This easy recipe for frosted meatloaf casserole covered in mashed potatoes will forever change how you look at traditional meatloaf!

Every once in a while I get an unstoppable craving for meatloaf. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, there’s nothing to do but drop everything and make meatloaf.
A good old traditional meatloaf recipe. And usually with this craving comes the need to have mashed potatoes with the meatloaf.
Recently that craving struck…but with a brainstorm!
I’m completely devoted to shepherd’s pie, and frosted meatloaf is pretty much the exact same thing in meatloaf form, when you think about it.
Tender, hearty cooked beef topped with mashed potatoes. And so…I frosted my meatloaf with mashies, and now I need you to do it too!
Ingredients Needed for this Mashed Potato and Meatloaf Supper!
- Milk
- Panko Bread Crumbs
- Ground Beef (or Meatloaf Mix)
- Salt and Pepper
- Chopped Fresh Parsley
- Eggs
- Ketchup
- Brown Sugar
- Prepared Mashed Potatoes
- Butter
Here’s how you make this comfort food supper!
Start out with a good basic meatloaf mixture of ground beef mixed with eggs, breadcrumbs, milk, parsley and salt and pepper (and by the way, if you have a favorite meatloaf recipe you want to use instead, that will work just fine!).
Form your loaf and put it in a loaf pan or on a cooking rack that is sitting inside of a rimmed baking pan (this helps the fat drain out a little better). I’ve made this both ways and both work just fine.
Baste your meatloaf with a mixture of brown sugar and ketchup for a sweet and spicy tang and cook it up for an hour in a 350 degree oven.
When it comes out of the oven, you want to have about three cups of mashed potatoes all ready to roll.
If you are feeling energetic you can make them from scratch (I love these brown butter mashed potatoes myself), but I will be totally honest and tell you I have used the already-made variety at the supermarket and they work just fine!
Let the meatloaf sit for about ten minutes while you crank the oven heat up even higher.
Now take your handy offset spatula (a plain knife will also work) and frost that baby up with the mashed potatoes. Definitely cover the whole top, and if you can get any of the sides, that’s extra wonderful.
Brush the top with melted butter and put the whole thing in the oven for a few minutes, just enough to brown the potatoes in a few teeny places here and there.
It’s a mashed potato meatloaf cake!
At this point people will start roaming into the kitchen asking when dinner is going to be ready. Because if there is anything better than mashed potatoes with little crispy edges, I’m not sure what that is.
And you know what? It was everything I hoped and dreamed it would be.
Warm and wonderful and comforting meatloaf with a coating of creamy mashed potatoes, and some green beans on the side, and I almost didn’t need any Sticky Caramel Apple Cake for dessert.
More tips for making frosted meatloaf!
You can find mashed potatoes in the dairy section of your supermarket, usually right near those biscuits in a tube that we all secretly love. All you need to do is heat them up in the microwave. (I don’t recommend the dehydrated potatoes in the box, but if you love them, you be you!
Meatloaf mix is a combination of ground beef, lamb and pork, and is usually in the meat section of your supermarket next to the regular ground beef. I use it when I can find it because it adds just a little extra hint of flavor.
Panko crumbs are light, crispy dried bread crumbs, and they tend to adhere better to things like fish and chicken than fresh bread crumbs do. They are next to the regular bread crumbs in your supermarket (and you can also use those regular dried bread crumbs if you can’t find panko crumbs).
Pop your question in the comments and I will answer pronto.
You never know…frosting your meatloaf with mashed potatoes just might convince any meatloaf skeptics in your house that meatloaf is the BEST!
Frosted Meatloaf
This easy recipe for frosted meatloaf casserole covered in mashed potatoes will forever change how you look at traditional meatloaf!
- Author: Kate Morgan Jackson
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 2 pounds ground beef or meatloaf mix
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 cups prepared mashed potatoes
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray, or you can line a rimmed baking pan with foil and put a cooking rack on it (this will let the fat drain off a bit as the meatloaf cooks).
- Add the milk and breadcrumbs to a mixing bowl and give them a good stir.
- Add the beef, salt, pepper, parsley and eggs to the mixing bowl and mix it all together (this is best done with clean hands).
- Form the meatloaf mixture into a loaf shape and place it on the cooking rack.
- Mix the ketchup and brown sugar together and pour or brush it on the top of the meatloaf, spreading it to the sides.
- Bake your meatloaf for one hour, take it out of the oven and let it sit for 10 minutes while you increase the oven temperature to 450.
- Frost the top (and sides if you can) of the meatloaf with the mashed potatoes – don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect! Drizzle the melted butter over the top and pop your frosted meatloaf in the oven until the potatoes just start to turn brown, about 5 to 10 minutes.
- Let it rest for about 5 minutes, slice and serve!
Notes
Need to add something to your kitchen equipment to make this recipe? Below are some of the items we used in the Framed Cooks kitchen to help cook this up. These are affiliate links to things we use and love, which helps to pay for all that bacon I keep buying (without any extra cost to you)! Thanks for using them to keep our kitchen cooking…xoxo!
Keywords: frosted meatloaf, best meatloaf recipe, easy meatloaf recipe, meatloaf topped with mashed potatoes
OTHER MEATLOAF RECIPES WE LOVE!
There’s meatloaf, and then there’s meatloaf stuffed with cheese! Once you try ricotta meatloaf you’ll never think of meatloaf the same way again. |
This recipe for easy skillet meatloaf lets you make this suppertime favorite faster and more easily by trading the loaf pan for a skillet! |
Jazz up your meatloaf with a tangy brown sugar topping! This easy recipe for brown sugar meatloaf will have them asking for meatloaf seconds. |
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