Bacon Barbecue Slow Cooker Meatloaf has bacon and barbecue sauce inside and out!
My mom made the best meatloaf in the oven, but did you know meatloaf is one of the BEST things to make in the slow cooker? Often meatloaf in the oven can get hard in spots. Not in the slow cooker. The meatloaf stays perfectly tender throughout.
I have a trusted meatloaf recipe that I follow as a base for this recipe. It’s my mom’s recipe that I converted to the slow cooker. Though that recipe uses ketchup and has bell pepper in it, the rest is the same. Why mess with perfection, well besides adding bacon and barbecue sauce.
How to make Bacon Barbecue Meatloaf:
You will need these ingredients:
- Eggs
- White onion
- Milk
- Onion powder
- Salt and pepper
- Crushed saltine crackers
- Barbecue sauce
- Bacon
- Ground Beef
Directions:
- Start by cooking your bacon in a skillet on the stove top. I slice the bacon before cooking, no crumbling required!
- In a large bowl add the eggs, onion, onion powder, salt, pepper, milk, barbecue sauce, bacon, and crushed saltine crackers. After those ingredients are mixed, add in the ground beef and mix until just combined. Don’t overwork the meat.
- Spray the slow cooker with non-stick spray. Add the meat to the slow cooker and shape it into a loaf form.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 5 hours on low.
- Drain off any grease that is sitting around the meat. Drizzle over more barbecue sauce and add more bacon on top.
- Slice and serve, enjoy!
What kind of barbecue sauce?
I always say use your favorite sauce but don’t forget that there are so many flavors of barbecue sauce that can really make this recipe out of this world! Try one of these flavors on this meatloaf:
- Blackberry Barbecue Sauce
- Honey Chipotle Barbecue Sauce
- Tangy Carolina Barbecue Sauce
- Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce
Slow Cooker Bacon Barbecue Meatloaf
Equipment Needed:
- Slow Cooker Size: 5-quart or larger
Ingredients:
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup diced white onion
- 1/3 cup barbecue sauce I use sweet baby rays
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 tsp. onion powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 25 saltine crackers
- 2 lbs. 10% fat ground beef
- 8 slices cooked and crumbled bacon
- For the topping:
- 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
- 8 slices cooked and crumbled bacon
Instructions:
- In a large bowl, add the eggs, onion, barbecue sauce, milk, onion powder, salt and pepper. Crush the saltine crackers in next and mix this all together with clean hands.
- Add the ground beef and cooked bacon in next, only mixing everything until it just comes together.
- Spray a 6-quart slow cooker with non-stick spray, and shape the meat in to loaf shape in the slow cooker.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 5-6 hours, without opening the lid while during the cooking time. Scoop out the fat and discard. Top the meatloaf with the additional barbecue sauce and crumbled bacon.
- Serve and Enjoy.
How to Video:
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition:
First Published 04/27/2015
Updated 06/16/2019
How many hours would you put it if you put it in high instead of low?
I have not tested meatloaf on high, sorry! Soups, stews, roasts are easily adapted but things like meatloaf and casseroles need to be tested.
Help. Is it really 16 pieces of bacon – 8 for the meatloaf and 8 for the topping? The video does not show putting in that much bacon and it seems like a lot of bacon.
I use a pound of bacon total, it really shrinks after cooking. You don’t need to add so much if you don’t have it or don’t want to.
I prefer to not use non-stick spray. Is butter an alternative or?
thanks
You can go without, or put oil on a paper towel and rub onto the slow cooker.
If you wanted to use Panko bread crumbs, rather than Saltines, how much would you use?
I just measured out the saltines when they are crushed. It’s 1 1/4 cups. I hope that helps!
If I try this with ground turkey is it the same cooking instructions and time?
May need a bit more crackers if the turkey is really moist. But other than that should do fine.
Could I use oatmeal instead of saltine crackers? If so, how much would you recommend?
Start with 1 1/4 cups, you can always add a bit more if your meatloaf is too moist to shape into a loaf.
New single father of 3 thanks you.
Is there a way to prepare withought eggs?
Try using a little more milk instead. I haven’t tried this before, but it may work!
I made this recipe on Hallowwen and it was a crowd favorite! I came back to use the recipe again, but the only ingredients showing are eggs. Help!
I got it fixed! Something was wrong on the back end here, thank fully I still could see the recipe on my end and fix it so you can see it now! Have a great day.
Thank you so much! My boys will be very happy when dinner is served. 😉
says 8 cooked an crumbled pieces
Will have to try this recipe!!!! Last time I made a meatloaf in my crockpot – I put some slices of bread in the bottom – put the meatloaf on top. All the grease went into the bread so I could just take the meatloaf out and throw out the bread.
About how many slices of bread did you use to soak up the grease?
Would this work in 1.5 qt slow cooker?
I’m not sure. I do have a 1.5 quart slow cooker, and I’m thinking you may want to cut the recipe in half.
I really enjoy this kind of foods,,,,,
I love meatloaf and admit, have never made one in the slow cooker. OK…that needs to change because this looks amazing!!
This looks like the perfect meatloaf recipe!! Great post, Sarah!
I’m making this tomorrow! I was thinking about meatloaf and took some beef out of the freezer and then I saw this post! Looks amazing and can’t wait to try it. 🙂
I have yet to make meatloaf in the slow cooker. I have got to put this on the weekly menu.
yum! this sounds great! I love everything bacon!
I can’t wait to make this for my boys, they will love it.
Thanks Cathy I will fix that right now. The recipe box kept resetting this morn, I had to retype everything about 10 times. I missed that. It’s 8 pieces cooked and crumbled bacon that you put inside, then at the end you top the meatloaf with 8 more slices of cooked and crumbled bacon. I cook this in the microwave. 🙂