This low-FODMAP Meatloaf with Savory Tomato Sauce is a hearty low-FODMAP dinner that the whole family can enjoy. Pair it with my low-FODMAP Creamy Thyme Mashed Potatoes and a low-FODMAP Tossed Salad (or your preferred side) for a delicious and nourishing meal!
The low-FODMAP Meatloaf recipe can easily be prepared in advance and whisked from the freezer in a pinch. My kids love the low-FODMAP Savory Sauce- they always want extra!
I have also made this low-FODMAP Meatloaf with ground turkey and it tastes great that way too (in fact, that was the original style of this recipe).
I recently updated this recipe to include TWO baking methods. One involves cooking the beef, then mixing the ingredients and baking. This will lead to a less greasy loaf, which is more crumbly, and a shorter baking time. The other method is more traditional and uses the same ingredients but doesn’t cook the beef first. That meatloaf is fattier and easier to cut, but bakes longer. You pick your choice!
For other recipe ideas, check out over 450 more low-FODMAP recipes on the blog. You may also love my low-FODMAP Cheeseburger Pie and low-FODMAP Italian Meatballs.
Be healthy and happy,
Rachel Pauls, MD
Hearty Low-FODMAP Meatloaf; Gluten-free, Dairy-free
Although this recipe has not been lab tested, a single serving should be low-FODMAP based on the ingredients *using available FODMAP data at time of posting
Serves: 4
Prep time: 10 min
Bake time: 25 min (cooked beef) or 55 min (raw beef)
Bake: 350 F
Ingredients
For low-FODMAP meat mixture:
- 1 teaspoon garlic infused oil, or regular oil
- For tips on shopping for infused oils, see my low-FODMAP recipe swap blog
- Infused oils do NOT contain the FODMAPs (oil based products will not absorb the carbohydrates). See my low-FODMAP Top 11 Tips for the reason!
- 1 pound extra lean ground beef (raw)
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup low-FODMAP, gluten-free bread, dry, crumbled
- Homemade breadcrumbs are more moist than store-bought, if you use them we suggest our recipe
- Per our reviewers, if you modify this to use store-bought GF breadcrumbs start with 1/2 cup and adjust based on consistency to your mixture
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (use gluten-free if necessary)
- 2 tablespoons is one low-FODMAP serving
- Select a brand without added onion or garlic, if possible
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon low-FODMAP Happy Spices Italian Seasoning (optional, for added seasoning)
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (gluten-free, if necessary)
- 2 tablespoons is one low-FODMAP serving
For low-FODMAP Savory Sauce:
- 1 cup canned tomato sauce (no onion, garlic)
- If you can’t find this ingredient, then use 1/2 cup tomato paste and 1/2 cup water as a substitute
- 4 ounces is one low-FODMAP serving
- 2 tablespoons canned tomato paste (no onion, garlic)
- 2 tablespoons is one low-FODMAP serving
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder*
- *You spoke, we listened! We have updated this recipe due to readers comments that the sauce was too spicy and bitter. If you prefer a sauce with more heat, then add this seasoning 1 teaspoon at a time to your preference
- It will taste similar to a spicy horseradish when you use 2 tablespoons mustard powder
- *You spoke, we listened! We have updated this recipe due to readers comments that the sauce was too spicy and bitter. If you prefer a sauce with more heat, then add this seasoning 1 teaspoon at a time to your preference
- 1 teaspoon white vinegar, ensure gluten-free if necessary or substitute apple-cider vinegar
- 3-4 tablespoons brown sugar (increase for a sweeter sauce)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
- For pre-cooking beef, prepare low-FODMAP beef mixture:
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook ground beef until browned. Drain beef.
- Combine beef (raw or cooked), egg, dried low-FODMAP dry bread, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, low-FODMAP Happy Spices Italian Seasoning and black pepper and mix together (add the oil to the mixture if you didn’t cook the beef first)
- Place the meatloaf mixture into a loaf pan
- Prepare low-FODMAP Savory Sauce ingredients:
- Mix tomato sauce, vinegar, mustard powder, and brown sugar together in a bowl, stirring to dissolve brown sugar
- Taste sauce, and add mustard powder as desired
- Spread the mixture over the loaf (leave extra for side)
- Bake the prepared loaf in the preheated oven until the juices run clear, and an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the loaf reads at least 160 degrees F (70 degrees C)
- 25 minutes if you cooked the beef first
- 55 minutes if you used raw beef
- Serve with low-FODMAP stir-fry vegetables, low-FODMAP Mashed potatoes or your favorite side dish!
- (While it’s not the most photogenic meal) Nothing beats a hearty, filling low-FODMAP meatloaf!
31 Responses
I’m confused, why do you cook your ground beef before mixing and baking? Never heard of this before.
Hi Roxanne,
Thanks for your question, Our recipe does call for browning the meat first. You could probably prepare it with uncooked beef or turkey but would need to adjust the baking times in that case. Hope you enjoy it!
I don’t think the question was answered. Why do you brown the meat first? Does it seal in flavor? Improve the flavor? Hold together better? What does browning the meat first accoplish?
Thanks Jane,
We prefer to brown the meat to ensure it is fully cooked and shorten the baking time. It’s just the way our family makes meatloaf, but it is not the custom of many recipes. We don’t think it would make a large difference to the flavor if you chose to cook it completely in the oven. Hope that is helpful!
It’s helpful, thanks. Guess I’m old school and have never seen a brown-first meatloaf recipe. Also, did you mean that the meatloaf should bake to 70° C not F?
Oops, yes that is a typo, the first temp is in F. We will fix that!
Incidentally, we recently updated this recipe to include both a precooked beef and raw beef option for cooking. Feel free to make this with raw beef if you like a little more solid texture to your meatloaf (more classic method of baking). Have a great day!
great meatloaf
I made this meatloaf last night finally! I decided not to brown the meat first since I didn’t have the time, and it turned out amazing. Better than the meatloaf recipe I used to make years ago. Plus my husband was crazy for the sauce. He put the whole leftover sauce on his piece. I will definitely make this again!
Hi Lois!
Thank you so much for your great feedback. We are SO happy you enjoyed the recipe. Have a great day 🙂
2 Tablespoons Dry Mustard?
Maybe it’s just me, but … 2 Tablespoons Dry Mustard was way too much. I had to add 2 T tomato paste, 1 t vinegar, plus 4 T brown sugar just to keep from burning my mouth. And I eat jalapeños!
Did you perhaps mean 2 teaspoons Dry Mustard instead?
Thanks Allyce,
The recipe is correct, but you are right, the sauce does have a bit of a kick (kind of like the effect of enjoying horseradish with roast beef). While it does mellow with the cooking process, it may not be what you were expecting. We absolutely love it that way, but have made suggestions in the recipe for other readers that may also prefer a milder version. Have a great day!
"Restaurant Quality"
When I came across this recipe, I asked my fiance if he was okay with meatloaf for dinner instead of burgers, and he was ecstatic (apparently it’s one of his favorite foods). We used our own homemade italian seasoning mixture, substituted turmeric instead of mustard (didn’t have mustard), and gluten free panko crumbs. THIS RECIPE WAS INCREDIBLE! Can’t wait to make it again!
Maddie,
This is such a wonderful review to read! What high praise. You truly made our day:). Thank you.
Do you have nutrition values or at least calories for this?
Hi Libby,
Thanks for your question. Sorry, but we do not have the data for nutrition or calories for our recipes. Hope you have a great day 🙂
Really Good!
I rarely leave reviews but thought I’d contribute something here. I have been “attached” to my recipe for 40 years and it was always very onion and garlic heavy. I decided to give this recipe a try because of some of the reviews and my dietary restricitions. The comments were intriguing!!!!!
Following the recipe to a T except for a few minor changes to accomodate taste and texture.
I did add about a tsp or less of salt to the meat mixture. I used a combo of veal, pork and beef and I did NOT cook meat beforehand. Total cook time was about 1 hour (maybe and extra 5 min). The only other thing I did differently was use my Kitchen Aid mixer as I do not like a crumbly or chunky meatloaf. We like it wll mixed and packed tightly so that it can be carved for sandwiches later. Absolutely amazing!!!! Thank you!!!!!
Thank you for commenting Maggie!
have a great day and stay in touch. We appreciate you sharing your tips for this recipe 🙂
Yikes
Let me start by saying that I have tried several of the recipes here and they have all been good.
I’m sorry to say that this is the worst meatloaf I’ve ever had.
It has WAY too much bread crumb. I feel partially responsible because I should have known that one full cup of bread crumbs to one pound of beef would be too much.
The texture turns out to be legitimately similar to a loaf of bread. Insanely dry and spongey.
I think the next time that I make a low fodmap meatloaf, I’ll just amend my normal recipe to not include onion, garlic and gluten.
Delicious!
This recipe was a hit with my family so I will be making it again. The sauce was a great addition too. Thank you for sharing this!
Note:
I didn’t have breadcrumbs so I added about 1/4 cup of gluten-free flour and it held together well.
Awesome tip! Thanks again 🙂
Laura,
Super, thank you so much! We love hearing that this was a good meal for you and your family.
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Stay in touch please!
I need to double the recipe( large family) before I buy a meat thermometer, how many minutes do I add if I’m using 2lbs of meat?
Hi Donna,
We have not tried the recipe with that much beef, we would not be sure it would fit in the same loaf pan. If you used 2 pans, then the bake time may not need much adjustment, provided they fit on the same rack. Perhaps about 10% more to allow for the additional food in the oven. Good luck!
Worcestershire sauce?
Worcestershire sauce has garlic in it. even a tiny bit of garlic sets my partner off. hope that’s a bit helpful, recipe fine with no garlic too but garlic is so so so bad for some lowfodmap tummies that Worcestershire definitely a no no
Hi Amy,
We are sorry that happened. Worcestershire sauce does contain garlic in most cases, but the amount is so small that it is low-FODMAP when in enjoyed in servings of 2 tablespoons or less. This recipe is for 1 teaspoon of sauce and it serves 4 people. If there is an issue tolerating this recipe, then it is from something different than FODMAPs (such as a food insensitivity). Thanks for your comment.
Way too much mustard, I scraped off the sauce and threw it out.
Sorry to hear that. The recipe advises to use less mustard and adjust to your preference, did you try it that way? We also wanted you to know we have recently updated the recipe and modified the amount of mustard powder as we want our readers to be satisfied. Thank you for your feedback.
Hearty Low-FODMAP Meatloaf
Dear Dr. Rachel Pauls,
I’m in my late 60’s and never have enjoyed meatloaf, until I made yours!
I made a few adjustments to the raw meat version: 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 ground chicken (made my own bread crumbs from Costco’s multigrain gluten-free bread, sugar substitute in place of brown sugar-necessary for my husband, subbed out soy sauce for Coconut Aminos-trying to use less soy, used Italian herbs and 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard and 3/4 teaspoon mustard seed.
My husband liked it and wanted more sauce and I loved the meatloaf and sauce! A first for me!
Thank you!
Pamela F.L.
Hi Pamela,
Thank you so much for taking the time to review! We are so appreciative of your lovely comments and are thrilled we could help you and your husband enjoy a healthy and hearty meal!!
Please stay in touch and have a great day 🙂 🙂
Needs moisture
I followed the recipe using store bought gluten free bread crumbs. One cup is too much. I used raw ground beef and the mixture was dry. I added a quarter cup of 2% regular milk. Probably water or lactose free milk would work, too. I love garlic (even raw) but can’t eat it now and 1 tsp. garlic infused olive oil was a bit much even for my garlic-loving taste buds. The sauce was good. I did leave out the vinegar and used 1 tblsp. pure maple syrup instead of the brown sugar.
Unfortunately, this recipe was not a hit at our house. The meatloaf held together good but after it cooled some, the texture was rubbery. Could have been from the bread crumbs. Next time, I’ll adjust it using a small amount of oatmeal and less garlic infused olive oil.
Thanks,
We agree that from other reviews the store bought bread crumbs are likely too dry. The recipe actually calls for using ‘dry bread’, not the crumbs. We are noting that more clearly in the recipe. If you don’t like garlic, then you should omit; 1 teaspoon is not a large amount for 1 pound of beef. Appreciate the comments!