We love meatloaf and tacos, so when a friend gave us this recipe for the Best Taco Meatloaf we couldn’t wait to try it. This easy meatloaf will be a regular meal on our menu because it’s so good!
Easy Taco Meatloaf
The best cheesy flavors in this Mexican inspired dish are seriously delicious. All of the taco ingredients mixed up in a meatloaf makes an easy recipe that is popular at the dinner table.
This recipe for taco meatloaf or Mexican meatloaf is so easy to make. Everyone always clears their plates! Just mix up ground pork, ground beef, a 10-ounce bag of Doritos, salsa, cheese, taco seasoning, and eggs.
We like to form the mixture into serving sized mini meatloaves in our hands. Topping each mini meatloaf with more salsa and cheese helps keep them extra moist. Bake at 350º F for about 30 minutes, but be sure to use a meat thermometer.
Since meatloaves can vary in size using a meat thermometer to determine doneness is very important! We don’t guess or look at color with ground meat, we always use a digital meat thermometer that reads 160ºF for an internal temperature.
We love that this recipe makes enough for us to have a couple more meals throughout the week! A couple more variations of individual meatloaves are the Best Pizza Meatloaf and Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf. They’re all SO delicious!
Our family’s traditional meatloaf is Farmhouse Meatloaf, sometimes it’s easier to use a slow cooker so we make our super moist Slow Cooker Applesauce Meatloaf or Crock Pot Bacon Cheeseburger Meatloaf. They are all very good meatloaf recipes!
Should I Buy Meat at the Grocery Store?
As I’ve shared we are farmers. We raise pigs and cows and my in-laws raise pig and turkeys. We always have plenty of our own beef in the freezer so that’s where we got the ground beef for this recipe. While we raise pigs we usually buy our pork at the grocery store because there’s only a set amount of bacon, ham and pork chops on each pig. Sometimes we want more or less of a certain cut of pork and with limited freezer space, it usually makes sense for us to pick up the pork we want when it’s on sale. So we bought the ground pork at Kroger.
I know that pigs from both sides of our families are sold to packing plants that eventually sell their meat to Kroger. So we do support our own family and families all across the United States just like ours when we buy meat at the grocery store.
How to Make Taco Meatloaf
- Preheat oven to 350ºF
- Mix meatloaf ingredients well and shape into mini loaves with your hands
- Top with salsa and cheese
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until internal temperature is 160ºF
What is Needed to Make Taco Meatloaf?
- Lean ground pork
- Lean ground beef
- Taco seasoning
- Doritos
- Eggs
- Shredded Mexican blend cheese
- Salsa
Tips for Making Mini Taco Meatloaf
- Crush Doritos into fairly small pieces to make mixing easier
- Shape meatloaves equal sizes so they cook evenly
- Use a digital meat thermometer inserted in the center of meatloaves to ensure internal temperature reads 160ºF
- Meatloaves can be topped with salsa and cheese at the beginning of baking time OR part way through baking time to prevent cheese from burning
- Leftovers reheat well in the microwave
- Meatloaves freeze well in an airtight container or freezer bag
Other Delicious Recipes
- Applesauce Meatballs
- No Peek Chicken
- Roast Beef Sliders on Hawaiian Rolls
- No Peek Pork Country Style Ribs in the Crock Pot
- Farmhouse Crock Pot Spaghetti
- Instant Pot Loaded Lasagna
- Crock Pot Stew Meat & Mushrooms in Wine Sauce
Easy Desserts to Serve with Dinner
- 5 Ingredient Chocolate & Peanut Butter Bars
- Best Rich & Moist Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake
- Peanut Butter Caramel Bars
- The Best Cake Recipe
- Milky Way Cake
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Printable Recipe for the Best Taco Meatloaf
Best Taco Meatloaf
Ingredients
Mini Meatloaves
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 pound lean ground pork
- 1 package taco seasoning
- 1 bag crushed Doritos 12 ounces
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese
- 16 ounces salsa
Meatloaf Topping
- 8 ounces salsa
- 1 cup shredded cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cover baking sheet with foil.
- Mix meatloaf ingredients well. Shape into loaves the desired size with your hands.
- Top with salsa and remaining cheese. Bake until internal temperature is 160°F.
Video
Notes
- Crush Doritos into fairly small pieces to make mixing easier
- Shape meatloaves equal sizes so they cook evenly
- Use a digital meat thermometer inserted in the center of meatloaves to ensure internal temperature reads 160ºF
- Meatloaves can be topped with salsa and cheese at the beginning of baking time OR part way through baking time to prevent cheese from burning
- Meatloaves freeze well in an airtight container or freezer bag
- We made 7 mini meat loaves and they reached 160 degrees internal temp in 30 minutes.
Equipment
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Nutrition
Do you think I could half this recipe if I don’t have one or the other meat? It looks yummy!
Absolutely! The flavor would change slightly, but I think it will still be delicious! And yes, this is a big recipe. I hope you enjoy 🙂
Spanish Rice and any vegetable would be great!
Can you use just hamburger and no pork?
Sure! The flavor will likely change a little bit, but I’m sure it will still taste good 🙂
Is it ok for the chips to be in raw egg and meat?
Since it is ground meat be sure to use a meat thermometer and follow all food safety guidelines. We cook ground beef and ground pork to 160 degrees F, internal temperature.
The mixture will be thoroughly cooked so it won’t matter. You put bread crumbs, cracker crumbs or oatmeal in regular meatloaf.
What would be a good side?
We love to use a frozen bag of steamable vegetables. Italian style green beans are our favorite, but sometimes we just use what we have on hand 🙂
One word…..yum!!! Thanks for sharing your meatloaf with all of us at Weekend Potluck, Jennifer! Hope to see you tomorrow, sharing more of your delicious recipes!
Thank you so much! Yeah!!! We love this recipe and hope others will too!
Thanks for this recipe. My family loved it and you made me look good! THANK YOU.
Is there something else I can use instead of chips or will it work without them? Gotta stay away from carbs
Great question! I haven’t tested other options, but if you do please let me know how it turns out!
After I have tried a new recipe, I ask my husband if it is a “keeper.” Today I tried this delicious recipe and he said it is definitely a keeper. Thanks for sharing it with us
We are doing low xarb,and this recipe sounds delicious! I am wondering how many ounces/cup would the crushed Dorito equal, as I would like to replace those with crushed pork rinds to make this a low carb meal? I can’t wait to try it!!!
Update. This was ABSOLUTELY delicious!!! I made 2 changes, since hubby & I are doing low carb eating I substituted pork rind planko (2 cups) for the Doritos, and rather than small “loaves” I used my muffin tins. The recipe made 26 Taco Meatloaf Muffins. Will definitely make again, so good!
I was wondering if these could be froze?
We have cooked these and frozen extras to be reheated later. This works well for us. Always be sure to follow safe food handling procedures!
Do I put 16 Oz of salsa in the meat loaf mix and 8 Oz of cheese in the meat loaf mix? Then do I put 8 ounces of salsa and 8 ounces of cheese on top? It’s probably me, but I don’t quite understand the directions. Got all the ingredients and am excited to make this. Can’t wait to make it! Thank you.
Yes! You got it exactly right! The meatloaf ingredients are listed first, mix all of them together and shape as desired. Then top with the salsa and wait until almost done baking to add cheese to prevent burning. I hope you enjoy!
This recipe sounds pretty easy and looks really good!! I like the small, almost meatball looking meatloaves. Can I use pepperjack cheese instead of cheddar or fiesta cheese? I didn’t know if it melts differently than other cheese. Thank you in advance.
Yes! Feel free to try different cheeses. We’ve found that lighter colored cheeses burn more easily and it’s better to put them on for the last ten minutes of baking to allow just enough time for them to melt.
It was me!!!! Brain fog!!! You were very explicit re directions. Thanks so much for replying so soon!! My granddaughter is going to love this recipe!!
This recipe is great! I don’t bake with the salsa and cheese on top and put the burger in a tortilla with refried beans and salsa and cheese and wrap the tortilla around them and grill them. My family loves them! Especially with tater tots and salad!
So glad you love the recipe! Thanks for sharing how you’ve personalized it!
There are so many types of salsa . . do you use chunky or restaurant style?
Great question! Our family likes a smoother salsa, so I do not use chunky, but I think using whatever your family likes or whatever you have on hand would be fine!
This taco meatloaf was amazing! My husband isn’t much of a meatloaf guy, says he eats it cuz that’s what I make. However, he had his plate completely clean by the time I asked him how he liked it and wanted another serving. Now that’s totally unheard of when it comes from him. Ya’ll need to try this recipe as follows! So delicious!
So glad to hear this! Thanks so much for trying the recipe and sharing this review!
How does this work as a regular loaf vs. mini loaves?
Great question! We haven’t tested this exact recipe in a regular-sized loaf, but I think the only major change would be the cooking time. Use a meat thermometer to ensure the meatloaf is fully cooked. Please let me know if you give it a try. Thanks!
Delicious!
Wondering about grilling these like burgers and topping with pepper jack cheese. With the guys in the field, it would be easier for them to eat.
Hey There! Love this idea! We did something similar a few years ago with this burger: https://plowingthroughlife.com/loaded-taco-burger-2/
I think the meatloaf might be best baked, but we definitely grill the burgers 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipes as much as we do!