Turkey Meatloaf

Photo found here

Sunday morning, I woke up wanting Turkey Meatloaf. I have a cookbook of Ina Garten’s (Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa), and it has a wonderful recipe in it that we really enjoy. It makes a LOT of meatloaf though. If you look, the recipe calls for 5 lbs of turkey. That’s a LOT. So I halved it, and there’s still plenty left over. Plen-ty.

Barefoot Contessa’s Yummy Turkey Meatloaf

3 cups chopped yellow onions (2 large onions)
2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (1/2 teaspoon dried)
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons tomato paste
5 pounds ground turkey breast
1 1/2 cups plain dry bread crumbs
3 extra-large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup ketchup

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a medium saute pan, over medium-low heat, cook the onions, olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme until translucent, but not browned, approximately 15 minutes. Add the Worcestershire sauce, chicken stock, and tomato paste and mix well. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Combine the ground turkey, bread crumbs, eggs, and onion mixture in a large bowl. Mix well and shape into a rectangular loaf on an ungreased sheet pan. Spread the ketchup evenly on top. Bake for 1 1/2 hours until the internal temperature is 160 degrees F. and the meatloaf is cooked through. (A pan of hot water in the oven under the meatloaf will keep the top from cracking.)

Serve hot, at room temperature, or cold in a sandwich.

(I’ve actually posted about this meatloaf before, but it was way back when I first started blogging, and almost no one even saw the post, so I figured it was safe to bring it up again. 😉 )