How Long to Cook Meatloaf in Muffin Tins

Our recipe and tips for how long to cook meatloaf in muffin tins is here. A fun meal kids love made with barbecue sauce on top or bite size handheld meatballs subs wrapped with refrigerated biscuits. Seriously, this is probably our favorite muffin tin recipes yet!!

Mini Meatloaf in a Muffin Tin

I shared How Long to Cook Meatloaf in a loaf pan (which is the normal way to do it) but when my girls were younger they were all about fun food and what was CUTE. If they could pick it up they would eat it, no matter what. That is why I started using this pan for all the things. One of the favorite things I created back in the day were meatloaf muffins.

We combined our favorite Ninja Foodi meatloaf recipe, made them into meatballs instead, and packed all the flavors of a meatball sub inside a muffin cup…delicious. You can wrap them in a biscuit or leave plain and pipe mashed potatoes on top instead. Both mini meatloaf muffin ways are so fun.

6 Muffin Tin Meatloaf

In general 1 pound of ground beef will fill 6 cups full so you can plan accordingly as far as how many people you are serving. I have a recipe below you can use to make homemade meatballs without breadcrumbs but you can certainly use your own combination if you have a secret family recipe for those as well.

Love how your Onion Lipton Soup Meatloaf Recipe comes out? Use that and just divide the hunk of meat into smaller pieces to fit inside each hole in your tin. I mean it tastes the same, yes, but it cuts down the cooking time and the edges will get crispy delicious too!

You don’t have to include the refrigerated biscuits we wrapped them in. If you wanted a low carb version, just put about 1/2 cup of mixture into each hole. It depends on what I have on hand as to which way I make it. Yes I do make loaves the “usual way” too but I love that these bake in a fraction of the time.

Meatloaf Muffins Ingredients

• Ground beef
• 1 pkg French onion soup mix, the dry stuff
• Some Worcestershire sauce
• A room temp. egg
• Some bread crumbs, I like Italian seasoning

Meatball Subs in Muffin Tins

If you wanted to add a biscuit hugged on the outside that is fun too. You would need a tube of Pillsbury biscuits to do that. I would make a pan full of both and see which your family prefers honestly.

• 2 packages or rolls of refrigerated large biscuits
• I like to put some grated parmesan cheese in between the biscuit and the meat
• 1 tbsp spaghetti sauce per serving

Can you use ground turkey?

Want share how long to cook ground turkey here since there is a slight difference due to the lower fat content. Want to use ground chicken? NO problem, like I said the mixture is your own or you could use our suggestions in the printable recipe card below but with your choice of protein. As long as it is ground it will work. I’ve used half a roll of spicy sausage + ground beef and that lends itself to a bunch of flavor and spice too.

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

We have made turkey meatloaf in Instant Pot before and it’s pretty darn killer. My kids don’t even notice that it is “different” than any other. If you add all the same things into your meat mixture that you normally would like Worcestershire sauce, egg, binder, etc… A pinch of brown sugar adds sweetness.

You use the oven twice to make these because you want to precook the meatballs before putting them into your muffin. I cook them 75% of the way because they will continue to cook once they are in your biscuit as well. Use your mom’s recipe, our spicy version or Stove Top Stuffing Meatloaf. I know it is easier to understand how to make something if you see it with your own eyes so here is a quick rundown of how you make this easy meatloaf muffin recipe.

How to Cook Meatloaf in Muffin Tins

• First in a bowl you’re going to combine your egg, bread crumbs, seasonings and sauces, meat and soup mix for meat mixture.
  • Add bread crumbs if meat is still too wet. 
  • Could add finely diced green peppers or bell peppers too.
• Make into mini meatloaves. You should get about 8 per 1 lb. of meat.
  • Preheat oven and bake on a baking sheet at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or so or until about 75% cooked.
    • or follow air fryer meatballs instructions.
  • Flatten refrigerated biscuits one at a time and push into muffin tin holes (spray pan before starting). 
• Add 1 tbsp. spaghetti sauce, bbq sauce, or our Spicy Meatloaf Recipe sauce to bottom of biscuit + parmesan cheese.
  • Put meatball into hole and bake at 350 for about 5 minutes or until biscuit is fully cooked. 
• Add mozzarella cheese to tops about 2 min. before they are done. Top with dash of oregano if desired

Serve it with a side salad and you’re good to go, or serve them as an appetizer at a party or potluck…they’re a hit at those! If you love this muffin tin dinner idea, you should give our chicken pot pie muffins a whirl too!

This is meat loaf muffin tin recipe is super quick and easy to bake in about 15 minutes. Kids love this recipe because they can pick up their dinner and that just makes things “fun”. Once you cook all things mini they will ask for more like the savory pies above.

What to do with leftover meatloaf

If you do have some left you can use them in other recipes. Use our leftover meatloaf recipes to find one you want to try with it. You will need to remove the breading and just save the protein inside for these but it works great for casseroles, adding into rice and more.