The BBQ Buddha’s Meatloaf

  • Recipe Type

    Red Meat

  • Skill Level

    Medium

  • Grill Time

    <1 hour

  • Method

    Indirect Grilling

  • Servings

    Serves 4-6

Not your mothers meatloaf

I think we can all, or at least most of us can remember coming home from school and smelling what Mom had cooking for dinner.  Many of you, it seems, were very disappointed when it came to meatloaf night.  From what I hear, there was a lot of dry, flavorless meat chunks being prepared back in the day.  Well, those days are gone!  With this incredible meatloaf recipe from Chris Sussman aka @The_BBQ_Buddha, you will be wanting to have meatloaf a few times per week.  It is incredible!  You can find this recipe and more in his first cookbook, The Four Fundamentals of Smoking.  It is available on his website, TheBBQBuddha.com.  You can also order his NEW BOOK, The Ultimate Big Green Egg Cookbook HERE.

The modern flavors that he added to his Mom’s original recipe really turned this from an ordinary meal into an extraordinary meal.  There is the perfect amount of spice combined with savory so that your taste buds will be dancing with joy.  To top it all off, (no pun intended) is that this baby gets wrapped in bacon, for a tasty, salty cherry on top of the sundae.

Smoked For Perfect Flavor

 The flavors on this meatloaf are delicious and only get enhanced by that kiss of smoke from cooking it on the Big Green Egg over FOGO Charcoal.  The sweet flavor form the Bourbon Barrel Smoking Chunks are the perfect pairing with this spicy, bacony treat.  Bacony is a word, right? You don’t want to add too much smoke to this, nobody wants to bite into an ash tray.  The flavors from using just a few of the chunks are just perfect for this.

Difference from the original recipe 

The only major difference that we made from Chris’s original recipe was with what we cooked it on.  Yes, we did cook it on the Big Green Egg, same as him.  What we changed is going from smoking it on cedar planks to using our ceramic grill plate instead.  You can feel free to do it whichever way you may choose, but we felt that it already had enough flavor and that the grill plate was perfect for it.  Yeah, we were right.  LOL.  We have actually made it with the cedar planks as well and let me tell you, it is also incredibly delicious.  Either way….you can’t go wrong.

The Captain and The Buddha  

FOGO’s very own Captain Ron and Chris have become good friends over the years.  They originally “met” on Instagram and their friendship has grown over the years.  They are both members of Big Green Egg’s ambassador team, #BGETeamGreen and both share a passion for grilling and passing along the knowledge that they have acquired.  It is safe to say that they are both good friends of the BBQ and BGE Community and are certainly considered to be BBQ ambassadors.

You can pretty much find Chris on all of the social media platforms under his handle, @The_BBQ_Buddha.  Chris is always willing to help the newcomer and help answer any questions that you may have.  Feel free to reach out and contact him.  Tell him that FOGO and The Captain sent ya!

RECIPE:

  1. Fill your grill with FOGO Premium Black Bag Charcoal and prepare for indirect cooking at 350°.  Add 2 Bourbon Barrel Smoking Chunks to the fire just before putting the meatloaf on to cook.
  2. Heat the olive oil in the carbon steel pan over medium heat, then sauté the onions, water chestnuts and garlic for 2-3 minutes until they begin to turn translucent.  Add the Greek Freak seasoning, chili powder and cumin and mix well.  Remove the mixture from the heat.
  3. Mix the remaining ingredients (except for the BBQ Sauce and bacon) in a large bowl and add the onion mixture.  Mix to combine.
  4. Take the ground beef mixture from the bowl and place it on a work surface.  Form the mixture into an even thick loaf.
  5. Spray the Grill Plate  with Duck Fat Spray to avoid the meatloaf sticking and place the shaped meatloaf on the plate.  Wrap the loaf in bacon slices, tucking the ends of the bacon under the meatloaf.  Placer the Meater+ Thermometer into the meatloaf so that the tip is in the center of the loaf.
  6. Place the Grill Plate with the meatloaf on the smoker and cook for 50 minutes.  Use the Basting Brush to brush the BBQ sauce over the top of the meatloaf and cook for an additional 10 minutes or until the thermometer reaches 160°.  
  7. Remove the meatloaf from the grill and allow it to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

 

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