Sandra Paula Deen’s Aunt Peggy’s Meatloaf combines lean ground beef, tomato paste, Vidalia onion, green bell pepper, and quick-cooking oats baked at 375°F. A ketchup, brown sugar, and Dijon mustard glaze goes on top before the oven. One loaf bakes in about an hour and serves four to six.
Paula Deen attributes this recipe to her Aunt Peggy, featured on Paula’s Home Cooking on Food Network. What sets it apart is the full 6-ounce can of tomato paste mixed directly into the ground beef. Tomato paste concentrates tomato flavor without adding the liquid that would make the loaf fall apart after slicing.
Quick-cooking oats replace breadcrumbs as the structural binder in this recipe. Oats absorb the moisture from tomato paste and egg during baking and hold the loaf together without adding a starchy texture. Breadcrumbs absorb liquid faster and can dry out a lean loaf; oats take longer to hydrate and hold the moisture in.
Paula Deen Aunt Peggy’s Meatloaf Recipe
Description
Deen Aunt Peggy’s Meatloaf Recipe: lean ground beef, tomato paste, Vidalia onion, and quick oats at 375°F. Ready in 1 hour 10 minutes. Serves 4 to 6
Ingredients
Meatloaf
Glaze
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- In a large bowl, combine the lean ground beef, tomato paste, onion, green bell pepper, oats, egg, salt, and pepper. Mix well by hand until fully combined.
- Shape the mixture into a loaf and place it in a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ketchup, brown sugar, and Dijon mustard. Slather the glaze over the entire top of the loaf.
- Bake for about 1 hour, until the loaf is firm and cooked all the way through. Serve hot.
FAQs
Why is Dijon mustard used in the glaze instead of yellow mustard?
Dijon is sharper and more acidic than yellow mustard, which cuts through the brown sugar’s sweetness in the glaze. Yellow mustard works in its place but produces a milder, sweeter topping with less of that tangy edge. For a stronger note, a teaspoon of whole grain mustard stirred into the Dijon shifts the glaze further toward savory.
Can yellow onion replace Vidalia onion in this recipe?
Yellow onion works as a direct replacement, but it has a sharper, more pungent flavor that Vidalia onion lacks. Vidalia is a protected sweet variety from Georgia with lower natural acids that reduce its sharpness. White onion is the closest substitute, or use half the amount of yellow onion to keep the flavor balanced.
Can I make the glaze without brown sugar?
Brown sugar balances the ketchup and Dijon and helps the top caramelize into a sticky crust during baking. Leaving it out produces a flatter topping without the same deep color or caramelized texture. Honey or maple syrup work at the same ratio, each adding a slightly different sweetness to the glaze.
What other Paula Deen ground beef dish works well in a weekly dinner rotation?
A second ground beef recipe in the weekly rotation gives you two different textures from the same base ingredient. Meatloaf is sliceable and portable; a layered pie is scoopable and fork-forward, which changes how you serve and portion it. Paula Deen shepherd’s pie on Sandra Kitchen puts ground meat under a biscuit topping for a completely different finish.
What Paula Deen side dish can share the oven with this meatloaf?
A side that bakes at the same temperature means no juggling burners or adjusting timers for the whole meal. Corn casserole bakes well in the 350 to 375°F range and takes about the same time as the meatloaf. Paula Deen corn casserole on Sandra Kitchen uses Jiffy mix and sour cream and fits the same baking window.
