Mozzarella Stuffed Pizza Meatloaf Muffins

Mozzarella Stuffed Pizza Meatloaf Muffins are a pizza-fied twist on my family's favorite meatloaf muffin recipe, complete with a cheese stuffed center, cute mini pepperonis, and RAGÚ® Homestyle Sauce.  They will be a meal your whole family will love!

Did you grow up in a meatloaf loving family?  Meatloaf is one of those homestyle, comfort food dinners that was made in the homes of pretty much everyone I knew when I was growing up.  And you know what?  Pretty much everyone loved it.

That is until I met my husband.  When we were dating and eventually ended up living together, I took the reins in the kitchen.  Naturally, meatloaf came up in my meal rotation and, to my complete surprise, my man wasn't a fan.  Not a fan of meatloaf?  Like, for real?  How could that be possible?

It totally threw me for a loop and honestly bummed me out a little.  How was I going to go on not ever eating meatloaf again?  I mean, I could make two meals, one for him and one for me, but my momma taught me that you prepare one meal for the family and whoever doesn't like it, doesn't eat.

I wasn't about to keep preparing a meal that the two of us didn't agree on, so meatloaf was banished from my meal planning indefinitely.  But, alas, I missed it.  I had to figure out a way to get him to like it.  I mean, he's a meat-loving man.  He loves beef!  There had to be a way.

Then it dawned on me.  Keep the same concept, change the presentation!  It was so crazy it might almost work.  And so, my Meatloaf Muffins were born.  And you know what?  He liked 'em.  Hooray for the muffin tin!

So now I knew it wasn't actually the meatloaf ingredients he didn't like, it was the whole meat shaped like a loaf part.  Meatloaf muffins are everything you love about meatloaf in a cute little muffin form.  What's not to love?

My family tradition of making classic meatloaf has now transformed into the Tarala meatloaf muffins.  This particular recipe is a spin on our very favorite meatloaf muffin recipe.  I not only went Italian, I pizza-fied them!  I have been on a huge pizza kick lately and I want to pizza-fy all the things!

I swapped the usual ketchup that you normally find in meatloaf with RAGÚ® Homestyle Thick & Hearty Roasted Garlic Sauce.  The RAGÚ Homestyle pasta sauce has a made-from-scratch taste and is made with no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, and no high-fructose corn syrup.  It's a sauce that is Simmered in Tradition and I knew it would give my classic meatloaf muffins an Italian spin that my husband would love!

I tucked a little cube of mozzarella in the center of each pizza muffin because a cheesy center just seemed like the right thing to do.  I topped my muffins with more of the RAGÚ® Homestyle Sauce, some more mozzarella, and some mini pepperoni.

Helllooooo, Pizza Meatloaf Muffins!  My husband, the meatloaf in loaf form hater, gobbled down three of these awesome meatloaf muffins with no complaints.  And guess what?  The kids did, too.  Yes!

Looks like the meatloaf muffin tradition lives on for us!  I'm already brainstorming more tasty spins to put on this fun, family-friendly recipe.

Mozzarella Stuffed Pizza Meatloaf Muffins

   

Yield: 12 meatloaf muffins

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef
• 1 cup RAGÚ® Homestyle Thick & Hearty Roasted Garlic Sauce, divided
• 3/4 cup whole wheat seasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup mini pepperoni

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°. 
2. Heat the olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook the onions, oregano, and garlic for 3-4 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside to cool. 
3. Once cooled a bit, combine the cooked veggies, ground beef, 1/2 cup of the RAGÚ® Homestyle Thick & Hearty Roasted Garlic Sauce, breadcrumbs, pecorino romano cheese, eggs, Worcestershire, and pepper in a large mixing bowl.  Mix with your hands until well combined.
4. Cut half of the mozzarella cheese into 12 cubes.  Shred the remaining mozzarella cheese.
5. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray (or use a silicone pan --see notes) and fill the cups with the meat mixture.  Press 1 cube of mozzarella into each cup and pinch the meat mixture to cover the cheese. Top each of the muffins with 2 teaspoons of the remaining RAGÚ® Homestyle Thick & Hearty Roasted Garlic Sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, and mini pepperoni.
   
6. Bake for 30 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before removing from the tin. (I like to run a plastic knife around the edges of each one to help loosen the meatloaves. That way you won't scratch your tin!)
   

Notes

• I've recently started using a silicone muffin pan for this recipe.  I love, love, love them.  No sticking! If you are using a metal tin, I like to run a plastic knife around the edges of each one to help loosen the meatloaves. That way you won't scratch your tin!