Moist Turkey Meatloaf Starts By Choosing The Right Ground Meat

Ground turkey often takes a backseat to beef when it comes to meatloaf, even though it can be just as good as the latter in certain situations. While the two meats are nutritionally similar, turkey has a milder flavor profile, which lets you be a little more flexible with spices, sauces, and seasonings. It's also a lot more affordable than beef — a pound of ground turkey goes as low as $2 at Walmart, while ground beef will set you back around $5 per pound — which makes turkey meatloaf a great low-cost meal for when you need to trim your food budget down.

Turkey, however, also has a reputation for being too dry, which is why a lot of people end up sticking with beef. Chowhound asked The Seasoned Mom Blair Lonergan, recipe developer and author of the upcoming "The Seasoned Mom Cookbook: Easy Recipes from a Virginia Farmhouse Kitchen," for advice on the matter. According to her, it starts with buying ground turkey with the right lean-to-fat ratio.

"For turkey meatloaf, opt for an 85% lean/15% fat mixture. Anything leaner may result in dry meatloaf that's lacking in flavor," she says. Going with any ground meat with too little fat is one of the most common mistakes keeping people from making perfect meatloaf. Fat not only carries flavor molecules to your taste buds, but it also helps lock in moisture — and nobody likes dry, bland meatloaf. Lonergan's recommended 85:15 lean-to-fat ratio helps make sure that your meatloaf has a solid, moist foundation.

Using ground turkey with 15% fat is just the start, however. If you want your meatloaf to be as juicy as possible, you'll need to add a little bit of extra fat, as well as a few other ingredients to help with moisture retention. 

"To keep turkey meatloaf moist," Blair Lonergan says, "add some extra fat like butter or olive oil (if you're starting with lean turkey breast), use milk-soaked or broth-soaked crumbs to act as a moisture-rich binder, and include sauteed onion or other veggies for extra moisture." The additional fat, liquids, and veggies will also amp up the flavor of your meatloaf, making them dual-purpose solutions. If you need a little more inspiration, you can also check out our recipe for super moist turkey meatloaf.

Lonergan also suggests using a lighter hand when mixing and shaping the meatloaf. The extra agitation can squeeze out some of the moisture while also promoting gluten formation within the bread crumbs, making the meatloaf tougher. Lastly, resting it like a steak after cooking is a secret weapon meatloaf trick that'll maximize moistness by allowing the juices to redistribute themselves throughout the meat.