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Conveniently cook an entire meal at once with this delicious Crock Pot Hobo Dinner. It features a tasty meatloaf along with sliced potatoes all cooked to perfection at the same time. This meal is perfect to enjoy by yourself over the weekend or send to work with your husband to enjoy for lunch.
Another one-pot meal option you may want to try is my Slow Cooker Meatloaf and Baked Potatoes, one that can feed the whole family.
Table of Contents
Why This Hobo Dinner Works
When it comes to making a complete meal with ease, this recipe is a great idea to try. All you need are simple meatloaf ingredients like ground beef, saltine crackers, eggs, onions along with sliced Russet potatoes that will be slow cooked in melted butter and sliced white onion.
This meal is also pretty versatile, meaning you can swap the potatoes for your favorite vegetables, mushrooms, corn on the cob, sliced carrots, and the like. With foil dinners like this, the prep time is quick and the cooking time is just short enough to have it ready by dinner time. You may also like my Slow Cooker Mealoaf!
Recipe Ingredients
- For the Meatloaf: Ground beef (10% is best for this recipe), large eggs, diced white onion, ketchup, salt, black pepper, onion powder, and crushed Saltine crackers.
- For the Potatoes: Small sliced Russet potatoes, salt, onion powder, black pepper, and melted butter.
- Cheese: Shredded sharp cheese will be added at the end.
- For Serving: Ketchup can be added as a topping just before serving. (Full recipe is in the recipe card below the photos).
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – In a large bowl, combine the meatloaf ingredients, be careful not to over mix.
Step Two – Shape the meatloaf on one side of the slow cooker, trying to keep the meatloaf from touching the sides.
Step Three – Make a foil “bowl” out of a foot or so of aluminum foil and shape it next to the meatloaf.
Step Four – Add the potatoes and onions and then season them with the salt, pepper, and onion powder. Toss them by hand.
Step Five – Drizzle over the melted butter.
Step Six – Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours. DO NOT OPEN THE LID WHILE THIS IS COOKING, or the potatoes will not get tender.
Step Seven – After the cooking time is up add the cheese on top of the potatoes.
Step Eight – Cover for about 5 minutes more or until the cheese is melted.
Step Nine – Add ketchup to the top of the meatloaf and serve. Enjoy!
How to Serve
- One of the best things about this crock pot hobo dinner is that it is served perfectly as is. Simply add a slice of meatloaf and a helping of potatoes onto a plate and eat up.
- You can also serve this meal with cornbread, sliced white bread, or homemade biscuits.
- Pair it with different veggies, a side salad, or have a nice dessert on hand to add something sweet.
Recipe FAQs
Yes. This recipe works well with ground turkey.
No, you shouldn’t need to use a cooking spray but you can for added protection against the meatloaf sticking. You can also use a slow cooker big, which makes cleanup a breeze.
Place any remaining meatloaf and potatoes in an airtight container (together or separate) and keep in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave until warmed throughout.
More Slow Cooker ground beef recipes?
- Slow Cooker Shipwreck Stew
- Slow Cooker Land Your Man Baked Beans
- Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak
- Slow Cooker Taco Meatloaf Stuffed Peppers
- Slow Cooker Texas Trash Beef and Bean Dip
- Slow Cooker Porcupine Meatballs
- Slow Cooker Hamburger Hash
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Hobo Dinner in the Slow Cooker
Equipment
Ingredients
Meatloaf Ingredients
- 1 lb. 10% fat ground beef
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup white onion, diced
- ¼ cup ketchup
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- ½ tsp. onion powder
- 15 Saltine crackers, crushed
For the potatoes
- 4 small russet potatoes, sliced
- ½ cup white onion, sliced
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. onion powder
- ¼ tsp. pepper
- 3 Tbsp. butter, melted
- 1 cup sharp cheese, shredded; add at the end
For Serving
- ketchup for topping meatloaf
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the meatloaf ingredients, be careful not to over mix.
- Shape the meatloaf on one side of the slow cooker, trying to keep the meatloaf from touching the sides.
- Make a foil "bowl" out of a foot or so of foil.
- Shape it next to the meatloaf.
- Add the potatoes and onions.
- Season the potatoes and onions with the salt, pepper, and onion powder; toss them by hand.
- Drizzle over the melted butter.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 5 hours. DO NOT OPEN THE LID WHILE THIS IS COOKING, or the potatoes will not get tender.
- After the cooking time is up add the cheese on top of the potatoes, and cover for about 5 minutes more or until the cheese is melted.
- Add ketchup to the top of the meatloaf and serve.
- Enjoy!
Sarah’s Notes
- Place any remaining meatloaf and potatoes in an airtight container (together or separate) and keep in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave until warmed throughout.
- Ground turkey or ground chicken can be used instead of beef.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Do you seal the foil on potatoes or leave it open
My 17 year old son made this while I was at work and I came home to a delicious meal. He even added corn on the cob on top of the potatoes, great addition.
That’s awesome. The corn is a great idea, I will have to try that!
We are gone for around 8-9 hours at work … do you think this would be okay that long?
I think it would be burnt to a crisp. Maybe this would be a better on the weekend for you? So sorry!
What happens info you also put the meat loaf in foil?
I haven’t tried. If you do try let us know how it turns out.
I always use foil in my Crock-Pot and it didn’t affect my meatloaf cooking time or anything
I use oatmeal in my meatloaf (gluten intolerant). Have you ever tried this? May need more moisture? Thanks
Hi dee. Usually when I make meatloaf that I am not making for my site, I don’t measure, you can add the oatmeal until it’s the right consistency and it should do fine.
I just made this and followed all the instructions to the letter and nothing was cooked through. The meatloaf was pink and the potatoes were all but raw.
did you open the lid at all? Meatloaf may be pink because of the ketchup. If the lid was opened even once, the potatoes won’t be done in the amount of time given.
Mine did not turn out either. Very underdone meat and half cooked potatoes. 4 russet potatoes??? Better make sure they’re VERYsmall. Two potatoes were nearly too much. Had to finish baking the meatloaf in the oven and fried the potatoes in a little oil until they were done. Both took about an extra 1/2 hour.
My meatloaf didn’t slice up well. It turned into more of a meat crumble. Very yummy though. What could be the cause of the crumblyness though?
Hi Yvonne! Meatloaf can be tricky especially if your meat is more moist or less moist than mine. The meatloaf should hold it’s shape very well before cooking, you can add more crackers if its too wet, or more ketchup if it’s too dry. That’s the only thing I can think of. Also, use fresh meat from the store, thawed meat has a hard time holding together.
Oh okay. Next time I will use fresh beef and probably a leaner beef as well. Thanks for the tip!
I use slow cooker liners so I don’t have a big mess to clean up! I am definitely going to try this recipe.
Have you tried it without the foil? I think letting the juices meld together might be very tastey
I have not. Sometimes meatloaf has mucky stuff around the edges, that may not be good in the potatoes.
Actually that might be great in the spuds
You could make the meatloaf mixture up ahead of time and freeze it before you go camping. Then it could be used to help keep things cold in the cooler until needed.
Such a great idea. And meatloaf does great as a freezer meal, it doesn’t get weird after thawing.