Recipe : Chicken & Hot Italian Sausage Meatloaf

Several years ago I decided to try and make a healthy meatloaf.  I tried using ground turkey but I don't like the taste and smell of turkey in general.  Then I tried it with ground chicken which was ok but lacked flavor no matter how many other things I added.  The best attempt of this one was very similar to the one below minus the sausage & soup mix.  Instead I added some sauteed onion, red bell peppers, button mushrooms, chipotle peppers, corn and spinach all chopped finely.  If I have the time to do it (not a weeknight), I use fresh veggies instead of the soup mix but I do add dehydrated onion flakes in addition to fresh onion.  They just taste good after cooking.  So here goes the recipe I made last night.  Not quite as healthy as my mission started out but a delicious end result just the same.

Ingredients

1 lb ground chicken (not the chicken breast)
1/2 lb hot Italian sausage (approx. 2 links) - I buy at the local meat market & they make it fresh
1 packet Knorr Spring Vegetable soup mix
4 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp BBQ sauce (I used Stubbs)
1 egg
2 slices of bread (I used the Arnold's 9 grain) cut into cubes
1/2 cup milk
1 - 3 Tbsp ketchup
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30 minutes before starting, place bread cubes into a flat bowl and add milk to cover and coat all.  Stir occasionally so the bread absorbs most or all of the milk.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

In a large bowl combine the ground chicken and the Italian sausage (casing removed) and mix until uniform. Add the soup mix, garlic and black pepper and mix until just combined.  Add the BBQ sauce and egg and combine together.  Then add the bread with any leftover milk and mix until you no longer see any whole chucks of bread.  It should break apart easily.  Grease a loaf pan with spray cooking oil or canola oil.  I line mine with foil and grease the foil for easier clean up.  Place the meat mixture into the pan and form a loaf. Squeeze the ketchup over the loaf and gently spread it all over the top.  It will form a skin as the meatloaf bakes.  Bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Let stand for 5 - 10 minutes before slicing. 

We enjoyed ours with a bowl of Cream of Asparagus Soup and some warm French Bread.

Note: If you use fresh vegetables, you may want to add a bit of salt. If you eliminate the sausage and use fresh vegetables, then you may want to add more.  I eliminate it entirely in this recipe since these two ingredients are already quite salty.

Feel free to add any suggestions or variations you might try in comments below.

Bon Appetit!