Sweet and Tangy Meatloaf Recipe

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Published: July 22, 2021Updated: January 20, 2022Author: Elyse Ellis
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Everyone loves a good meatloaf recipe, and this sweet and tangy meatloaf recipe is one to save! It is tender and full of great flavor and has a delicious glaze on top.
Sweet and Tangy Meatloaf Recipe

While there are plenty of meatloaf recipes out there, this sweet and tangy meatloaf recipe is one of our favorite family dinner recipes. It is such an easy meatloaf recipe, but you’d never know it from the taste. 

Sweet and Tangy Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and carrots on a green plate

This ground beef recipe uses plenty of great seasonings to make a great flavor profile for this easy family dinner.  It is so simple and made with ingredients you can easily find if you don’t already have everything right in your pantry. 

One thing I love about meatloaf is that it is a recipe I know my kids will eat and not complain about because it has the sweetness from the brown sugar and a little bit of tanginess from the apricots. 

I know for sure there will be no complaints when I pair the meatloaf with some of our Roasted Baby Potatoes, Instant Pot Corn on the Cob, and of course our amazing Homemade Rolls!  

Ingredients for Sweet and Tangy Meatloaf Recipe

Ingredients Needed For This Sweet and Tangy Meatloaf Recipe:

  • Ground beef
  • Plain bread crumbs
  • Egg
  • Garlic powder
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Ketcup
  • Brown Sugar
  • Apricot preserves

How To Make This Sweet and Tangy Meatloaf Recipe:

This is such an easy meatloaf recipe to make. Just start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Meatloaf ingredients in a glass mixing bowl

Then, in a large mixing bowl, combine the ground beef, plain breadcrumbs, egg, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, brown sugar, and apricot preserves. 

Mix it all together until all the ingredients are well combined. 

Meatloaf mixture pressed into a loaf pan

Then, dump the ground beef mixture into a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan, smashing it down to make sure the meat is pushed together to form the loaf. 

Once that is done, place the loaf pan in the oven and bake it for 40-50 minutes.

Ingredients for sauce mixed in a white bowl

While that is cooking, in a small mixing bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar, and apricot preserves to create the glaze. 

Spooning sauce over baked meatloaf

When the meat has cooked, remove it from the oven and spread the glaze on top and return the meatloaf back to the oven and let it cook for another 20 minute.

Then just pull it out and serve it with your favorite sides!

To Make This Ground Beef Recipe You Will Need:

  1. Large mixing bowl
  2. Spatula
  3. 9×5 inch loaf pan (THIS a great one!)
  4. Small mixing bowl
  5. Pastry brush
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DIY Apricot Jam

If you have always wanted to make your own jam, apricot jam is a must! It has some of the best flavor, and is totally underrated compared to the other flavors of jam. 

Make your own using AllRecipes’ Apricot Jam recipe and use it in your meatloaf! Let us know how it goes, nothing compares to homemade jam. 

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Try These Other Great Meatloaf Recipes!

Serves: 8

Sweet and Tangy Meatloaf Recipe

Everyone loves a good meatloaf recipe, and this sweet and tangy meatloaf recipe is one to save!
Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 1 hr
Total Time 1 hr 15 mins
Print Pin

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 cup plain bread crumbs
  • 1 egg
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • ⅓ cup ketchup
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup apricot preserves

Glaze

  • ¼ cup ketchup
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup apricot preserves

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  
  • In a large bowl, combine ground beef, breadcrumbs, egg, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, brown sugar and apricot preserves.  
  • Place in a greased 9×5 inch loaf pan.  
  • Cook for 40-50 minutes.
  • In a separate bowl combine ketchup, brown sugar and apricot preserves.  Remove meatloaf from oven after it has cooked, spread on glaze and cook for an additional 20 minutes.

Notes

  • We love to pair this meatloaf with roasted potatoes and rolls!

Nutrition

Calories: 248 kcal · Carbohydrates: 38 g · Protein: 15 g · Fat: 4 g · Saturated Fat: 2 g · Trans Fat: 1 g · Cholesterol: 56 mg · Sodium: 320 mg · Potassium: 323 mg · Fiber: 1 g · Sugar: 24 g · Vitamin A: 150 IU · Vitamin C: 2 mg · Calcium: 51 mg · Iron: 2 mg

Equipment

  • Large Bowl
  • 9×5 loaf pan
  • Mixing Bowl

Recipe Details

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Sweet and Tangy Meatloaf sliced on a serving platter

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  1. Janet Drury says:
    October 3, 2013
    I love belonging to your blog. My husband has Non-Hodgkins lymphoma and is under chemotherapy. We have to eat non-processed foods with lots of whole grains, greens, and NO SUGAR, as sugar feeds cancer. Could you possibly start a non-red meat (red meats block chemo going into the cells) recipe section for these? They have to be meals a third grader would eat, because hubby doesn't like veggies, so my friends so far have been bringing soups with them in them. But, there is only so much soup he will eat. Thank you.
    Reply
    • Kate says:
      October 3, 2013
      Just throwing this out there, but I add ground pork to my meatloafs, keeps them nice and moist. Also, a lot of people use ground turkey instead of beef for meatloaf. And would substituting one of the non-sugar sweeteners work? Seems like most of them substitute with a small change in amount. Hope that helps you a little, good luck to you and your husband!
      Reply
    • Kira says:
      October 4, 2013
      I was going to say the same thing as Kate. I NEVER use ground beef. Almost any recipe you can substitute another ground meat. I prefer ground chicken and there is very few things where my family doesn't like the substitution better! Good luck!
      Reply
  2. Vanessa says:
    October 3, 2013
    It is also really easy to add shredded carrots into a meatloaf to sneak in veggies. This look delicious!
    Reply
  3. Happy Valley Chow says:
    October 3, 2013
    I love a good meatloaf and this definitely sounds like a winner! Can't wait to try :) Happy Blogging! Happy Valley Chow
    Reply
  4. [email protected] Plaid and Paisley Kitchen says:
    October 3, 2013
    Oh Ladies this is my perfect made in Heaven Comfort Meal!!!!
    Reply
  5. Teresa says:
    October 3, 2013
    I love the idea of apricot preserves in the sauce. This sounds wonderful.
    Reply
  6. Kayleigh says:
    October 9, 2013
    I made this recipe last week and it was way too sweet. I even left out some of the brown sugar and the apricot preserves completely. Kids hated it, but husband and I ate it. If I made this again I wouldn't use any brown sugar and still leave out the apricot preserves. I added shredded zucchini to mine, to sneak in some vegetables. I would do that again, too!
    Reply
  7. Carolyn says:
    October 22, 2013
    Made this for dinner and my family liked it. Ended up cooking it on 375 degrees for the last 30 mins due to mine looking a little uncooked. Would use a little less glaze because I thought it was a little too sweet. Thanks for another great recipe!
    Reply
  8. Diana says:
    December 7, 2013
    Should I reduce cook time for cooking it in a muffin tin?
    Reply
    • Cyd says:
      December 10, 2013
      You would need to reduce the cooking time for muffin tins. Just be sure they don't burn, and that they are cooked through.
      Reply
  9. Kathryn says:
    March 30, 2014
    This meatloaf is amazing!!! Love the apricot flavor. Definitely recommend making it!
    Reply
    • Denise Lemmel says:
      June 25, 2020
      Can I use quick cook oatmeal instead of bread crumbs? I want to make it for my father and I don't have bread crumbs because I always used oatmeal.
      Reply
  10. Diane says:
    April 23, 2014
    Tried this for a different twist on meatloaf and didn't care for it-very disappointed. More sweet than tangy and (perhaps I used the wrong brand) very "dense/gummy/gluey" due the bread crumbs. Seemed the cooking time was to long. It was done after 40 minutes and to cook it another 20 after adding the topping-mine was starting to burn on the bottom. Not sure what happened, but the flavor of the beef was lost. Going back to my old standby recipe.
    Reply
  11. Tara says:
    August 1, 2014
    Liked the flavor of the sauce, was the texture of the meatloaf was very off-putting. Super mushy. I like the sweet and tangy option to mix things up,but the sweetness of the meatloaf too was just too much. Would probably just serve the sauce with a traditional recipe in the future.
    Reply
  12. Renae says:
    August 27, 2014
    I have a recipe similar to this, instead of the Apricots I used crushed pineapples and it turned out very good. I may have to try this with the Apricots.
    Reply
  13. Laurie says:
    September 11, 2014
    Not a fan of this one. Way too sweet. Nothing tangy about it. After reading the reviews, I tried to cut the sweetness by adding mustard to the glaze. Still too sweet. Love most of your recipes, but this one is just a hot mess.
    Reply
  14. Emily says:
    May 17, 2015
    I agree with some of these other comments. WAY too sweet. It was almost like a dessert instead of a savory entree. Each serving has about 25g of sugar in it, which is the same amount of sugar as a Snickers bar (the large one, not the bite-size/fun-size ones). If I made this another time, I'd put maybe 1 tablespoon sugar in the loaf, instead of 1/4 cup, and cut the sugar in the glaze down similarly.
    Reply
  15. Melanie Alward says:
    December 6, 2015
    I'd never made meatloaf before, but after my husband reminisced about the meatloaf his mum used to make I decided to give it a try. I trawled around looking for recipes, tried a couple, and then found this one! What a winner!!! I use it all the time now, sometimes substituting the apricot preserve for mango chutney (a great British staple) and sometimes forgoing the glaze to wrap it in pastry. Thank you! Melanie
    Reply
  16. Janice Frank says:
    January 16, 2016
    I wasn't really looking for a new meatloaf recipe, but those cheeky apricot preserves dared me to try this one. I don't think my hubby will eat my old recipe anymore! It's a good thing I love it, too! Thanks for teaching an old dog a new trick!
    Reply
  17. Carrie says:
    January 26, 2016
    I just wanted to leave you a note that I love your recipe. This was my first experience with making meatloaf. The apricot preserves really caught my eye. My whole family really loved it! I put more or less brown sugar depending on my sweet tooth is but definitely keeping this one :)
    Reply
  18. Michelle says:
    October 19, 2016
    We have made this several times and my family loves it! My kids are picky eaters and the sweetness is just enough to make the meat taste. Easy and delicious recipe!
    Reply
    • Michelle says:
      October 19, 2016
      I made a mistake. That should say mask the meat taste:)
      Reply
  19. Lyn McKernan says:
    October 31, 2018
    this is the first time I've seen any of your recipes so I decided I would join thanks
    Reply
  20. Randy Taylor says:
    September 22, 2019
    This is the fourth time that I made this for my wife and grandchildren we have fun in mixing the ingredients and more fun just eating it. Goes great with corn and mashed potatoes. One thing about it, We just put the plates in the dishwasher and go !
    Reply
  21. Tiffany S says:
    April 6, 2020
    Love this recipe, it's the only one I use! We love the sweetness of it!
    Reply
  22. John W says:
    September 13, 2020
    It was ok. not my idea of what meatloaf should be.
    Reply
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