Pressure Cooker Meatloaf -- Yes, It Can Be Done!

I need to get better at thinking ahead about meals. I got home after work tonight and puttered about the house -- mopping the kitchen floor, starting laundry, feeding the dog and suddenly I realized that I needed to get started on dinner, but it was after 7:00 PM. I had some ground beef in the fridge that I had enough foresight to pull out of the freezer earlier in the week, but my plan for it had been meatloaf.

So, I said to myself, "Self -- I wonder if it is possible to do meatloaf in the pressure cooker?" And off I went to google it. Yes, you can make meatloaf in a pressure cooker and there were a lot of ideas on how to do it. I quickly scanned the first few pages at the top of the search and saw that most of them said to use the steam basket for the meatloaf. DARN! My pressure cooker did not come with a steam basket. Now what? Mini loaf pans! I had some in my pantry and I thought it was worth the try.

I prepared my meatloaf, but I'm not giving you my recipe. Not because it's a family secret, but more because I never make meatloaf the same two times in a row. I sometimes throw in whatever veggies I have in the fridge, I sometimes use crackers, breadcrumbs, leftover rice or oatmeal and I use eggs and milk interchangeably as a binder. Sometimes I add Louisiana Hot Sauce for spiciness and sometimes not. The point of this post is not to share a recipe for meatloaf when there are a lot of them out there that are better than mine, but to suggest a way of cooking the meatloaf in a pressure cooker if you don't have a steam basket.

After filling 4 mini loaf pans with the meatloaf, I placed two on the rack at the bottom of the pressure cooker. I had to pinch the ends just slightly to get them to fit side by side.

I poured a cup of water into the bottom of the pressure cooker. (If I had been smart, I would have poured it in first that way I didn't have to be careful not to pour it in the meatloaf.)

I added the other two other meatloafs and turned them the other direction. Once both of them were placed, they stacked nicely and did not tip into the lower tier. I cooked them for 12 minutes with the regulator rocking slowly. While the meatloaf cooked, I microwaved some Brussels sprouts to go with it.

OOOOOHHHHHH! It worked! The little loafs were not really pretty. You could dress it up a little with gravy or ketchup. But they tasted great! And we were eating within 30 minutes of googling "pressure cooker meatloaf"! I would have to say that the only thing that was missing was the caramelizing of the meatloaf when it burns in the oven. I admit that eating the burned fat/ketchup mix out of a pan is the best part of the meatloaf. The pressure cooker actually steams the meatloaf so no burning is possible. Oh, well.

(Missing your meatloaf, Mom!)

Happy pressure cooking!