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Smoked French onion meatloaf rolled with caramelized onions and Swiss cheese, glazed with a simple two ingredient sauce and smoked to perfection on the pellet grill.
If you loved our Jalapeno Popper Meatloaf on the Smoker, you’re going to want to add this one to the rotation too. They’re two completely different animals. The jalapeno popper version is all heat and creamy filling, while this French onion version is deeper, richer, and a little more savory. Think of it as the sophisticated older sibling.
If you’ve never tried smoked meatloaf on the pellet grill, this is a great recipe to try first!
Why You’ll Love This French Onion Meatloaf
This isn’t your average meatloaf. Instead of just mixing everything together and shaping it into a loaf pan, we roll this one up jelly-roll style with a layer of melty Swiss cheese and slow-caramelized onions running through the center. Every slice gets that gooey cheese pull and a ribbon of sweet, deeply browned onions.
The Lipton onion soup mix packed into the meat itself brings a concentrated onion flavor that backs up the caramelized onions inside, so you get that French onion soup flavor from the first bite to the last. Smoking it low and slow on the pellet grill adds a layer of smoky flavor that you’d never get from an oven-baked meatloaf, and the brown gravy and ketchup glaze at the end gives it a sticky, savory finish.
If you love meatloaf, you’ll appreciate this recipe.
The Meatloaf Ratio that Works Every Time
Confession – I used to make the worst meatloaf. I knew it. But then I tried mixing equal parts of quick-cooking oats and milk into the ground beef mixture, and my meatloaf disasters were in the past.
This is the same ratio that I used for my jalapeno popper meatloaf recipe, and it is a winner!
The secret is a half cup of milk and a half cup of quick-cooking oats per pound of 80/20 ground beef. The milk helps hydrate the oats and keeps the texture tender, and we prefer quick oats over breadcrumbs or dried bread slices because they absorb the milk and hold everything together without getting gummy.
How to Make French Onion Meatloaf
1. Caramelize the onions first
Start with your onions since they take the longest. Thinly slice both onions and add them to a skillet with the butter over medium-low heat. Let them cook low and slow, stirring occasionally, until they’re deeply browned and soft, similar to what you’d want for a French onion soup.
This takes patience. Rushing the heat will give you soft onions without the deep caramelized flavor that makes this meatloaf special. Set the caramelized onions aside to cool slightly once they’re done.
2. Mix the meatloaf base
In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, milk, eggs, quick cooking oats, Lipton onion soup mix, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix just until everything is evenly combined. Overmixing can make the meatloaf dense, so stop as soon as you don’t see any dry pockets of oats.
Cover the meatloaf mixture and refrigerate it for a bit while your onions finish cooking. This resting time lets the oats fully absorb the milk and firm the mixture up slightly, which makes it much easier to handle when you roll it.
3. Pat the meatloaf mixture into a rectangle
Overlap a few pieces of plastic wrap or aluminum foil on your cutting board or work surface. You want a large enough area to pat out the meat into a full rectangle, so don’t be shy with the plastic wrap or foil.
Turn the chilled meatloaf mixture out onto the plastic wrap or foil. Using your hands, pat it out into an even rectangle, about 3/4 inch thick. Getting this thickness even across the whole rectangle matters, since it’s what allows the meatloaf to cook evenly once it’s rolled into a log.
4. Layer the cheese and onions
Spread the caramelized onions evenly over the meat mixture. Then lay the Swiss cheese slices evenly over the top, covering as much surface area as you can.
5. Roll it into a log
Using the plastic wrap or foil underneath to help lift and guide the meat, roll the rectangle up tightly into a log, starting from one of the longer ends. The plastic wrap or foil gives you the leverage to roll it up nice and tight without the meat sticking to your hands or falling apart. Once rolled, twist the ends of the wrap to help hold the shape.
Place the rolled meatloaf, still wrapped, into the refrigerator for a short time to firm up before it goes on the smoker. This helps it hold its shape and makes it easier to transfer without the log sagging or splitting.
6. Smoke the meatloaf
Place the meatloaf on a sheet tray, and carefully tear away the plastic wrap or foil. Set the sheet tray with the meatloaf on your pellet grill or smoker preheated to 275°F. Smoke until the internal temperature reaches about 145°F.
7. Glaze and finish smoking
Once the meatloaf hits 145°F internally, mix the brown gravy and ketchup together and brush the glaze evenly over the entire meatloaf. Continue smoking until the internal temperature reaches 165°F, which is the safe finished temperature for ground beef.
Let the meatloaf rest for a few minutes before slicing so the layers of cheese and onion hold together nicely when you cut into it. Serve with your favorite side dishes like smoked baked potatoes, smoked scalloped potatoes or grilled corn on the cob.
Smoked French Onion Meatloaf
Ingredients
- 3 lbs 80/20 ground beef
- 1½ cups milk
- 1½ cups quick-cooking oats
- 2 eggs
- 1 packet Lipton onion soup mix
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 onions, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 6 oz sliced Swiss cheese
- 1/4 cup prepared brown gravy, see notes
- 1/4 cup ketchup
Instructions
- Add sliced onions and butter to a skillet over medium-low heat. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until deeply caramelized and soft, about 15-20 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.
- While the onions are cooking, make the meat mixture. In a large bowl, combine ground beef, milk, eggs, oats, onion soup mix, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix until just combined.
- Lay overlapping sheets of plastic wrap or foil on a work surface. Turn the meat mixture out onto it and pat into an even rectangle, about 3/4 inch thick.
- Spread the caramelized onions evenly over the meat mixture. Then lay the Swiss cheese slices on top of the onions.
- Using the plastic wrap or foil to help, roll the meat tightly into a log starting from one of the long ends (so the stuffed meatloaf roll is longer and thinner rather than short and fat). Twist the ends to secure the shape.
- Refrigerate the rolled meatloaf about 20 minutes to firm up before smoking.
- While the meatloaf is chilling, preheat a pellet grill or smoker to 275°F.
- Place the meatloaf on a grill-safe sheet tray. Then remove the plastic wrap or foil. Place the sheet tray on the pellet grill or smoker, and smoke until internal temperature reaches 145°F, about 1.5 hours.
- When the meatloaf is almost up to 145℉ internal, make the glaze by mixing the brown gravy and ketchup together in a small bowl. Then brush over the entire meatloaf.
- Continue smoking until internal temperature reaches 165°F, about another 30 minutes. You may glaze 1-2 more times.
- Rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
- Caramelizing the onions – Slice the onions thin and uniform for even caramelization. Don’t rush the caramelizing process on high heat, or you’ll lose the depth of flavor that makes this meatloaf taste like French onion soup.
- Substituting cheese – This recipe can also be made with sliced cheddar cheese or gouda in place of Swiss if that’s what you have on hand.
- For the gravy – We used a store-bought brown gravy mix that we prepared per package instructions. We mixed about 1/4 cup of the prepared gravy with ketchup, because we prefer our meatloaf with a ketchup glaze. The remaining brown gravy can be served on the side to add after slicing.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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