Bacon Wrapped Meat Loaf

If regular meatloaf is comfort food, this bacon-wrapped version is comfort food in a leather jacket.

Two pounds of seasoned ground beef mixed with ground onion, eggs, parsley, garlic, and cracker meal gets shaped into a loaf, then completely encased in overlapping bacon strips that render and crisp in the oven.

The bacon does double duty: it bastes the beef with smoky fat while it cooks and forms a salty, crunchy shell on the outside.

And here’s the thing nobody tells you about meatloaf: it’s almost always better the next day. Cold slices on white bread with mustard? That’s a sandwich worth planning ahead for.

Kitchen Tips

• Wrap the bottom of the loaf first, then lay strips across the top and crisscross them to hold everything together.
• Bake on a rack inside the roasting pan so the bacon crisps underneath instead of sitting in pooled fat.
• Grind the onion rather than chopping it. This distributes the moisture and flavor evenly through the meat without creating pockets of raw onion.
• Add cracker meal gradually until the mixture holds its shape when squeezed. Too much makes it dry, too little and it falls apart.