Super Porktastic Bacon-Topped Spinach and Mushroom Meatloaf
I wasn’t brought up on bad meatloaf as a child, so I don’t have an aversion to it like some folks. Quite the opposite, in fact. As a college student, I used to routinely hit up all the local diners to seek out the best meatloaf sandwiches. So here's my Paleo take on a meatloaf!
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 pound frozen chopped spinach
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or coconut oil
- ½ cup medium yellow onion finely chopped
- ½ pound Cremini mushrooms finely chopped
- ¼ cup coconut cream or coconut milk
- ½ cup Italian parsley leaves loosely packed
- ½ cup celery small-diced, about 2 medium stalks
- 1 pound ground pork
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt plus more as needed
- 1½ teaspoons Freshly ground black pepper plus more as needed
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 large eggs lightly beaten
- 5 bacon slices
- 1 cup tomato sauce optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F with the rack placed in the middle. Dump a packet of frozen spinach into a container and cover it with a lid and nuke it on high for ~4 minutes to defrost it. Then, dump the spinach in a colander and press out all the liquid.
- Heat the butter over medium heat in a large cast iron skillet and toss in the chopped onions and mushrooms along with some salt and pepper to taste. Sauté until the liquid has evaporated and the onions are softened.
- Blend the coconut cream, parsley, and celery until a puree was formed. An immersion blender may work better for this!
- Place the pork in a large bowl, followed by the chopped spinach, coconut flour, garlic, measured salt and pepper, and nutmeg. Then add the coconut cream puree, beaten eggs, onions, and mushrooms.
- Use your hands to gently combine all the ingredients. Test that the seasoning is right by frying up a tiny meatloaf patty.
- If it tastes good, transfer the mixture to an ungreased 9x5 loaf pan and layer the bacon on top. (Tip: You can store the uncooked loaf in the fridge for up to a day and then bake it at your convenience!)
- My loaf pan is kind of leaky, so I put it on a lined baking sheet before sticking it in the oven. Bake the meatloaf for 70 minutes, rotating it at the halfway point. Then, broil it for 3 minutes to crisp up the bacon.
- There’s quite a bit of grease that pools in the pan so pour it off and let the loaf rest for 20 minutes before slicing into it.
- Serve the meatloaf slices with a generous ladle of Rao’s marinara sauce, but they also taste great without it!
Nutrition
Calories: 397kcal | Carbohydrates: 13g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 30g | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 4g