Low Sodium Meatloaf

This Low Sodium Meatloaf recipe has all the familiar ingredients of a classic meatloaf but with less salt and doesn’t skimp on taste.

It features ground beef, fresh bread crumbs, eggs, milk, and special seasonings, that provide a perfect balance between flavor and low sodium content.

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Do you love meatloaf but worry about the salt content? This budget-friendly recipe allows you to enjoy your favorite comfort food but with much less salt than traditional meatloaf recipes. This simple, flavorful, low sodium meatloaf is sure to become a family favorite.

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• Why This Recipe Works
• Ingredients
• Instructions
• My Top Tips
• Substitutions & Variations
• Make-Ahead & Storage
• More Delicious Main Dish Recipes
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• 💬 Comments

Why This Recipe Works

All excellent recipes for meatloaf or meatballs include breadcrumbs which lightens the meat mixture to make a tender loaf that can be easily sliced... or a meatball that can be cut with a fork. Without breadcrumbs, you wind up with a dense, heavy loaf that is chewy and weighs heavy in your tummy.

So, this meatloaf recipe follows the classic rules of meatloaf making by containing one slice of bread and one egg for every pound of ground meat. Plus I add a small amount of milk to help soften the breadcrumbs a bit more and some lovely low-salt, high umami, seasonings to make a flavorful loaf.

Once everything is mixed together and pressed into a loaf pan it goes into a moderate oven to bake until it is fully cooked and the juices run clear from the meat.

I like to give the meatloaf a simple glaze of ketchup because that's how my mom made a meatloaf. But you can use your favorite glaze or not glaze it at all.

Best of all if you are following the DASH diet this meatloaf will tame your cravings for this favorite American comfort food but with much less salt.

So, let's cook!

Ingredients

Here's what you need to make this Low Sodium Meatloaf:

• Sliced Bread - I prefer to make my own fresh bread crumbs using sliced sandwich bread. Bread crumbs will lighten the texture of the meatloaf to make it easier to cut and more pleasing to eat. Sandwich bread is convenient for its size and portioning but you can use almost any type of bread.
• Eggs - Eggs are needed to bind the meat into a mixture that will hold its shape. You will need 2 large eggs for this meatloaf since it contains 2 pounds of ground meat.
• Whole Milk - Milk is needed to moisten the bread crumbs for a tender loaf. I prefer to use whole milk but you can use 2%.
• Worcestershire Sauce - This seasoning brings lots of umami flavor. It's savory without a huge spike of sodium. 
• Ground Beef - I prefer to use 85% lean or 90% lean ground beef which keeps the meatloaf moist and flavorful.
• Dried Oregano - Oregano is a warm savory herb and gives great flavor to meatloaf.
• Mrs. Dash Original Seasoning - Instead of salt I use the original flavor of Mrs. Dash which is a seasoning blend that contains no salt but lots of flavor. I found that one teaspoon is enough to flavor an entire meatloaf in combination with dried oregano.
• Black Pepper - Just a small amount of finely ground black pepper gives a nice touch of spice to the meatloaf. As always I prefer to freshly grind black pepper.
• Ketchup - Ketchup makes a quick and easy glaze for this meatloaf. You can reduce the sodium even more if you use a low sodium ketchup.

Please see the recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Place a 9" x 5" loaf pan on a baking sheet and set it aside.

Tear the bread into pieces and put it into a small food processor. Pulse until the bread becomes fine bread crumbs. Set aside for later.

If you do not have a food processor, you can tear the bread into small bits with your fingers and rub the bread between your hands to make the crumbs.

In a small bowl beat together the eggs, milk, and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside for later.

Place the ground beef in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the dried oregano, Mrs. Dash seasoning, and black pepper over the meat.

Add the bread crumbs into the center of the meat and pour the egg mixture over the bread crumbs. Let it stand until the bread crumbs mostly absorb the egg mixture, approximately 10 minutes.

Gently, mix the ground beef with the bread crumbs, seasonings, and egg mixture until all of the ingredients are well incorporated. The meatloaf mixture should easily gather together.

Press the meatloaf mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until an instant-read thermometer shows an internal temperature of 160°F/71°C in the center of the meatloaf.

Pour off any liquids from the meatloaf and spread the ketchup across the top of the meatloaf. Return the meatloaf to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes to set the ketchup glaze.

Remove the meatloaf from the oven. Use a large spatula to lift the meatloaf from the pan. Serve and Enjoy!

My Top Tips

♡ Letting the breadcrumbs soak in the egg and milk will rehydrate them and make your meatloaf moist. If you mix the ingredients together without this vital step, your meatloaf will be heavy, dry, and less pleasing to eat.

♡ The outer edges of the meatloaf will cook faster, so use an instant-read thermometer to check the temperature of the center of the meatloaf before glazing it.

Substitutions & Variations

• Substitute Tomato Sauce. You can use just plain tomato sauce to top off the meatloaf instead of ketchup.
• Substitute Barbeque Sauce. Use your favorite low-sodium bbq sauce instead of ketchup to glaze the meatloaf.
• Substitute Ground Pork or Ground Turkey. You can use other ground meats like pork or turkey for part of the ground beef. Substitute ground pork or turkey for half of the ground beef. Or use a a combination of all three ground meats, beef, pork, and turkey.
• Substitute Italian Spices and Herbs. If you don't have dried oregano in your pantry you can substitute your favorite "no salt added" Italian seasoning.
• Omit the Ketchup Glaze. You can serve this meatloaf without any glaze at all and it is still delicious.

Make-Ahead & Storage

You can make the meatloaf mixture and press it into the loaf pan up to one day in advance of baking it. Cover the pan with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate it until you are ready to bake it. The baking time will take up to half an hour longer.

Leftover meatloaf can be wrapped in plastic wrap, or aluminum foil, or stored in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

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