The Best Lean-To-Fat Ratio For The Perfect Meatloaf

Meatloaf is a defining dish for American cuisine, being cheap, delicious, filling, and meaty. But while it's not particularly difficult to make, it's easy to ruin your meatloaf before you even leave the grocery store if you don't buy ground beef with the perfect lean-to-fat ratio. That's why Food Republic spoke to Nicole Johnson, owner and recipe developer at Or Whatever You Do, to get her thoughts on a ratio that makes your next meatloaf flavorful and moist.

"I aim for 80/20," Johnson said. "Any leaner and it dries out fast. Any fattier and it turns greasy and falls apart." Lean ground beef may be great when you want it to crumble apart, like in a meat pasta sauce, but using a blend with too little fat is one of the most common mistakes that dries out your meatloaf. Still, an overabundance of fat, at best, causes grease to pool at the top, giving it an oily, fatty texture that may not brown properly.

Johnson explained that the perfect lean-to-fat ratio gives you moisture, not a mess. Still, while fat keeps things juicy, it may still need help from binders to keep everything together. Johnson recommended eggs and breadcrumbs, but you can always make a gluten-free breadcrumb swap with gluten-free pretzels and other crunchy snacks for a similar result. When it comes to ground beef, fat plays an important role when your dish needs to keep its shape, so never neglect a good ratio for the best results.

Part of what makes meatloaf so appealing is the heartiness it gets from a perfect 20% fat ratio. Even if you work the meat, add binders, and season it properly, a lean meatloaf just won't get the same level of satisfaction from eating it that you would from a dish with Nicole Johnson's recommended 80-20 blend.

"More fat means richer flavor and a softer texture, but it can also break apart if you don't balance it with the right binders," Johnson said. "Fat adds flavor and helps the meatloaf stay tender, but it needs structure to stay sliceable." Without the right binders, all that delicious, moistening fat can leak out of your it, leaving you with something as dry and crumbly as a leaner blend with an additional puddle of grease. A good binder causes meat, fat, and moisture to stick together, creating a juicier product while also contributing to the structural integrity of a meatloaf's shape.

A good binder also means you won't have to work the protein quite as much, giving it a tender texture rather than a snappier one like a sausage. Overworking the beef is another simple prep mistake that could be ruining your meatloaf, but one that's easily avoided with some moistened breadcrumbs, mayonnaise, or tomato paste. Plus, all of these ingredients add their own flavor to your dish, giving it a bit more complexity that helps it become the most delicious result possible.