Garlic Parmesan Chicken Meatloaves
Garlic Parmesan Chicken Meatloaves are easy, juicy, and loaded with garlic and parmesan flavor! Individually portioned chicken meatloaves baked to juicy perfection and topped with homemade garlic parmesan cream sauce.
For more ground chicken recipes, try my delicious Chicken Burgers and Chicken Meatballs.
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It’s safe to say that my family is pretty obsessed with these mini chicken meatloaves. I recently made them twice in one week, which is pretty rare for me! You know I had a successful recipe for my family when they ask me to make it again as soon as they finished the first batch.
I think it’s the combination of creamy sauce with the juicy meatloaves. The creamy parmesan sauce here is outstanding, and it’s so easy to make too. Just a few ingredients, a few minutes cooking, and you got the very best cheesy sauce. That sauce is SO good, you’ll just want to drink it by spoonful (no judgement here)!
The meatloaves themselves are also super quick and easy to make as well. Plus, I love that they’re individually portioned! You can serve them as an after-school snack or accompany them with a side dish to make it a great easy dinner. Truly, there’s no bad way to enjoy mini meatloaves this good.
Ingredient Notes
Ground Chicken – This may be known as a drier protein, but have no fear! It’s all dressed up with the other ingredients to make the juiciest meatloaves.
Onion – A yellow or vidalia onion is preferred.
Garlic – Fresh garlic creates the best flavor and aroma in the meatloaves. Add a few extra cloves if you’re a real garlic lover!
Breadcrumbs – Alternately, you could use two slices of dense bread that are crumbled.
Parmesan Cheese – I prefer to freshly grate the parmesan cheese right off the block for the best flavor and consistency. If you’re in a time crunch though, bagged pre-shredded cheese will also get the job done.
All Purpose Flour – This is used to thicken the sauce. You may need a little more to thicken it to your desired consistency.
Heavy Whipping Cream – I don’t recommend swapping this with any other dairy product. It’s what makes the sauce supremely creamy!
See the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and instructions.
How to Make Garlic Parmesan Chicken Meatloaves
Prepare. Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease a muffin pan.
Make the meatloaf mixture. In a large mixing bowl, combine ground chicken, diced yellow onion, pressed garlic, bread crumbs, egg, parsley, parmesan, salt, and pepper (1). Mix very well, until all ingredients are evenly incorporated (2).
Bake. Use an ice creams scoop to scoop out even amounts of chicken mixture (3). Shape balls of ground chicken mixture and gently press them into a muffin cup (4). You can add some more parmesan cheese on top if you wish. Bake for 22-25 minutes (6), until juices run clean and internal temperature of the meatloaves reaches 165°.
PRO TIP: Remember to not over-mix the mixture! Mix just until the ingredients are evenly incorporated, otherwise the meatloaves could become tough.
Start making the sauce. Heat a sauce pot over medium heat. Sauté the garlic in oil until fragrant, then whisk in the flour until it’s incorporated with butter. Lower the heat to medium-low and start pouring in the heavy whipping cream while slowly and continuously whisking. Keep whisking slowly until smooth and heated through.
Add cheese. Once the heavy cream mixture in hot (but not boiling), whisk in the parmesan cheese and salt. Keep mixing slowly until the cheese is incorporated and sauce is thickened. Stir in parsley and take off heat (5).
Serve and enjoy! Top each mini meatloaf with creamy sauce as you serve it.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! To make this dish gluten-free, you can use 2 slices of gluten-free bread or gluten–free breadcrumbs instead of breadcrumbs in the actual meatloaf mixture.
For the sauce, use gluten-free all-purpose flour instead of regular one. If you don’t want to use gluten-free flour and don’t mind the sauce being thinner, you can just eliminate the flour altogether.
Cook the meatloaves until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Use an digital instant-read cooking thermometer to check the internal temperature at the center of one of the meatloaves.
Absolutely! To make one whole meatloaf, mix the chicken meatloaf mixture the same way. Spread the mixture evenly in a 9×5 loaf baking pan. Bake at 350°F for 55-65 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Remember to always take the measurement at the center of the thickest part. Prepare the sauce separately, according to the recipe and add it to the cooked meatloaf.
Storing and Reheating
I highly recommend storing the chicken meatloaves and the sauce separately mostly for reheating purposes. The meatloaves take much longer to reheat than the sauce and if those are stored together, you will overheat the sauce and scald it. Store the chicken meatloaves in an airtight food storage container and the sauce in another airtight food storage container. Store both in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
You can reheat individual portions in the microwave, but make sure to reheat the sauce separately. To reheat the sauce, place it in a small microwave-safe bowl and reheat it in 30 second increments until heated through, stirring in-between. If you don’t wish to use a microwave, reheat the meatloaves in the oven at 350°F just until heated through. Reheat the sauce in the sauce pot over medium-low heat.
Freezing
These chicken meatloaves are actually great to freeze without the sauce. Cream sauces are tricky to freeze, so it’s better to make it fresh. If planning to freeze meatloaves, you can use an aluminum muffin baking pan to bake them and freeze right in it. It can also be baked in a regular muffin baking pan and then transferred a freezer container after.
Make sure to cool the mini meatloaves completely before freezing. Remember, freeze the meatloaf without the sauce. Wrap the aluminum pan with the meat in foil and the plastic wrap. Label and freeze for up to 2-3 months. Thaw overnight, in the refrigerator. Spread topping all over the top and reheat at 350°F for 15-20 minutes.
More Ground Chicken Dinner Recipes
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Garlic Parmesan Chicken Meatloaves Recipe
Ingredients
Meatloaves:
- 2 lbs ground chicken
- 1/2 yellow onion diced (about 1/2 cup diced)
- 8-10 garlic cloves pressed
- 3/4 cup bread crumbs* or 2 slices of dense bread, crumbled
- 1 egg
- 3 Tbsp fresh minced parsley
- 3 oz fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- Salt to taste
- Fresh cracked black pepper to taste
- Optional: extra fresh grated Parmesan cheese to top
Cream Sauce:
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 Tbsp all purpose flour*
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 3 oz fresh grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
- Salt
Instructions
- Meatloaves:
- Preheat oven to 375° and grease a muffin baking pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine ground chicken, diced yellow onion, pressed garlic, bread crumbs, egg, parsley, fresh grated Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper. Mix very well, until all ingredients are evenly incorporated.
- Use an ice creams scoop to scoop out even amounts of chicken mixture. Shape balls of ground chicken mixture and gently press them into a muffin cup. You can add some more parmesan cheese on top if you wish.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes, until juices run clean and internal temperature of the meatloaves reaches 165°.
- Sauce:
- Preheat a sauce pot over medium heat. Add oil and pressed garlic. Sauté the garlic in oil until fragrant, then whisk in the flour until it’s incorporated.
- Lower the heat to medium-low and start pouring in the heavy whipping cream while slowly and continuously whisking. Keep whisking slowly until smooth and heated through.
- Once the heavy cream mixture in hot (but not boiling), whisk in fresh grated Parmesan cheese and salt. Keep mixing slowly until the cheese is all smooth and incorporated.
- Stir in parsley and take off heat.
- Top each mini meatloaf with creamy sauce as you serve it.
Video
Notes
For the sauce, use gluten-free all-purpose flour instead of regular one. If you don’t want to use gluten-free flour and don’t mind the sauce being thinner, you can just eliminate the flour altogether. Full size chicken meatloaf: To make one whole meatloaf, mix the chicken meatloaf mixture the same way. Spread the mixture evenly in a 9×5 loaf baking pan. Bake at 350°F for 55-65 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Remember to always take the measurement at the center of the thickest part. Prepare the sauce separately, according to the recipe and add it to the cooked meatloaf.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in August, 2017.
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Can you make it in a loaf pan?
Yes, you can make it in a loaf pan! It will need a longer cooking time, so start checking it around 40-45 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to be sure the internal temperature in the center reaches 165°F. I hope you enjoy it!
I made meatballs instead. Turned out great! 375° for 20 minutes, and the meatballs were a little over an inch. I used 1 pound of chicken only, but kept the other ingredients the same. My sauce turned out a little thick because I used too much oil and too much flour to compensate. But it was great! Served over egg noodles.
This is one of our favorite meals. It’s a crowd pleaser for me, my husband and our three toddlers!
I am so glad your family likes the recipe!
Can you use almond flour or oats instead of bread crumbs?
Kids loved them
I am so glad to hear that!