Do you love meatloaf and want a quick and easy crock pot recipe? This Slow Cooker Cheddar Meatloaf is a delicious twist on your favorite meatloaf recipe!
Aunt Lou here.
I was flipping through my new Gooseberry Patch Foolproof Family Recipes and ran across the Mini Cheddar Meatloaves recipe. It looked really yummy, but as usual, I wanted to do things my way. (I am a youngest child ya know! 😉 ) So I just made a regular sized loaf and threw it in my slow cooker. I also switched up an ingredient or two to fit my taste…and it worked perfectly.
Oh. My. Yum. This was just amazing. Ryder kept asking for more and more…as did his Daddy! We paired it with these Crock Pot Creamy Mashed Potatoes which makes about 10-12 servings. I suggested we try freezing part of the potatoes. Michael said I just needed to make this Slow Cooker Cheddar Meatloaf again. This recipe is so good that he wanted to eat it ALL WEEK LONG!
And on top of the wonderful flavor, it was super easy to throw together, and I didn’t have to buy anything to whip it up. That is always a bonus in my book!
Slow Cooker Cheddar Meatloaf Recipe
Note: Scroll to the bottom of this post for a printable version of this recipe.
Ingredients for Slow Cooker Cheddar Meatloaf
- 3/4 c milk
- 1 egg
- 1 t salt
- 1 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 c quick cooking oats uncooked
- 1/2 c dried onion
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2/3 c ketchup
- 1/2 c brown sugar packed
How to Make Meatloaf in a Crock Pot
- Lightly grease your slow cooker.
- Place your milk, egg and salt in a large bowl.
- Whisk until completely blended.
- Add your cheese, quick-cooking oats, dried onions and ground beef to the egg mixture.
- Mix all of these ingredients together until well blended.
- Place in slow cooker and form into a loaf.
- In a separate bowl, mix together your ketchup and brown sugar.
- Pour this over the top of your meatloaf.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours.
- Make sure the internal temperature is at least 160 degrees before serving. (We recommend this great non-stick slow cooker for this recipe OR this one with a built in meat thermometer!)
- If you want to be all fancy, carefully lift this pretty little meatloaf out of your slow cooker and place on a serving plate.
Printable Recipe for Slow Cooker Cheddar Meatloaf
Adapted from Mini Cheddar Meatloaves in Foolproof Family Recipes
- 3/4 c milk
- 1 egg
- 1 t salt
- 1 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 c quick-cooking oats uncooked
- 1/2 c dried onion
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2/3 c ketchup
- 1/2 c brown sugar packed
- Lightly grease your slow cooker.
- Place your milk, egg and salt in a large bowl.
- Whisk until completely blended.
- Add your cheese, quick-cooking oats, dried onions and ground beef to the egg mixture.
- Mix all of these ingredients together until well blended.
- Place in slow cooker and form into a loaf.
In a separate bowl, mix together your ketchup and brown sugar.
- Pour this over the top of your meatloaf.
- Cover and cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high for 2-3 hours.
- Make sure the internal temperature is at least 160 degrees before serving.
- As with any of our recipes, calorie counts and nutritional information varies greatly depending on which products you choose to use when cooking this dish.
- All slow cookers cook differently, so cooking times are always a basic guideline and should always be tested first in your own slow cooker and time adjusted as needed.
Is it really 1/2 cup of dried onions?? Like dried chopped or minced onions? That seems like an awful lot of dried onion to me.
Michael absolutely loves onion flavoring, so this worked well for us. With all the flavors in this recipe the onion flavor not overwhelming at all, but if you are leary, feel free to reduce the measurement down! Enjoy!
thanks. I think I’ll trust you and go with the 1/2 cup. We love onion too so I’ll give it a try. It just sounded like a lot.
My husband is not crazy with ketchup or sauces on top of his meatloaf. Would this recipe still work in the crock pot with it? Thanks.
Personally, we love the sauce, so I’ve never tried it without the sauce. It is worth a shot trying it without it. Let me know how it turns out!
We are a GF family, could I substitute bread crumbs for the quick cooking oats? I have GF oats, but they aren’t quick cooking…thanks!
My family doesn’t cook GF, so I am not familiar with options for substitutions. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out!
I’m constantly looking for new recipes for my family! I probably try at least 2 or 3 new ones every week. I had set out some ground beef to use for dinner and came across this recipe. It sounded delicious and I’m obsessed with anything corckpot!!! It was so delicious!!!! Mosit and delicious, nothing like meatloaf in the oven. There was no grease at all! I even warmed up the leftovers today and it was even better! Thanks
Thanks so much for your feedback! We loved this recipe too!
Minced onion or like French fried onion? Thank you!
Minced onion 🙂 Enjoy!
What size crockpot did you use for this? Thx!
I used my 6 quart slow cooker. Enjoy!
I used the leftovers to make sandwiches. A thin slice of meatloaf, heated up with extra cheddar, topped with a fried egg on whole wheat. It was so delicious that I think I’ll double the recipe next time so we have more leftovers!
That sounds delicious! And I agree, the more of this meatloaf the better! We were actually sad to not have more leftovers. Glad you enjoyed it too!
How many servings did this make?
5 servings…enjoy!