Recipe: Pressure-Cooker Meatloaf (2024)

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• Meatloaf

updated Jan 29, 2020

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Diner-style meatloaf cooks up tender and tasty when made in the pressure cooker. Topped with ketchup and enjoyed warm or cold on a sandwich, it’s easy to see how meatloaf became a comfort-food classic.

The Meat

You can make a meatloaf with any ground meat — beef, pork, veal, or turkey. For the best flavor, I use a combination of two meats (my favorites are ground beef and pork). Whatever you use, make sure it contains at least 12 percent fat. This is especially true for turkey, as lean and ultra-lean ground turkey make a very dry and bland meatloaf.

If you’re using all beef, I recommend using three-quarters ground chuck and one-quarter ground sirloin. This gives you a meatloaf that’s flavorful without being too greasy.

The “meatloaf mix”: You can often find this sold in the butcher’s case. Be sure to ask your butcher what the blend contains. You want it to be meat only — no added binders or spices.

The Binders

To make a meatloaf that’s moist, flavorful, and holds together, breadcrumbs and eggs are added to the mix. Instead of adding dry breadcrumbs directly to the ground meat, soak them in milk before adding. This simple step, called a panade, creates a starchy mixture. The starch swells during cooking, preventing the meat from getting tough and dry.

Make this dairy-free: If you are dairy-free, you can still make a panade. Replace the milk with either a mild tomato sauce or ketchup — just note that using ketchup brings a light sweetness to the meatloaf.

Making a Pan

To make a “pan” for your meatloaf, cut the foil into an 18-inch-long piece. Fold in half lengthwise. You want the piece 18 inches long by 6 inches wide.

Spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray or brush lightly with oil. Shape the meatloaf directly on the foil. Place the shaped meatloaf onto the steamer rack, then lower the steamer rack into the pressure cooker. If your steamer rack doesn’t have handles, use the ends of the foil to lower the meatloaf into the pressure cooker and onto the rack.

You don’t want to cook meatloaf directly in the pot because you need to add 2 cups of water to the pot. If the meatloaf sits directly in the water, you’d get a soggy-bottomed meatloaf — and no one wants a soggy-bottomed meatloaf.

The Release

To prevent the meatloaf from overcooking, use a “quick” release method. Once the cooking cycle completes, turn the pressure cooker off. Don’t allow it to switch to the “keep warm” setting. Turn the valve to manually release the pressure. (Consult your pressure cooker’s manual for a complete step-by-step on this process. All models are different.) Once the pressure has released, remove the lid.

Add a Finishing Touch

There are a few things that alway trigger lively culinary debate, and raisins in cookies and ketchup on meatloaf are two that spring to mind. I’m firmly on team ketchup. In fact, I like the tang that tomatoes bring to meatloaf so much that sometimes I make the loaf with ketchup or tomato sauce instead of milk.

When you cook meatloaf in a pressure cooker, how you finish it is really important. The meatloaf won’t brown during cooking, so to avoid an unappetizing-looking meatloaf, brush the top with ketchup or barbecue sauce before cooking and all will be saved.

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