The addition of bacon and barbecue sauce takes meatloaf to a whole new level. Even my daughter who doesn’t like meatloaf loves this BBQ Bacon Pioneer Woman Meatloaf.
I don’t make meatloaf often, so when I decided to make it for Sunday dinner, I wanted to dress it up a bit. Luckily, I remembered the mouth-watering meatloaf recipe in The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Ree, Pioneer Woman, dresses up her favorite meatloaf by wrapping it in bacon and slathering it with tomato gravy.
I was in a hurry after church and substituted our favorite BBQ sauce for the tomato gravy Ree uses in the original recipe. We loved the BBQ sauce with the meatloaf, so I’ve made it that way ever since.
It’s a fabulous combination of flavors and this is my favorite meatloaf recipe now too. You can bake the meatloaf in the oven on a broiler pan as shown above. If you’re in a hurry, you can even make this meatloaf in the pressure cooker using my Pressure Cooker / Instant Pot BBQ Bacon Meatloaf recipe.
However, since I got my Traeger Pellet Grill / Smoker last year, I almost always smoke it now.
I bought a great grill pan that I line with a grill mat that I cut to size. Stick the temperature prob in and let the meatloaf smoke for about 4 hours.
You get a flavorful smoke ring on the top of the meatloaf that really compliments the bacon and barbecue sauce. If you prefer, you can make your own Sweet and Tangy BBQ Sauce.
My husband loves this BBQ Bacon Pioneer Woman Meatloaf so much, he asked for it for his birthday. We made a double batch and served it to the kids and grandkids who love it too. I hope you’ll give it a try.
Here’s a video showing how easy it is to make this barbecue bacon meatloaf.
BBQ Bacon Meatloaf
Ingredients
- ½ cup milk
- 3 bread slices
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon seasoned salt such as Lawry’s
- freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ to ½ cup minced flat-leaf parsley
- 4 eggs beaten
- 8-12 thin bacon slices I used Hormel frozen fully cooked bacon
- 1 cup BBQ Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Pour the milk over the bread and allow it to soak in or several minutes.
- Place the ground beef, milk soaked bread, Parmesan cheese, salt, seasoned salt, black pepper and parsley in a large mixing bowl. Pour in the eggs
- With clean hands, mix the ingredients until combined well.
- Form the mixture into a loaf shape and place on a broiler pan, which will allow the fat from the meat to drain. Line the bottom of the pan with foil to make clean up easier.
- Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.
- Stir the mixture until well combined. Spread ⅓ cup BBQ sauce over the top of the meatloaf.
- Bake for 45 minutes, then pour another ⅓ cup of the BBQ sauce over the meatloaf. Bake for an additional 15 minutes. Serve with the remaining BBQ sauce on the side as a dipping sauce.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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DC in FL
I substituted minced sweet peppers for the parsley and Tex-Mex seasoning for the season salt and used Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce, and holy moly was it awesome! Thank you so much for an amazing recipe! It is now in our regular meal rotation.
Melissa Griffiths
That sounds SO good, thank you for sharing what you did!
Robin
I love it too, I do change it a little, and everyone loves it I put 1 1/2 pounds of ground sirloin and 1/2 lb ground sausage, I’m taking it to a church dinner and no one there has any lunck making their meatloaf, I’m also taking corn pudding and a German chocolate cake that I change the recipe to it and add 8oz of pecan and coconut frosting to my cake then bake then after it’s cooled I frost it again with the pecan and coconut frosting
Barbara Schieving
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing 🙂
caroline Mcneish
Can you chill meatloaf to eat cold next day
Barbara Schieving
Hi Caroline – yes, my husband often uses leftover chilled meatloaf to make a sandwich the next day.
LindaKay Pardee
Just put two of these in the oven, our new Pastor is being installed this afternoon and we are serving meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans. There will many other meatloafs but I am betting these will be the best!
Barbara Schieving
That’s great! I just put two on my smoker 🙂 My husband asked for it for his birthday dinner. Enjoy!
Tracey
This is now the recipe I use every time I make meatloaf!! My family loves it, and grandson most definitely loves “grandma’s meatloaf” he asks for at least once month! What I do differently is I don’t use the bacon and I add minced onions to the tomato gravy.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks for sharing Tracey – how fun that your grandson asks for it! It’s the only way I make meatloaf too.
P
I followed the reciepe exactly and was disappointed in the flavor.
Barbara Schieving
Perhaps you would have preferred it with your favorite BBQ sauce as well.
Maddy
Made a few changes. I used herb seasoned stuffing mix, diced carrots, celery and onion and ground venison. Used the published sauce. Over the top delicious! Keep your recipes coming Ree!
Barbara Schieving
Great! Thanks for sharing Maddy!
Marilyn
I’ve made this twice now and it is wonderful! To make it a little less fattening I used half ground turkey half ground beef. I also used almond milk and gluten free bread because my family has food allergies. It’s just fabulous!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks for sharing your changes Marilyn! Glad it’s a hit.
kate
No onions??? Seriously???
Barbara Schieving
Hi Kate – if you have to have onion in your meatloaf, definitely add it 🙂
Doreen ferguson
How do you reheat the meatloaf from frozen
Barbara Schieving
Hi Doreen – I’ve never tried it when it was frozen, but I would assume it would just need a few minutes more cook time.
Nuts about food
I made this and posted about it a while back too and have to admit I fell in love. The combination of bacon and tomato sauce and the meat is just delicious!
Cristie
I don’t know how you could beat this meatloaf for a group of hungry men! On my menu for this week. I love the idea of using a bottled BBQ sauce for the gravy.
Eliana
This looks super delicious and like a great go-to recipe 🙂
Rose
its fantastic that u dressed it up and u have done it beautifully!
I loveee Pw’s recipes too:-)
And her more:-)
And u toooo:-)
I wish i could have some too:-)
Huggies and loveee to ya , Mia!
lynn
Mmm, how can you go wrong with bacon, over . . . just about anything! This looks divine.
Claire @ Claire K Creations
That is fancy meatloaf and I bet the bacon flavour cooking into it would be so tasty (not to mention smell amazing while it’s cooking). I love the name too.