How to Make Paper-Bag Meatloaf

Inspired by a decades-old Yankee recipe, I’ve become a fan of cooking meatloaf in a paper bag. I’m finding that not only is this technique neat and tidy, it does a bang-up job of creating a very crisp crust. You might think the meat would merely steam when wrapped in paper, coming out gray and soggy, but the opposite is true. My theory is that the paper encourages the meat to render its fat more completely, the way bacon crisps up when you cook it well. You’ll want a clean paper bag, naturally, so ask your grocer for an unused one, preferably with no printing on it.

Paper-Bag Meatloaf History

This Paper-Bag Meatloaf recipe is adapted from one shared by reader Carol Learned, of Albuquerque, New Mexico. “My Grandfather, George Learned, taught me how to cook,” she wrote. “This is his recipe for meatloaf that I’ve been using for 45 years and I would imagine he used it for as many before that. He was well known in Ware, Massachusetts, for running Dale Brothers’ Laundry until he retired, and then he often cooked at church suppers. Any meatloaf recipe can be used, the secret is in the brown paper wrap.”

George did use regular brown paper bags for his meatloaf, which he buttered, but I like to make my meatloaf using parchment, because the meat doesn’t stick to it and doesn’t require the extra fat.

Paper-Bag Meatloaf Recipe

Total time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Hands-on time: 15 minutes
Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Paper-Bag Meatloaf Ingredients

1 ¼ pounds ground beef 
¾ pound ground pork 
2 large eggs 
1 medium-size yellow onion, finely chopped 
1 medium-size green pepper, finely chopped 
1 cup plain breadcrumbs 
3 tablespoons ketchup 
1 tablespoon mustard 
1 ¾ teaspoons table salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Paper-Bag Meatloaf Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and use clean hands to gently toss them together until evenly mixed. Cut up a paper bag so that you have a flat piece of paper approximately 18×13 inches and lay on a rimmed baking sheet. Spray with cooking spray. Turn the meat mixture onto the paper. Shape into a rounded loaf; then wrap the loaf in the paper to form a neat package, tucking the ends underneath.

Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the internal temperature of the loaf reaches 160° to 170°, about 1 ½ hours. Let cool 10 to 15 minutes–the crust will set during this time—then remove the paper and serve. 

Transfer the loaf on the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the internal temperature reaches 160° to 170°, about 1 ½ hours. Let cool 10 to 15 minutes–the crust will set during this time—then remove the parchment and serve.

Have you ever made paper-bag meatloaf or meatloaf on parchment paper? Let us know!

NOTE: This post was first published in 2013 and has been updated. It originally recommended parchment paper as an alternative to the paper bag, but we have since learned that some parchment paper is so heavily coated with silicone that the meat steams—the opposite of the intended effect.

SEE MORE:
Mom’s Meatloaf
Crunch Hamburger Casserole
12 Favorite New England Comfort Food Recipes

Amy Traverso

Amy Traverso is the senior food editor at Yankee and cohost of the public television series Weekends with Yankee, a coproduction with GBH. Previously, she was food editor at Boston magazine and an associate food editor at Sunset magazine. Her work has also been published in The Boston Globe, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and she has appeared on Hallmark Home & Family, The Martha Stewart Show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, and Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. Amy is the author of The Apple Lover’s Cookbook, which was a finalist for the Julia Child Award for best first-time author and won an IACP Cookbook Award in the “American” category.

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