Smoked Meatloaf Sandwich

An old friend of mine recently sent me a picture, with words of excitement, of his smoked meatloaf. I always get excited about things like that, and it was funny that he sent it as it was on my list of things to make. With that said, I had recently updated my Weber kettle grill with the Smokenator 1000 (a product review will be posted in the near future). So as I was smoking a pork shoulder using this new accessory, I decided to whip up a quick meatloaf in a small pan, and smoke that as well, just to see how it would go. Holy moly, this friend was right. A perfect smoked flavor on what you know as a classic meatloaf, and one that was super tender and delicious. My wife and I had it for dinner this week, and just fell in love with it. She warmed it up and ate it as a classic meatloaf, and I decided to make a sandwich out of it, and let’s just say they were both phenomenal.

If you are busting out the smoker this week, give this one a shot. It was really great.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground chuck
• 3/4 cup of onion, diced
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 slices white bread, crusts removed, diced
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt, to taste
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• aluminum pan to fit the meat loaf
• buns, optional
• BBQ sauce, optional

Start by soaking the bread in the milk, then get a large mixing bowl out and add in the remaining ingredients.

Once the bread is soaked, add the bread to the mixture, and then using your hands, combine to make sure all of the ingredients are nicely incorporated, but not overly mixed.

Add the meatloaf into your aluminum pan, and place into your preheated smoker (mine was stable at around 235 degrees). Cover, and let this smoke for about 2 hours, or until your internal temperature of the meatloaf is at around 165 degrees. Once that internal temperature has been met, carefully remove the pan (careful as it is hot, and there are plenty of juices. I use a couple of pair of tongs to do this.)

Once the meatloaf has slightly cooled, remove it from the pan, and cut it into slices.

Again, I made mine into a sandwich, and lightly seared it on a nonstick skillet for a few minutes. I then slathered some of my favorite barbecue sauce on the bottom bun, topped with the smoked meatloaf, and garnished it with a pickle.

The end result is nothing short of amazing, and I’m glad my old friend nudged me to move a bit quicker to make the smoked meatloaf. I used apple wood chips for the smoke, and it left just the right amount of smoke to make this not only a great meatloaf, but an awesome sandwich to boot. Hope you enjoy!