Mini Meatloaf Muffins

These mini meatloaf muffins are a great low carb, keto snack or small plates dinner. Made with ground beef and shredded cheese, among other ingredients, this dish is sure to become one of your fast favorites.

Mini Meatloaf Muffins

Ground beef is a huge part of my life. It’s quick and easy to cook up and goes well with cheese! I have a million keto ground beef recipes up my sleeve and this one is a favorite because it ticks quite a few boxes:

• it’s delicious
• it’s portable so it makes a great keto lunch or to-go meal
• it can be frozen so make a large batch and save some for later
• everyone in the family will love it, including picky eaters — really

This mini meatloaf muffin recipe makes 12 decent-sized muffins. Two muffins are plenty for a meal, because they are very filling and the flavor is incredible. Each muffin has 213 calories and only 1 g net carb.

You can easily modify this recipe to make keto meatballs. The only ingredients I would skip would be the celery and the shredded cheese on top. Pop them on a sheet pan into the oven and you’ll have delicious baked low-carb meatballs in no time.

Finally, because I use coconut flour and not traditional flour or breadcrumbs, not only are these low carb but they’re also gluten free.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
• 1 celery stalk finely chopped
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons coconut flour
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves finely chopped or 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 3/4 cup shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F and spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, thoroughly combine all ingredients together with your hands, except for the shredded cheese. It will be very wet.
3. Divide beef mixture into 12 equal-sized portions and place into prepared muffin tins.
4. Place in a preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the meat is cooked through. There is a chance that the moisture from the meat will spill over and drip into your oven so put another sheet pan on the rack underneath to catch those drippings to avoid smoking.
5. Remove from the oven and carefully drain excess moisture off the top of each muffin by gently tipping the tray over a large bowl to be discarded. Absorb excess liquid off the top of the muffin tin with a paper towel. Remove the second sheet pan from the oven and discard into the sink.
6. Top each muffin with shredded cheese. It will melt in a few minutes from the meat’s residual heat from baking.
7. Let cool for several minutes before removing muffins from tin. Serve immediately or freeze for later use. Enjoy!

Notes

I used 85% ground beef when making this recipe and, honestly, the texture was a bit tough. The next time I make these mini meatloaf muffins I’ll go for a leaner cut of ground beef.

Also, you could easily modify this recipe to use other kinds of ground meat: ground turkey or ground chicken.

As far as the shredded cheese topping, I used a Mexican blend because that’s what I had on hand. If you have shredded mozzarella, cheddar or Colby Jack, you can use those instead. There are no hard and fast rules for the cheese you use.