Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: Traditional meatloaf takes a long time to bake, but mini meatloaves are ready much faster. Add veggies to the sheet pan, along with a BBQ sauce glaze, and now you’ve got a meal!
How long it takes: 1 hour, plus 5 minutes resting time
Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowl, sheet pan (about 18 x 13 inches), brush
Servings: 4
Mini Meatloaf, Maximum Flavor
Somehow mini meatloaves seem more exciting than the same recipe in full-sized form, cut into slices. But the best part of meatloaf is the sweet and tangy glaze on the crusty top, and mini meatloaves have extra surface to get crispy brown with that yummy glaze.
These BBQ meatloaves are a fun new twist on meatloaf (and my original mini meatloaf sheet pan dinner), and obviously I made them into a sheet pan dinner because you know I love a meal that’s cooked all on one pan!
What makes this recipe special:
- You’ll love the shorter baking time. Normally, classic meatloaf takes a good hour and a half to bake when you bake it in a loaf pan. The beauty of this mini meatloaf recipe is that these babies only take 40 minutes to bake!
- The veggies cook with the meatloaf. With traditional meatloaf, you’re stuck figuring out the sides. These BBQ mini meatloaves are baked on a sheet pan with sweet potatoes, red onion, and bell pepper, all the sides right on the same pan. Now we’ve got a complete meal stress-free, and with a quick clean-up!
How to Make BBQ Mini Meatloaf Sheet Pan Dinner
This is an overview – scroll down for the full recipe and measurements!
Prepare. Preheat your oven to 400ºF and lightly grease a large sheet pan. (You can line it with parchment paper instead of greasing, but I find the veggies get more caramelized when they’re in direct contact with the metal.)
Season the veggies. Toss the sweet potatoes, bell pepper, and onions with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. I like to use my hands so I can make sure every bit is well-coated. Spread the veggies onto the prepared pan.
Make the meatloaf mixture. Use your hands (or a wooden spoon if you’re squeamish, but hands are best!) to work together the ground beef, ¼ cup of BBQ sauce, panko, onions, seasonings, and egg.
Recipe Tip
Don’t spend a lot of time mixing the ingredients; overmixing contributes to a tougher meatloaf.
Form the meatloaves. Divide the ground beef mixture into 4 mini loaves; they should be roughly the same width, height, and shape, which ensures they all finish cooking at the same time. Place them on the pan, pushing aside the veggies as needed.
Bake. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. Brush the remaining BBQ sauce over the loaves and bake for 15 minutes more, or until meatloaves reach an internal temperature of 165°F. The veggies should also be tender.
Finish. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then divide onto plates. Garnish with additional green onions and serve with extra BBQ sauce, if desired.
Recipe Variations
- Make it gluten-free. In a previous version of this recipe, I used rolled oats instead of breadcrumbs for binding. If you make sure the oats and BBQ sauce are both certified gluten-free, this recipe will be gluten-free too. You could also use a GF breadcrumb.
- Use a different type of ground meat. You can substitute ground turkey or ground chicken for the beef if you’d like.
- Make extra veggies. If you’d like to have extra roasted veggies, simply double the amount of veggies, oil, and seasoning, and roast them all on a separate sheet pan. You can use a smaller sheet pan for the meatloaves, if you don’t have two large sheet pans.
- Swap in ketchup. I love the sticky sweet layer of barbecue sauce, but for a more traditional meatloaf glaze, you can substitute ketchup if you want (use ketchup in the meatloaf mixture, too).
Serving Ideas
- Bread. This healthy cornbread recipe would go perfectly with this meatloaf sheet pan dinner. If you lean more toward garlic bread, try this Texas toast recipe.
- Salad. This recipe already has veggies included, but if you want to add even more, serve it with a simple side salad. This house salad goes with everything!
- Rice. Another way to make this recipe a bit more filling is to serve it with a side of Instant Pot brown rice.
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Ingredients
For the Vegetables
- 1 large sweet potato, cut into ¾-inch cubes (about 15 ounces)
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped into ¾-inch pieces
- ½ large red onion, chopped into ¾-inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
For the Meatloaf:
- 16 ounces ground beef, 96/4 (see note 1)
- ½ cup BBQ sauce, divided
- ½ cup panko breadcrumbs (see note 2)
- ¼ cup thinly sliced green onions
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg, beaten
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a large rimmed sheet pan with cooking spray or olive oil.
- In a large bowl, toss the sweet potatoes, bell pepper, and onions with olive oil, salt, pepper. Spread the veggies on the sheet pan in a single layer.1 large sweet potato, cut into ¾-inch cubes, 1 red bell pepper, chopped into ¾-inch pieces, ½ large red onion, chopped into ¾-inch pieces , 1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- In the same large bowl, mix together ground beef, ¼ cup BBQ sauce, panko, onions, chili powder, smoked paprika, salt, and egg. Mix until just combined — don’t overwork the meat.16 ounces ground beef, 96/4 , ½ cup BBQ sauce, divided, ½ cup panko breadcrumbs, ¼ cup thinly sliced green onions, 1 teaspoon chili powder, ½ teaspoon smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 large egg, beaten
- Divide the mixture into 4 mini loaves, and place them on the sheet pan, spacing evenly, and moving the vegetables aside to make room.
- Bake for 25 minutes, remove from oven, and brush remaining ¼ cup BBQ sauce on the top of the meatloaves. Return pan to the oven, and bake for 15 minutes more, or until meatloaves reach an internal temp of 165°F, and veggies are tender and slightly golden.
- Cool for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.
- Garnish meatloaves with extra green onions, if desired, and serve with BBQ sauce on the side.
Notes
- Meat: We use a lean ground beef, 96/4. You could also use lean ground turkey, 93/7. If you buy a blend with more fat, it may make your sheet pan dinner more greasy.
- BBQ sauce: Your choice of any commercial sauce is fine, or make your own BBQ sauce (it’s pretty easy!). The sauce is mixed into the meatloaf mixture to flavor it, and it also makes for a delicious glaze. If you prefer, you can use ketchup instead.
- Panko breadcrumbs: Breadcrumbs help bind the meatloaf together. Homemade breadcrumbs also work well in this recipe. For gluten-free meatloaf, substitute quick oats for the breadcrumbs.
- More veggies: If you’d like to increase the amount of veggies, you can use two sheet pans: one for the meatloaves, one for the veggies.
- Storage: Store leftovers in airtight containers in the fridge. Because the meatloaf and veggies cook at different rates in the microwave, I store them separately, with the meatloaves in one container and the veggies in another.
- Freeze: The mini meatloaves and vegetables can be frozen for up to 3 months in freezer bags or airtight containers. I often cut the meatloaves into slices instead of freezing them whole; they’ll reheat more evenly.
- Reheat: Warm the mini meatloaves and vegetables in the microwave separately; the meatloaves will take longer than the vegetables. You can also place the meatloaves and veggies in a roasting pan, cover it with foil, and warm in a 350ºF oven until the centers of the meatloaves reach 165ºF.
- Recipe note: This recipe was completely revised 7/2025. Previously published as Southwestern Mini Meatloaf recipe.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Did You Make This?Share a comment and rating below! I love hearing what you think!
What would you serve with these wonderful little southwestern mini meatloafs?
I think cilantro lime rice would be great or any roasted vegetable — maybe some butternut squash or sweet potatoes. And a salad would be great for some freshness! Hope you love them!
I truly lol’d about blaming your kids…I don’t have any kids yet, but we blame stuff on our dog all the time. Cracks.Me.Up! This recipe sounds super yummy, love the pictures of these!
Ahh–thanks! Muffins made of meat are not easy to photograph!
These mini meatloaves look fantastic! My kids will love them!
sounds yummy–I’d have to double the recipe for my boys, those teenagers never seem to be full.
these sound fabulous! i only like meatloaf in the mini form so these are perfect :)
Yum!! Love the southwestern flavor profile.
These look great!
I can’t believe it’s May!! I have been craving meatloaf lately. I love what you did with these!
Rachel, I love this recipe (and your commentary cracked me up too!) Ben has some kind of childhood meatloaf emotional scarring to where he says he’ll never eat it, but I’m positive he’d make an exception for these. I’ll call ’em “BBQ chicken bites” and it will be a winner.
These look great and perfect for our whole family.
Love this spin on meatloaf muffins!!! And I totally hear you on just being glad you remembered a shirt before leaving the house. ;-)