Turkey Meatloaf Recipe (2024)

Came out well. Made it exactly as directed, except that I did not remove the seeds from the canned tomatoes (are you kidding me?). Might reduce the oil to 2 Tbsp. given the bacon fat.

Great dish. Don't skip the mint; whatever it does, it's magic.

I liked this meatloaf a lot. I used dark ground turkey and sweet Italian chicken sausage (which I pulsed in a food processor to break up). The meatloaf plus sauce seemed a little less heavy than regular meatloaves that use beef. The bacon is a nice touch, but I might reduce the amount of bacon next time to make the sauce a little less smoky.

Made this again with all dark meat ground turkey. Missed the spice of the sausage.... Maybe turkey sausage next time?

Why this is called "Turkey Meatloaf" when the dominant ingredient is pork will forever be a puzzle to me. Even more of a puzzle is why Ms. Ephron gave it such high praise. To me, it was a tremendous amount of effort to produce something that was minimally interesting to eat and overwhelmingly seasoned with garlic. I cannot imagine making it again. No stars.

Excellent - followed the recipe exactly as written - except for the reduction of the olive oil. There was enough fat in the bacon that I omitted it when sautéing the onion. There was lots of sauce. We did not mind that, as I used the extra sauce the following day over egg noodles along with the left over meatloaf for a 2nd meal. My husband loved it too. He grabbed whatever was left for lunch the 3rd day. Will definitely make it again.

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary = 1/2 teaspoon ground rosemary powder

This was excellent. I even spent the time to remove the seeds from the canned tomatoes, and I'm here to tell you it's a fool's mission! Moreover, it's a waste of timeGoogle "should seeds be removed from tomatoes" and read the Cook's Illustrated article. They compared sauces made with and without seeds and concluded thusly: "Forty minutes of simmering in the sauce didn’t change a thing; our tasters still detected no bitterness in the tomatoes and in fact found the sauces identical in flavor."

Is it possible that Nora Ephron meant “it’s remarkable that you would call this turkey meatloaf when it’s full of sausage and bacon?”If I make it again, I will follow some of the suggestions here to reduce/eliminate the bacon and substitute chicken sausage. It’s not bad following the recipe exactly, but not good enough to justify how unhealthy it is.

I didn’t have bacon so used prosciutto for the sauce - it came out bitter, so I ended up adding about 1tbs sugar and a glug of balsamic to reduce the bitterness. I added about 1/4 cup of Italian parsley to the meatloaf mixture and sprinkled on top. Came out super tasty! But yeah who is going to seed a 28oz can of tomatoes for Monday night dinner?!

Made this the other day, following the recipe exactly, and I must say it was not the best meatloaf I've ever had. I found the Italian sausage — which I like in spaghetti and such — dominated the flavor of the dish, virtually overpowering it. If I were to make it again, I'd cut the sausage to ½ a pound and increase the ground turkey to 1½ pounds. The other thing I didn't like about this meatloaf was the texture — it was much more dense than any other meatloaf I've ever had, virtually solid. Odd.

Followed the recipe except for the mint. It was beautifully moist, flavorful and easy to make. This is a recipe I will use again and again.

Made a couple of changes: didn't have mint, omitted pork and used only turkey, increased spices to make up for not using pork. Pretty good! Next time I'd like to try it with mint. Will make again, wife really loved it and said it was the best meatloaf we've had.

San MorzanoIsCritical

Thanks for this recipe! I have now made this five or six times over the last few years and it has always been a success! The sauce is delicious! (Confession - I did not seed the tomatoes ;-) and used some less olive oil!)

Made without bacon, was still quite good.Heat

This recipe was incredible. I used large breakfast sausage instead of Italian sausage. I used fire roasted chopped tomatoes and an entire pound of bacon. I also used Herbs de Provence since I didn't have fresh rosemary. Everyone loved it.

I am a meatloaf lover, particularly in fall/winter when you want to feed a crowd. I found this recipe a terrific break from the more complicated ones I make (Ina Garten, Mario Batali, etc.). I used a smidge more rosemary and red pepper flakes to bump up the flavor, and I wanted a smoother sauce so I used 28 ounces of San Marzano crushed tomatoes. Most important IMHO: I crisped the bacon for added flavor. I used sweet Italian pork sausage sold by the pound, so no need to deal with casings. Love!

Loved loved, loved the sauce, and the mint pulls it all together. I made a few changes: I only had a cheap can of diced, petite tomatos, and I used those instead of the San Marzano, and it was still delicious. I also omitted the bacon, but had pork belly fat to use for the sauce.I did not like the pork sausage in this at all-- and I agree it makes it rubbery and ruins the consistency of turkey meatloaf. I had a ton of sauce leftover, and I'm going to use it over potatoes for a full dish...

I made this as written, except that I didn’t take the seeds out of the tomatoes and I crushed them in my hands before adding them to the pot. This is a really delicious and flavorful meatloaf. I would make it again and not change a thing.

I think this was great! Next time I'll try using chicken instead of pork sausage (a bit healthier), but for the first attempt I wanted to make it according to the recipe. Very rich, fabulous flavor and surprisingly not as dense as it looked. There's LOTS of sauce, but I found that to be advantageous as I served this for two nights with mashed potatoes and the sauce is fabulous! Wouldn't change a thing.

Ick. Made this twice. Forgot how much I didn’t like it the first time. It’s a sausage loaf with way too much garlic.

I use veggies to add moisture and flavor to turkey meat, one head of roasted garlic, carrots, celery, onions, mushrooms finally chopped and sautéed then add parsley and Worcestershire sauce, panko and an egg. If you're using turkey meat might as well try to keep it healthy.

Reflecting over leftovers one night later. The recipe is…strange. 1/4 cup of milk and no eggs? Raw garlic? Fresh mint? Turkey and pork sausage? The amount of sauce yielded is surprising (don’t go too small with the dish or you’ll swamp the loaf). But gosh darn it, it works, it was doable on a Tuesday, and it’s even tastier the second night.

Well I was excited to see a turkey meatloaf recipe since I don’t eat any meat except fowl! But….there’s meat in the recipe so what’s the point if making it turkey at all? I don’t get it