This recipe is a staple in my arsenal. It’s super quick and easy to make and (so far) the best vegetarian meatloaf I’ve had. Even my meat & potatoes loving father tried it reluctantly and loved it! It also makes great sandwiches the next day (or two if it’s still around).
PREP: 20 mins. COOK: 45 mins.
Ingredients
Servings: 6
Yield: One Loaf
Yield: One Loaf
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1/2 green pepper, diced (optional)
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 (12 ounce) packages Lightlife Gimme Lean ground beef
- 1/4 cup oatmeal, dry
- 2 slices white bread, crumbled
- 3 tablespoons ketchup
- 2 teaspoons garlic salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Coating ingredients
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Directions
- Sauté the onion and green pepper in the oil over medium heat until soft.
- Combine in a bowl with the ground beef alternative, oatmeal, bread, ketchup, garlic salt, and pepper. Thoroughly mix with a spoon or your hands.
- Press the mixture into an oiled loaf pan. Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix together the ingredients for the coating and set aside.
- Remove the loaf from the oven and turn it out onto a baking sheet. Spread the coating over the entire loaf. Cook, uncovered, for another 15 minutes.
Notes
Lightlife Gimme Lean ground beef can be found with other imitation meats in most grocery stores.
twoveggiedudes 
Do you have a substitute suggestion for the Gimme Lean Veggie Beef. It’s become hard to find in stores. All I’m finding is the Veggie Ground Sausage. It’s a shame- I loved the Veggie Beef. I made this recipe a few years ago and really loved it!
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Hi Bridget! Thanks so much for the question and we’re glad you enjoy our recipe! We also have been having the same problem over the last few months. So many stores that used to carry both, only carry the sausage. The last store we have found that consistently carries the beef flavor is Whole Foods. Another thing you can try is contacting the grocery manager at your local store. Sometimes they will special order a product for you at the same cost.
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Use the dry soy chunks..its cheap and you can make so many dishes.. first you soak then use food processor blend into ground beef texture and just follow the recipe for meatloaf
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Has anyone ever tried making it with one package Gimme Lean Beef, and one pack Gimme Lean Sausage? Just wondering…
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Great question, Tara. I use a similar recipe to make meatballs and that’s exactly what I do. In terms of consistency they are exactly the same so there is no difference. You can definitely taste the sausage flavor however. So if you’re adventurous and like a spicy meatloaf, go for it!
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Yes!! It’s fantastic. I’m making it tonight.
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This question was written a few years ago, but I’ve been finding the beef version in Safeway an awful lot, lately. I don’t know why the sausage version seems to be the only one that’s easy to find. I think if people tried making burgers from this stuff, they’d realize how great it is, and it would be made more available. I mean, how many veggie meats can you actually mix things in with? I always mix in chopped onion and with the sausage, spices like fennel and chopped onion. Nice to see a veggie meatloaf recipe that seems like it’s almost exactly what a “real” one would consist of. Most people try getting too fancy with the stuff, and add things that aren’t that great to begin with. My memory of my parent’s meatloaf wasn’t too different than the ingredients you have here. Except I never wanted to eat theirs. I noticed that after stopping eating meat, a lot of things I didn’t like at all when they were made of meat I now eat. Like tacos and meatloaf. I hated those things when they were made the regular way. Tacos always smelled sweaty to me, and meatloaf was just awful. I never would have eaten stuffed peppers back then, either. Now I’ve made them twice.
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I’m making this for dinner tonight. Should the veggie crumble be thawed out?
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Hi Michelle. Thanks for the message! I’ve only made this recipe with the Lightlife “Gimme Lean” which comes in a refrigerated roll. It is almost the consistency of ground sausage and not really a crumble. If you’re planning to use a frozen crumble I’m not entirely sure if this recipe is moist enough to bind. Maybe I’ll test a recipe with basic crumbles see what I can come up with because they are much easier to find these days. Hope that helps!
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Michelle, any luck with the frozen soy crumbles? I’m making this tonight and just realized I got the wrong thing!
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I tried this recipe tonight with the only crumbles I could find at my local grocery store – Boca brand. The loaf didn’t really hold together well but I think it would have been spot on with another meat sub. I’m going to try again after going to another store across town 🙂
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I made this for my vegetarian daughter and meat-loving husband last night, and there wasn’t a clean plate in the house. Absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing it.
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Would like to try and find another beef substitute cause that one has a LOT of sodium in just 2 oz.
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Remember that you’re cutting it down with lots of veggies and grains. Plus we eat a reasonable portion with fresh green beans and potatoes which help control the overall salt content of the meal.
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Is it ok to add an egg like regular meatloaf?
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If you use the gimme lean beef you definitely won’t need an egg because it’s very moist. We haven’t tried this with other meat substitutes so I don’t know if the egg will be enough to bind those.
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Can you use Beyond meat?
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We developed this recipe before Beyond/Impossible meats were released. I’d probably go with a more traditional meatloaf recipe for those.
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Did you try it with Beyond Beef? I have had the same problem finding Lifelight lean ground beef. Going with “Beyond Beef” tonight. Hope it turns out OK!!
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Yes, we’ve tried it with Beyond. But I would cut the oil in half, add some bread crumbs instead of the bread and an egg.
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Follow recipe except used Dave’s seeded loaf bread and left out green pepper. It totally fell apart. We ended up serving it with a spoon. Any suggestions to help it bind more?
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This recipe is for the Gimme Lean Ground Beef…not the crumbles. It comes in a tube like sausage. This will definitely not work with crumbles.
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