Easy Slow Cooker BBQ Meatloaf is the ultimate comfort food! This set it and forget it meal that will have you drooling. Hearty ground beef, tangy sauce, and the perfect texture in every taste.
Cooking easy meals in your crockpot is a serious game changer! One bite of this barbecue meatloaf, you may never want to make it in the oven again. It’s seriously that good. This is one of those dishes you will want to serve with mashed potatoes every single time.
🍽️ Why This Works
Hassle Free | There is no fuss involved with this meatloaf with BBQ sauce! You simply add the ingredients to the slow cooker and go about your day.
Delicious | The texture and flavor is so tasty that it will quickly become a family favorite recipe.
No Oven Needed | Skip heating up the kitchen by turning on your oven! It’s great for any time of year, even in the heat of the summer. And this recipe can be adapted to an oven recipe if needed.
🍲 Ingredients
Ground Beef – Using ground beef makes the meatloaf juicy. Keep in mind the lesser fat, the more dense the meatloaf will be.
Bread Crumbs – It’s fine to buy commercially prepared bread crumbs, or you can make your own. Either way works great and will taste good.
Milk – The purpose of the milk is to make the barbecue meatloaf moist. The bread crumbs soak it up and will make makes it moist and tasty. You can swap it for broth or a non-dairy milk if desired.
BBQ Sauce – Grab a bottle of your favorite sauce and you will be good to go! Pick something you like on its own to get the best results.
Egg – The importance of the egg is to bind the bbq meatloaf ingredients together.
⏲️ Equipment and Tools
Slow Cooker – All you really need is a slow cooker, measuring cup, and maybe a spatial. That’s it! I don’t think it can get any simpler.
Foil – Choose to use foil or a slow cooker liner to make easy clean up.
🔥 Instructions
Step One: Start by lining the slow cooker with two layers of aluminum foil. You can skip this step, but it makes clean up much quicker.
Step Two: Mix together the ground beef, seasonings, milk, bread crumbs, onions, and barbecue sauce. Use your hands to gently mix.
Step Three: Place the meatloaf in the slow cooker. Drizzle with more barbecue sauce and cook for 6-8 hours on low.
❗ Expert Tips
Don’t work the meatloaf too much when mixing it. If you do, it will lead to a dryer and more dense meal.
Before serving, allow the meatloaf to rest. This will allow the ground beef to properly absorb all the juice. This keeps it moist and flavorful.
🥄 Storage
Store leftovers in the refrigerator. Keep in a sealed container and the bbq meatloaf will last up to four days.
NOTE: It makes great meatloaf sandwiches!!
Alternatively, you can wrap the meatloaf in foil and keep it in a freezer container. It will last up to three months. Our favorite 20+ slow cooker freezer meals give you an idea of the endless possibilities of cooking to and from your freezer.
🍴Meal Prep
Follow the directions except store the meatloaf with bbq sauce in the fridge until you are ready to cook. It can be prepped up to 24 hours in advance.
🔪 Substitutions
- Swap the meat – Feel free to exchange the ground beef for whatever you have on hand. This recipe makes a great turkey meatloaf! Or you can use ground chicken or a combination of both.
- Crushed crackers – If you are out of breadcrumbs, you can finely crush crackers and use them. Saltines or Club Crackers both make great options.
- Ketchup – If you find yourself without barbecue sauce for meatloaf, don’t worry! You can easily swap it for ketchup and it will be just as good.
🍲 Serving Suggestions
Serve the barbecue meatloaf with your favorite potatoes, veggies, and a salad. You can also slice it and eat it on bread to make the best meatloaf sandwich ever!
Serve this comfort food with some of starchy favorites:
Honey Herb Roasted Carrots
🍳 Favorite Slow Cooker Combinations
Slow Cooker Taco Soup with Homemade Breadsticks
Slow Cooker Beef Stew with Easy No Knead Oven Bread
Slow Cooker Lemon Herb Turkey Legs with Oven Roasted Honey Gold Potatoes
Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken with Antipasto Salad
Slow Cooker Burrito Bowl with Cilantro Lime Rice and Blender Guacamole
🥘 Recipe FAQ
Typically, meatloaf falls apart when you don’t have the right combination of binding ingredients with the rest of the ingredients. It’s important to follow the recipe precisely to avoid any issues.
It’s as equally as important that you don’t overcook the bbq meatloaf. If it cooks too long then the meat is going to become drier and be more likely to fall apart.
The combination of the eggs and breadcrumbs keeps the meatloaf together.
As the meatloaf cooks in the slow cooker, there are chemical changes that take place. This can lead the meatloaf to take on a pinkish color. As long as you check the internal temperature and it reaches 160 degrees in the thickest part, it’s safe to eat.
It should cook to 160 degrees F.
Allow the meatloaf with bbq sauce to rest for around 10 minutes.
No! While the egg is an important binder for the meatloaf, you can turn into an eggless meatloaf! Simply swap the egg for mayonnaise, olive oil, or your go-to egg substitute. You need something that is wet to help keep the ingredients bound together.
Related Recipes
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Slow Cooker BBQ Meatloaf
Equipment
- Slow Cooker
- Foil or Liner
Ingredients
- 2 lbs Ground Beef
- 1 cup Bread Crumbs
- 1 cup Milk
- 1 Pepper chopped
- 1 Onion chopped
- 1 bottle BBQ Sauce
- 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 1 Egg
Instructions
- Line the slow cooker with a double layer of foil. This will help lift out the meatloaf and also make clean up easy!
- Combine ground beef, bread crumbs, milk, pepper, onion, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, salt, pepper and ¼ cup of the BBQ sauce. Using hands, combine but don't over mix.
- Put the meatloaf in the slow cooker and add about 1 cup of bbq sauce to the top of the meatloaf. Turn on low for 6-8 hours.
Notes
It’s as equally as important that you don’t overcook the bbq meatloaf. If it cooks too long then the meat is going to become drier and be more likely to fall apart. Ingredients to Keep Meatloaf from Falling Apart: The combination of the eggs and breadcrumbs keeps the meatloaf together. Pink Meatloaf: As the meatloaf cooks in the slow cooker, there are chemical changes that take place. This can lead the meatloaf to take on a pinkish color. As long as you check the internal temperature and it reaches 160 degrees in the thickest part, it’s safe to eat. Internal Temperature: It should cook to 160° F.
Nutrition
Hi!
Ginny Collins is a passionate foodie and recipe creator of Savor and Savvy and Kitchenlaughter. Indoors she focuses on easy, quick recipes for busy families and kitchen basics. Outdoors, she focuses on backyard grilling and smoking to bring family and friends together. She is a lifelong learner who is always taking cooking classes on her travels overseas and stateside. Her work has been featured on MSN, Parade, Fox News, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and many local news outlets. She lives in Florida where you will find her outside on the water in her kayak, riding her bike on trails, and planning her next overseas adventure.
Tastes like home! The BBQ sauce knocked it out of the park for me.