This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase through our links, we may earn a commission.
Add more flavour to your regular meatloaf by pairing it with mushrooms sautéed with herbs and garlic and folded into silky cream cheese. This stuffed meatloaf recipe will keep your family coming for more.
Serve with our Cream Cheese Mashed Potatoes for a cozy dinner at home.
This meatloaf recipe is coming from our family archives. Do you have such a recipe you used to love and then completely forgot about it?
Well this meatloaf, alongside my version of classic meatloaf, is one of those. It used to be on a regular rotation for midweek dinners, weekends and even when guests came over. Then I decided it was too retro. Silly me! This meatloaf is delicious and it’s time to bring it back.
Although I realise I might not impress you with a recipe (who doesn’t have one, right?), I might entice you with my stuffed meatloaf ideas.
Stuffed Meatloaf Ideas
The one I am sharing today is a meatloaf stuffed with mushrooms, sautéed with onions, fresh thyme and garlic and then folded into luscious cream cheese.
I’ve also added a handful of fresh arugula to my stuffing mix for a peppery flavour and extra shot of the greens.
If you are not into mushrooms, you can substitute with chopped artichokes. I would recommend using canned artichokes in brine, not oil or frozen artichokes. You can also use spinach instead of arugula.
Alternatively, you can stuff your meatloaf with cheese like mozzarella or cheddar. It will also work well in this recipe as a substitute for cream cheese.
Simply cool the cooked mushroom mixture, then mix it with grated mozzarella or the cheese of your choice and stuff the meatloaf with cheesy mushrooms.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- Start by preparing the vegetables, so all ingredients are ready to go before you start cooking. This particular recipe calls for 200g/4 cups chopped mushrooms. Make sure they are chopped finely for the filling to stay together.
- Sauté chopped onion, mushrooms, thyme and garlic until most of the liquid from mushrooms evaporated, then add flour to thicken the filling and stir until it is combined with the mushroom juices. The mixture will be pasty.
- Add the cream cheese and let it melt into the mushroom mixture. You can use either full fat or low fat cream cheese. Finally stir in the fresh arugula and take it off the heat. Cool the creamy mushroom stuffing for 10 minutes.
- Combine all meatloaf ingredients together in a large bowl. The best way to mix the meatloaf ingredients is by hand. You can use kitchen gloves if you don’t like touching meat.
- Grease the This is an affiliate link.loaf pan and line the bottom and sides of the pan with 2/3 of the meatloaf mixture, creating a tunnel for the filling. Then cover the top with the remaining meat. Seal the seams. Bake in the oven at 350F/180C for 50 min- 1 hour.
- If you are not sure whether your meatloaf is cooked, test the internal temperature with a This is an affiliate link.meat thermometer, which should read 160F/70C. It will dry out if you continue baking it longer than recommended.
How to avoid dry meatloaf
- Start with good quality beef. If using lean beef, add a little liquid like milk, water, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce or even a bit of jarred salsa can all work wonders.
- Traditionally breadcrumbs or oats in combination with beaten eggs are added to a meatloaf mixture for binding. However, dry breadcrumbs or oats will draw moisture out of meat. That is why adding extra liquid is recommended.
- I like adding This is an affiliate link.Worcestershire sauce for flavour as well as fresh herbs, sautéed onions and a dash of paprika. However, the spice mixture is easily customisable to your own taste.
- I find adding sautéed onions instead of raw ones significantly improves flavour and texture.
Serving suggestions
Meatloaf is a robust dish, and the added creamy filling means that it is not getting any lighter. That means that a fresh, zesty side dish is pretty much perfect.
It’s hard to go wrong with a fresh salad, but I love adding veggies like roasted Tenderstem broccoli with lemon garlic vinaigrette, or roasted rainbow carrots.
Potatoes are also welcome alongside meatloaf. A tasty champ or herb and garlic mashed potatoes will do very well!
Storage and Leftovers
Leftovers will keep well in a refrigerator for 3-4 days when stored in an This is an affiliate link.airtight container. I don’t recommend freezing anything that contains cream cheese, which tends to separate when defrosted.
More delicious recipes with ground beef
- Porcupine Meatballs in Creamy Tomato Sauce
- Russian Meat Patties in Wild Mushroom Sauce
- Beef Stuffed Eggplant
- Beef and Black Bean Burritos
Creamy Mushroom Stuffed Meatloaf
Equipment
- This is an affiliate link.Non-stick frying pan
- This is an affiliate link.Loaf pan
Ingredients
For the creamy mushroom stuffing
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 chopped onion, divided
- 200g / 4cups mushrooms, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh, leaves only, or 1 tsp dried thyme
- salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp flour
- 125g / 4oz plain cream cheese
- 35g / 1cup fresh arugula/rocket
For the meatloaf mixture
- 1kg / 2lbs ground beef , I used 5% fat
- 1 tbsp This is an affiliate link.Worcestershire sauce
- 1 egg
- 60g / 2/3cup oats
- 1 tbsp fresh, or dried thyme
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 60ml / 1/4cup water
Instructions
For the creamy mushroom stuffing
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Prepare the vegetables by peeling and chopping onions, mincing garlic and chopping mushrooms.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan and saute chopped onions over low heat for 5 minutes. Remove half of the onions and set aside. To the same pan add chopped mushrooms and saute over medium heat with a pinch of salt, pepper, garlic and fresh thyme until most liquid from mushrooms is evaporated. Add flour and stir to coat the mushrooms, then add the cream cheese and let it melt over very low heat, then add the arugula and take off the heat to cool for 10 minutes.
For the meatloaf
- Meanwhile combine the ground beef, reserved sauteed onions, egg, Worcestershire sauce, oats, thyme, salt, pepper, paprika and water. Mix well.
- Oil a loaf pan and line the bottom and the sides of it with 2/3 of the meatloaf mixture to create a tunnel in the middle as shown in photos. Fill the tunnel with the creamy mushroom mixture and cover the top with the remaining meat. Make sure to seal the seams. Bake at 180C/350F for 50 minutes to 1 hour until the internal temperature reaches 70C/160F. Take out of the oven and cool for 10 minutes then slice and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I seen this recipe and was so excited to make it for my family. if I make it again, I will not use so much thyme. it was way too much for our taste.
Hi Beth, I imagine you saw the amount listed before you put it in? Perhaps adjust the amount according to your taste next time?
I had to wipe the drool off my face as I was scrolling through all those delicious shots of this creamy mushroom stuffed meatloaf! I can only imagine how flavorful and juicy this meatloaf is!
Ah thanks so much, Dina! 🙂
I’ve never tried a stuffed meatloaf. I can only imagine how delicious it is, especially with that creamy mushroom stuffing. Yum!
The creamy mushroom stuffing doubles as sauce too! So delicious!
This stuffed meatloaf looks absolutely amazing! I love mushrooms and am so excited to try this!!
Thanks so much, Val! This meatloaf recipe is the epitome of comfort food!
Now that we dont have a stove top during remodel, this will be such a good recipes to use. I am excited for the creamy mushrooms inside meatloaf. My hubby loves mushrooms, they will win him over!
Thank you so much! 🙂 This meatloaf recipe earned a firm spot on our menu throughout the years and is not going anywhere any time soon.