Few things are as beautiful as a field or forest with freshly fallen snow. Wintertime in our neck of the woods is sometimes a Currier and Ives painting come to life. It is a time for Holidays, for celebrations with family and friends, for warm blankets, cozy fireplaces and of course, for feasts. Put simply, wintertime is the comfy season. So why not spend the comfy season with some delicious, comfort-foods? Meatloaf is the ultimate comfort food in my opinion. It’s not fancy but it warms you up and makes you feel satisfied.
I’m always on the lookout for a good meatloaf recipe. But the trouble is most of them contain bread crumbs, powdered soup mixes or prepared sauce ingredients that I do not want to eat. The alternative was to come up with my own recipe containing only healthful ingredients. I had some trouble making full-sized meatloaves because they never seemed to hold their shape. The solution was to make meatloaf in muffin tins.
The recipe I bring you today is for paleo mini meatloaves. You could call them paleo meatloaf cupcakes if you prefer. Whatever you call them, these little meaty muffins are sure to be a hit with your family – including finicky children.
I performed the solemn duty of meatloaf tester. It was a tough job but someone had to do it.
The little morsels definitely passed muster. They reheat well which makes them great to take to work for lunch. These paleo meatloaves are so chock full of vegetables they make a meal in and of themselves. If you have picky children this might be a mechanism for getting some veggies into them without hearing objections.
Here’s how I make them.
Paleo Mini Meatloaves
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground meat – mixture of grass fed beef and/or pork and/or veal
- 10 ounces frozen, chopped spinach
- 1-2 teaspoons oil
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 6 ounces mushrooms, finely diced
- 2 carrots, grated or finely diced
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons pepper
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
- Thaw the spinach, squeeze out the excess water and set aside.
- Heat a pan on medium heat, add the oil and fry the onions and mushrooms until the onions are translucent and some of the liquid has cooked out of the mushrooms. Set aside to cool.
- Place the ground meat in a large bowl, add the spinach, carrots, mushroom/onion mixture, beaten eggs, coconut flour and all the spices. Use your hands to combine it well but do not overmix.
- Fill 18 regular size muffin tins to the top with the meatloaf mixture. (Greasing the tins may be a good idea if the meat you’re using is fairly lean)
- Cook for 20-25
-30minutes or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees. - Allow to cool and use a knife to loosen meatloaves from sides of the pan before removing.
I like to serve the paleo mini meatloaves with marinara sauce – either homemade or a good jarred sauce with natural ingredients and no sugar. We used Rao’s.
The coconut flour means my son who has nut allergies and gluten intolerance can eat these meatloaves but it does not impart a coconut flavor. The mixture of beef, pork and veal gave the meatloaves a rich and delicious flavor, tender texture and lighter color which meant the colors of the veggies shone through. You could substitute the beef/pork/veal mixture with other meats like ground turkey or chicken. etc… But be mindful of the fat content. If the meat you use is very lean you may need to adjust the recipe so they don’t dry out. Let us know in the comments how it goes if you do use a different meat or meat mixture.
I recommend serving these little paleo mini meatloaves with some mashed cauliflower.
Let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by!
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about your post of Feb 18th … it helps me to remember that the darkest shadows are created by the greatest Light – turn to that Light and the shadows won’t loom long before you. Be well.
Think they would turn out ok without the mushrooms?
I think you could make them without mushrooms. The benefit of having them is extra volume and they make the meatloaf less dense. I always put mine in a food processor so they end up so fine I don’t even notice them in the final product. If you leave them out you might want to add extra other veggies to make up the difference.
Just made them. Delish!! Instead of mushrooms which I didn’t have I used red and yellow bell peppers. Also I used almond flower as that’s what I had in the pantry. Oh also kale instead of spinach same reason! Will surely make again thanks!
I heartily approve of your substitutions, especially the kale! 🙂 Glad you liked them.
I wonder if we can use flax seed as a binding agent as my kid has egg allergies as well as gluten and casein?
Be careful of flaxseed. I once used it in hamburger and couldn’t eat it. I think the oil content of them made the meat taste slimy. Maybe different if you use whole flaxseed, but I ground mine.
I used ground flax and water as the binding agent in my daughter’s servings. The still thought they were yummy.
Why include flour at all? I think these would stll be great if it were omitted.
The flour and egg acts as a binding agent. You might be able to get away without it. Give it a try and let us know.
Lea, these are FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!! The smell of this mixture was that good I think I could of tried it raw. They really hit the spot. Meatloaf is not huge on my list, I have only cooked it once before and thought never again. But yours, I will be making them again and again. These will be frozen for emergency lunches. I will be the talk of the lunchroom!!!
I used beef and pork mince. I mixed the flour and seasoning with the egg 1st, bad move don’t think it blend well that way. I think my next batch I’ll try will be beef and lamb.
Thanks again Lea for another great recipe. I am glad I tried them.
Hi Michelle,
I just got back from the grocery store to buy ingredients to make these again tonight. They are good! I would agree you shouldn’t mix the egg with the flour first, that will just create a gooey glob that won’t mix into the meat. But hey, lessons learned. I do stuff like that all the time when cooking. You’ll have to let us know how they freeze. I can’t imagine they wouldn’t be just fine defrosted for lunches.
Thanks, Lea
Lea, I took my frozen bag of meatloaves out yesterday, transferred them to a glass container, took them to work, heated them in the mic and there I was the talk of the lunchroom!!!! They defrosted and reheated beautifully. They make for a fantastic lunch, especially for a day like I will have tomorrow where at 5am I can grab a bag and I am off to work with an fantastic healthy lunch.
Excellent, Michelle. I’m glad it’s working out for you as something you can take to work. I’m going to do the same!
Has anyone tried using liners in the muffin tins? (the kind used for muffins or cupcakes)
Just curious, these sound delicious and i hope to try them some time this week!
I used silicon cups, & they worked fine. I used lean ground beef & ground pork, no eggs, coconut flour, & the other ingredients. The mini-meatloaves were delicious & enjoyed by everyone, including grandkids.
I forgot that used kale instead of spinach. I used my food processor everything, including the kale. Yum!
I used paper liners because I didn’t have muffin tins. They worked perfectly 🙂
Can I just tell you how awesome these are? This coming from a woman who, in her 30 years of life on this earth, has never eaten meatloaf before tonight. Thanks for making me a believer. 🙂
Thank you. I’m glad you like the recipe. Welcome to the meatloaf eaters club. 🙂
These are wonderful! Thank you so much for the recipe. My kids and husband loved them too and I didn’t get one complaint about the veggies in them.
Yay Sarah! That’s great news. I’m glad to hear it.
Lea
I made these and left out the eggs completely (a total accident!) and they turned out great – held together great. I used dark meat turkey and lean beef. Delish!
Cool! Thanks for letting us know about the eggless version. People who can’t eat eggs will be interested in knowing that.
Lea, I have tried a number of your recipes and have loved them all. You are my ‘go to’ place for food ideas. My husband absolutely loved these meatloaves (as did I). He has his eyes on donuts next!
Keep up the great work…. and thank you so much for sharing your great paleo food ideas.
Thanks Andrea, I certainly appreciate the compliments!
These are AMAZING! I used all turkey burger, added olive oil to the mix since it was pretty lean, and added basil to the mix as well. I will DEFINITELY be making these again! Yum!
Those look delicious!!
Yum! I used one pound of ground turkey and one pound of 93% lean ground beef. I omitted the carrots (not a fan) and the coconut flour (didn’t have any) and they held their shape together perfectly! I would suggest filling them slightly below the brim because they puffed up a little and oozed quite a bit of grease…. Although that could be because I omitted the flour. Who knows? Either way, they were DELICIOUS. My calculations for 18 cupcakes were 100 calories each. Thanks for the recipe!!!
I love all your recipes, and this one is no exception. I actually enjoy cooking now. Thanks for making eating Paleo so easy and delicious!
Thank you! These were 1 year toddler approved :)!
YUM! YUM! YUM! We just made these for dinner, and OH MY GOODNESS! So delicious. This is our new favorite recipe. Thank you!
I made these with deer meat, no additions of pork or other and maybe only a tablespoon of flour. I also sauteed fresh spinach in with the onions and mushrooms instead of the frozen. They were awesome and my husband who never compliments food said they were great! Thank you!
I would love to give these a try! Do you think I could sub almond flour for the coconut flour? Thanks!
Rebecca, Almond flour would probably work fine.
Lea
Thanks for this recipe. These were so yummy. Even my 3 year old and 15 month loved them!
Johanna,
I LOVE hearing about kids enjoying these recipes! THanks for letting me know.
Lea
Just a word of caution: I made and ate these today, but they did NOT make my hair look as good as Lea’s. I’m really disappointed.
They were delish, though.
Ha! I wake up everyday with my hair like this – no effort at all, it’s weird! 😉
WOW! These are fantastic. Thank you for a great recipe!
Whats the recipe on the header when you enter site? Its a pic of chicken drumsticks.
Dan, I think you are probably referring the a pic of the Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic recipe. Don’t let the amount of garlic scare you away -it’s delicious!
I recently found your blog through a friend and I decided to make these two nights ago. I followed the recipe exactly, using lean grass fed beef, as that’s all we had. My non-paleo fiancee (he’s at about 80% paleo – eventually he’ll get there) and I both loved them. My fiancee sliced them in half and made a meatloaf sandwich, going back for seconds. They also make excellent leftovers.
Thanks for a great recipe! I’ll definitely be making another one of your recipes soon!
OH my gosh, this is my new favorite food. Even my husband, who abhors onions spinach and celery (which I added) keeps stealing these from my stash. And the darned mashed cauliflower was a perfect accompaniment. Paleo is good.
these are fantastic! my only complaint is all of the fat that came from the meat (I mixed one pound 90% lean and one pound 80% lean) it kind of builds up around the edge of the mini meatloaf muffin.. but otherwise is delicious! I served with mashed cauliflower, yum!
I keep reading about all of the health benefits of eating organ meats, in particular liver, but I just can handle eating it. Both the smell and texture are just too much for me. But I made about 1/4 of the meat some finely chopped up liver, and you can’t even tell it’s in there! Awesome recipe!
That’s actually a great idea. I’ve thought of doing the same thing. Thanks for confirming that it works well.
My whole family loved these. They don’t like spinach but they loved these.:-) 🙂 🙂 🙂 I used almond flour because I didn’t have any coconut flour it was fantastic.
Thanks for sharing !
I’m doing the whole 30 right now and need something to take in the car on my long drive. How many of these would constitute a breakfast or lunch?
Thanks ,
Jen
Hi Jen,
I would probably end up eating three of these but it would depend on what else I was having with them. Good luck with the Whole30!
Lea
This recipe made the best tasting meatloaf I have tried. The are so much veggies in there I don’t think you even need a side. Thanks for sharing!
I have to say, I’ve made the seat least 6 times now and I am a huge fan! I love them for so many reasons….the bite size is brilliant, the presentation for guests is always impressive for such a home favorite. I always make extra so I can eat them the next day as a meat ball in quinoa pasta! It can be dressed up or dressed down and while it is not a light dish, it never leaves me over stuffed because of the bite sizes. Thank you!
Starting paleo today..made these for our first paleo dinner..used Turkey meat and your recipe was wonderful! Used normal cupcake size pan…Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Thank you for a wonderful recipe! All very harmoniously, and the marinara sauce adds bright notes.
I was actually looking for something to do with leftover Christmas ham! I am going to try ham loaf! Will let you know how it comes out!
Made it without the coconut flour. Delicious. My husband says, “This ones a keeper.” Honestly, this may be the first time he’s ever said that. Thanks!
We made these today with a mixture of pork and beef. I left out the garlic powder because I ran out, but otherwise stuck to the recipe and it was perfect! My fiance said he loved it and I do too! Thanks for all the vegetable incorporations. Left to himself, hubby would prepare rice every night. I must remind him we need veggies for vitamins. Mother in law is coming for the first time to our home tomorrow and I think this will impress her.
I had no spinach, I skipped the coconut flour and fried them as beef patties and my husband declare them as the best burgers he ever ate! Kudos to you! Thanks so much!
These are delicious! Easy to make and have great flavor! I was very full and satisfied after eating just a couple of them. I bought a jar of marinara sauce as suggested which was perfect! My son put BBQ sauce on them. I know that is probably not Paleo but oh well.. The kids loved them and did’t complain about all the goodie veggies in them.
I used a mix of beef and pork and also used my Vitamix to chop the carrots and mushrooms. Made them perfect size and consistency for this recipe.
Great feedback, Mary. Thanks for letting me know you liked the meatloaves!
Made these babies tonight using bison. My hubs and I agree that they are AWESOME!!! Thanks for a great recipe =)
These look absolutely great and I’m planning to make them tomorrow. With the addition of liver, as a previous commenter suggested!
Please could you tell us how long they take to prepare? Thanks a million! 🙂
The recipe says 20-25 minutes. Good luck!
Do you have the nutrition info on this recipe?
No. I don’t really have the time to do those calculations. But you can probably find a good nutrition calculator online. Good luck.
I’m allergic to eggs, what is an alternative to egg in the mini-meatloaves?
Lisa,
You could try making a “flax egg” if you have flax meal. Google that and you’ll find the easy process. You could also possibly make these without egg or flax “egg” as a binder. I think the meat is fatty enough and making them in the muffin tin makes it easier. Good luck.
Lea
I made these tonight and used local, grass-fed beef. I left out the nutmeg because we are out and also used chopped frozen kale instead of spinach because our store didn’t have organic spinach! It made 24 cupcake sized muffins and they were delicious!!!
Great! So glad to hear it. The recipe is fairly flexible and we use kale for it sometimes as well.
These were easy to make and delicious! They will definitely will become one of our regular menu items!
Excellent. Glad you liked the meatloaves!
Thank you! These look awesome and can’t wait to try them. Think I could get away with just beef? That’s all I have in the fridge and am on semi-bed rest. Hope it works!
I hope the recipe worked for you. Sorry of the delay in responding. The other meats add a bit more fat but most types of ground meat should work well. I hope you are feeling better, too.
Yum…look delicious…a little tip from my family…our absolute favorite marinara is RAO’s…great recommendation! BUT, we recently found a very comparable marinara that is so yummy and a third of the price…Kirkland Marinara from Costco (and we are very picky.) Rao’s cost about $8 a jar and three larger jars of the Kirkland costs about $9 at Costco! Hope this helps some of you save $$$.
Thanks for the tip, Chrissy. I’ll definitely check it out.
Just made these tonight. I used all ingredients except the nutmeg. They were GREAT! My husband and daughter really enjoyed all the flavor. My daughter asked for seconds and said she LOVED the meatloaf’s. Thank you so much for this recipe.
You’re welcome. I’m glad to hear your family liked them!
I absolutely love these mini muffins! I am wondering if they would work baked as an entire meatloaf in a bread pan?
Yes, I’m quite sure it would work as a regular meat loaf. I’m not sure the exact times but likely similar to any other meatloaf recipes.
I made these tonight for my son who doesn’t eat any grain or dairy. He is in bed but I couldn’t resist trying one (and I don’t usually care for meatloaf!) away they are completely delicious! It’s a challenge to come up with school lunches for him but these are great!! Thanks!
Oh, I totally agree about the difficulty coming up with school lunches. My kids just went back last week and I’m still adjusting. Glad you like the meatloaves!
I made these last night. I didn’t have any coconut flour so I left it out. I had the same problem as a previous poster who left out the flour in that my meatloaves oozed out all of this brown greasy stuff. It left them rather unattractive, but still very yummy. Also, the carrots were still quite crunchy in the finished product. I think next time I will saute the carrots with the onions and mushrooms for a few minutes to soften them up first.
We eat these weekly in our house. I make them exactly as written and they are perfect! We eat about 80/20 paleo so I often make them with organic mashed potatoes and a vegetable. They also taste great leftover for breakfast.
Do i need to use a mixture of minces or is all pork or all beef OK? Also can I get away with using chicken or turkey mince?
Hannah,
You can use whatever meat you choose in this recipe – either one or a combination. The downside of chicken or turkey will be a drier meatloaf that might stick to the pan a bit more than if you were to use a fattier cut of meat like pork or beef. I hope that is helpful.
Just Started paleo last week, decided to try this recipe last night… OMG they are so good! I don’t like mushrooms so I omitted them, my husband loved them, and he doesn’t like veggies much, didn’t even notice the carrots or baby spinach. I used fresh 🙂 thanks!!
Did anyone try adding the marinara at the very end of cooking to get it hot and bubbly or did everyone just add it to the top after taking it out of the oven?
Tried these – love them! Really hit the spot and do the trick for me as a breakfast, snack, or PWO quick meal. Thanks you!
Wondering, since these are much more veggie than other mini meatloaf muffins, have you or any of the (positive) commenters here calculated the nutritional facts for recipe as is? Just went paleo clean 10 days ago and am still logging food nutr facts for weight loss. This would really be helpful. Thank you!
Thank you. Glad you like them! I haven’t taken the time to calculate the nutritional facts. Maybe someone else has…
I just want to say how much I love this recipe! The first time I made them I used the muffin pan per instructions. Every time since, though, I’ve been making them in meatball form and baking them on a sheet pan. I double the batch and freeze several meals worth. So good!
I can’t wait to try this recipe! I made a Paleo meatloaf yesterday (from a different site), and it was very dry. This recipe sounds much better!
I hope you like it. The pork and the mushrooms really make it moist.
I made this last night with bison, and it was absolutely DELICIOUS! This will definitely be a staple in my home going forward..I love how small and portable they are! Thank you so much for this great recipe!
very delicious!! thanks! I love your recipes!
My family loved this recipe! I made them in loaf pans (one to freeze for later) and baked at 375 for about an hour. We did top with a bit of ketchup- we are not Paleo but i was searching for a nutritious meatloaf. Thanks!! p.s. I also used a bunch of fresh spinach chopped finely instead of frozen.
Do you have the nutritional info readily available for these?
No, I haven’t had the time to research that. But there are websites you can find that will do that for you if you enter the ingredients.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I made it on Sunday, and it was excellent!
My family really loved these even my 3 yr old, thank you. Just had a question. After I bake them on the bottom sides. This brownish greasy part came out and I was wondering how to get rid of that I just cut a little bit off after they were done and they still tasted wonderful
Amazing – I just made these, pulled them out of the oven, checked the internal temp, and tried one. I will make these many times over. Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
I used your recipe as a springboard today to use the vegetables I had (carrots and onion, but no mushrooms or spinach – instead, I used frozen broccoli and cauliflower chopped up in a food processor and then with the water squeezed out). They turned out great, even though I didn’t measure anything! Thanks for the help!
Excellent! Creative, capable cooks can always make it work, right? Good for you.
I have made these time and time again!! My husband loves them just as much as I do! I love the grab-and-go aspect too for lunches. I usually make double batches and have lunch for a week! Thank you!!!
P.S. – I have always subbed ground turkey (93/7) or half turkey and half chicken, and they’ve always been moist and wonderful!
I did not have any coconut flour on hand and had just finished “ricing” some cauliflower so I decided to use that as a binding agent and it worked great!! I also didn’t have frozen spinach, so I used fresh and just put it in my food processor before adding it to the meat mixture. These turned out great!! Will definitely be making them again!! Thank you for sharing!
I made this and my family LOVED it! I made a red potato and parsnip mash that I put a Ziploc and piped on top almost like “icing”. It was amazing!
That’s a really good idea! Glad you all like the meatloaves.
I have a question about the nutmeg. It says “grated”, but all I have is ground on hand. What would the measurement be for ground, and does grated over ground make a noticeable difference?
Thanks!
The nutmeg would be the same measurement whether grated or already ground. Freshly ground nutmeg just has a somewhat stronger taste than previously ground nutmeg. Spices tend to lose their flavor after a time so I like to keep whole nutmegs to grate when I have a recipe that calls for it. But you can just as easily use ground nutmeg.
This was fantastic! I’ve used fresh spinach and broccoli (all I had the two times I made it). Both came out amazing. Thank you so much for sharing.
Cut a few strips of bacon and put on top just before they go in the oven. Pretty good variation. Good recipe. Thanks.
I made these for a pot-luck dinner last night and they were a HIT! They are moist and so flavorful (the sauce – although it adds a nice pop of color – isn’t even necessary). I am not the most skillful cook but this dish was definitely one of the most well receive of the evening. I thank you for such an easy and yummy recipe!
You are very welcome, Diane. Thank you for taking the time to comment and let me know how you liked the recipe.
Hello Lea. Greetings from little Estonia 🙂 I made the meatloaves today and we liked them very much 🙂 I had little bit less ground meat, I used veal only, and I had more mushrooms (maybe 8-9 ounches). So I added 2 medium onions and 3 carriots and 5 little eggs. I used muffin liners because I didn’t have metal tins. Everything turned out very nice. I liked the appearance already when it was raw 🙂 thank you for the great recipe!!! I will surf for more great stuff from your page 🙂
Excellent! I’m so glad you liked the meatloaves. It is a fairly flexible recipe and I like what you did with hit.
– Lea
We made these tonight, we cut back a little on the spices to half and we used turkey , we also used the marinara , they turned out very good. We will make this again .
These are my favourite! Has anyone tried to freeze them? I’d love to have them on hand for when our new little one arrives.
They seem to freeze just fine. Congratulations on your (imminent) new arrival!
Just discovered this recipe and wanted to give it a try both for baby and parents! I somehow ran out of mushrooms before I made it but had too much broccoli so just used that instead sautéing it with the carrots and onions a little before mixing in with the meat etc. DELICIOUS and perfect! Thank you!
Can you add cheese to these?
Can you add cheese to these? If so, how much would you recommend?
I have never made them with cheese because I don’t typically eat cheese. So, not sure how much to advise you to add.