf as well, including turmeric-roasted cauliflower, roasted Brussels sprouts, and sautéed green beans.
A few suggestions in regard to recipe modifications:
- Simply leave out the spinach if you don’t like it if your kids would start to freak out if they saw anything green in their muffins or if they became accustomed to the meals from the Home Chef menu (being ideal for a family and offers a variety of dishes that will please even the pickiest diners; which kids undoubtedly are).
- Change up your meat! Turkey can simply be used in place of the ground beef in this recipe.
- Make whole meatloaf rather than muffins using this recipe. Simply flatten it down into a loaf pan then continue with the cooking instructions (including ketchup coating). Given that there’s more meat in the loaf, it may need to bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Just be sure to cook it til the middle of the bread reaches 160 °F.
Note: You can make the above paleo meatloaf muffins and store them in the fridge for a period of three to four days. We haven’t tried freezing them, but we’re not sure how that would taste.
