Oh hey, did somebody say slow cooker meatloaf? Yes, this low carb BBQ meatloaf recipes is made in your crockpot and is so tender and juicy, you will never make it any other way again!
I recently had a plea from a reader to add more dinner recipes to All Day I Dream About Food. I do actually have quite a number of main dish recipes, but there’s no question that the sweets and baked goods outweigh those options. Judging from the high sweet ratio, you might think that my family was mostly fed muffins, cakes and cookies for every meal. While I admit to having resorted to ice cream for dinner for myself on rare occasions, we really do eat proper meals the vast majority of the time. And I can sometimes be as creative a cook as I am a baker. So why not get photos of all those tasty meals and throw them up here for you good folks to peruse? Because like any mother trying to get dinner on the table, it’s usually 6pm, it’s getting dark out and I am frantically cooking while also fielding the demands of three hungry and attention-seeking kids. Ain’t no time for food styling and pretty photos with all that chaos. My family of five is a hungry lot and they’re not going to let me hold up dinner for something as silly as taking pictures.
Still, I love to bring you low carb recipes of all kinds and dinner certainly deserves its due. And I actually have a great number of meals where I’ve struck out on my own and created something so tasty that I know I need to put it on the blog. I find myself making notes after dinner, knowing I will have to make the recipe in the middle of the day at some point so I can get some appetizing photos. Thankfully my children don’t seem to mind their food warmed up at the end of the day. And the reality is that when I do this, I find myself so much more relaxed when dinner time rolls around. All I have to do is turn on the stove or oven to rewarm the food. Really, I should make a habit of cooking dinner in the middle of the day and rewarming it; it would certainly reduce the stress of the evenings!
This recipe is actually perfect for creating stress-free evenings, as long as you have a good slow cooker or crock pot. You may have to do a little advance prep work if you plan on using my Homemade Sugar-Free BBQ Sauce. But you can make a big batch when you have extra time (feel free to skip the whiskey if that’s not your thing), and it freezes really well. Or you can purchase a commercial sugar-free barbecue sauce such as Nature’s Hollow (xylitol-sweetened). Then all you have to do is mix and shape the meatloaf and set your slow cooker to low for 6 hours. Even if you’re at work all day and your crock pot turns itself off, you can gently rewarm when you get home. And you will end up with just about the moistest meatloaf you could ever hope for, with very little fuss or muss. It’s a winner, my friends. You can thank me later.
- 2 lbs ground beef lean
- 1 lb ground pork lean
- 1/2 cup onion chopped fine
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup homemade sugar-free barbecue sauce or purchased Sugar-Free BBQ sauce such as Nature's Hollow
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In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, onion, almond flour, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Add in eggs and mix well with your hands until fully combined.
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On a large sheet of tinfoil, shape mixture into loaf roughly 5 x 9 inches. Lift foil by edges and place in a 6 quart slow cooker.
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Set slow cooker to low and cook 5 to 6 hours. In the last half hour of cooking, brush the top and sides with about 1/3 cup barbecue sauce.
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Use two serving forks to lift the meatloaf out of the slow cooker and onto a serving platter. Slice and serve with remaining barbecue sauce.
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***Cooking tip: if you can't use lean ground beef and pork, make sure to put a rack or some balled up tinfoil in the bottom of your slow cooker. Otherwise, your meatloaf will be swimming in grease by the end of cooking.
Serves 10. Each serving has 4.95 g of carbs and 1.46 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 3.51 g*
*with the homemade BBQ Sauce. Carb count will differ somewhat with purchased sauce.
Food energy: 369kcal
Saturated fatty acids: 8.73g
Total fat: 22.49g
Calories from fat: 202
Cholesterol: 125mg
Carbohydrate: 4.95g
Total dietary fiber: 1.46g
Protein: 26.95g
Sodium: 541mg
CARLA says
ooh and MINE does not mind the warm up either!!!
Amy says
Sounds good and will absolutely put it on my menu – one thing inexperienced cooks might not be aware of is that I assume you’ll need to use very low-fat 90/10 ground beef (or else elevate the loaf somehow in the slow cooker – either on a rack or some balled up aluminum foil) – otherwise it’s going to be swimming in grease.
Carolyn says
I can add that in, that’s a good tip.
Kathy says
In my house, prepared food ready to warm up is like money in the bank.
I am going to make your BBQ sauce without the whiskey…do you have the nutritional analysis for the sauce alone? I expect that the carbs from the alcohol won’t change the count much, would it?
Many thanks for these recipes. They will be valued both for dinner and next day for sandwiches!
Carolyn says
Carb count won’t really change without the whiskey (it’s not enough and clear spirits don’t have a lot of calories and negligible carbs) but here’s the info for the sauce:
BBQ Sauce Nutritional Analysis: Serves about 12 (2 tbsp per serving). Each serving has 3.16 g of carbs and 0.76 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 2.4 g.
Food energy: 29kcal; Saturated fatty acids: 0.02g Total fat: 0.10g; Calories from fat: 0; Cholesterol: 0 Carbohydrate: 3.16g; Total dietary fiber: 0.76g; Protein: 0.64g; Sodium: 258mg
Kathy says
Thank you!
Kim says
Yum! I can’t wait to mke your BBQ Sauce, as well!
Pamela says
Love the idea of more non-sweet recipes! Thanks, Carolyn!
Karen B. says
Me too! I don’t eat many sweets and would love to see more main dishes.
janet says
I think many of your readers are like me, we have been able to make lower carb main entrees and side dishes, but are stumped by dessert. That is why I keep coming back, you have such great ideas for desserts!
That is not to say your entree and side dishes are not appreciated but keep the sweets coming, please!
Carolyn says
Haha, never fear. There will never be a shortage of desserts on this blog!
KalynsKitchen says
Sounds amazing; bookmarking to feature in my round-up!
Carolyn says
Thanks, Kalyn!
Nita says
This is just what I have been looking for. Just me, so I can have left overs to freeze. Yummm……Thanks, Carolyn.
Leeann says
This looks amazing! Thank you for sharing these recipes on your blog!
danny burgess says
Sounds good. My slow cooker is small for meatloaf. Wonder if I can slow cook it in the oven with a covered baking pan?
Carolyn says
I bet you can. Not sure of the time and I might put it on a rack with a little water in the bottom of the pan for extra moisture.
Diane says
Looks delish – will definitely be making this one! Thanks for all your hard work and doing all the experimenting for us, Carolyn!
Sommer @aspicyperspective says
I can’t wait to whip up this delicious recipe in my crockpot!
Mikael says
Just remove “LEAN” meat. make sure the fat ration is at least 20% saturated fat!!!! You will be blown away with the taste and how the meat melt in the mount. And it do not raise blood sugar. And thx for the receipt.
Carolyn says
If you make it with higher fat meat, your meatloaf will be swimming in grease at the end. The fat does not stay in it much as you cook. But the choice is yours.
Margeaux Vittoria says
I’ve been missing meatloaf since I’ve started avoiding sugar – thank you!
Eileen Clifton says
In regards to the crockpot BBQ meatloaf recipe. What could I use as a substitute for the almond flour? My son and I both have allergies to almonds (actually most nuts). Could I possibly use something like flaxseed meal or possibly coconut flour?
Carolyn says
Coconut flour would make it too dense. Try ground up chia seed or even ground sunflower seeds.
Eileen Clifton says
Okay thank you. I didn’t even think of chia seeds! I will give it a whirl. Thanks again.
Amanda says
If I’m wanting to make this recipe but not worried about the low carbs, could I use regular flour instead of almond flour?
Carolyn says
No, use bread crumbs, not flour.
Alex says
This might sound like a silly question, but when you use the foil to lower the loaf into the crock pot, do you leave it in there? Thanks for all the great recipes, sweet and otherwise they are always great!
Carolyn says
Yes, leave it in there. It will make for much easier clean up!
Jeanine says
Is the tin foil just for clean up purposes or cooking elevation?
I usually use slow cooker liners for clean up.
Please advise
Carolyn says
Clean up, mostly.
Tarryn says
I just made this tonight; I’m a vegetarian, but my 15 year old son loves it and gives it a double thumbs up! Thanks so much for sharing it with us 🙂
Mind the Home says
I’m usually not one for Meatloaf but this looks fab, FAB!
Lesley says
I know this changes the recipe, but do you think it will work with ground turkey? I’m not sure if it will fall apart.
Carolyn says
Turkey is definitely drier so I might add a few tbsp a ground chia seed and a bit of broth to make it more moist.
Dee Gee says
Thanks so much. Even my father-in-law who doesn’t like meat loaf really liked it!
Carolyn says
Awesome! Love to hear that.
Mayra says
Would you use the same amount of ground up chia seeds as the almond flour?
Carolyn says
Yes, that would be fine.
Vivian says
Had this for dinner tonight and it was PERFECT! I did not have ground pork so I used half of a roll of sausage (with no MSG or sugar!) Everything else I left alone! We will make this again and again! Thank you! Your BBQ sauce is a keeper, too… no alcohol added but it was still great!
Barbara says
Eileen – you could also use crushed pork rinds with a little grated parmesan and seasonings as a breading instead of the almond flour. I also season my meat with a little BBQ sauce while mixing, salt, pepper, seasonings of choice, gives a nice flavor. You could do “italian style” with a bit of tomato sauce and italian seasonings, with some tomato sauce on top and melt a little mozzarella on top at the end, or do the BBQ and melt some cheddar on it.
Eileen Clifton says
Thanks for the suggestion Barbara. Definitely something to think about! 🙂
Deborah Johnson says
Hi Carolyn, love the meatloaf recipe, but I have a question, Is the carbs too high, I love the fact that there is no sugar (being diabetic), this is exactly what I need. Also the flour would flaxseed be okay for a sub?
Carolyn says
Carbs too high? At 3.51 g per serving? No, I wouldn’t say so. And yes, flax would make a fine sub.
Carolyn says
I tried to find the post on Facebook so I could comment but I can’t locate it. I just wanted to let you know that I made this tonight and it was delicious! Such a great way to make meatloaf, especially in the summer. Thank you for the recipe!
Carolyn says
Glad you liked it!
Kelly says
This recipe looks great! Quick question – how would long and what temp would I cook this at in an oven? We don’t have a slow cooker. Thank you!
Carolyn says
Not entirely sure but I think you could follow the directions for any meatloaf of about the same size for oven baking.
Cindy says
Hi,
My slow cooker doesn’t turn off automatically. I leave for work at 7:20 am and don’t get home until 4:15 pm. I’m afraid it will dry out cooking for that long – anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
Cindy
Carolyn says
Best suggestion is to not raise it up on foil or anything and then let it sit in its own juices and make sure you only cook it on low. I bet it will end up okay.
Candace Spaid says
The BBQ sauce is a keeper. I thought the meatloaf could have been more moist. I have read the comments. Adding the sauce to the meat I’m sure would help. We used a high fat ground beef. We kept removing the grease from the cooker. Maybe we should have left it in the pot?
Carolyn says
Yes, I left the grease in the pot. I would have stated it in the instructions otherwise.
Isis says
If you made this in the crock pot, it’s possible that the moisture lost while opening the lid to remove the grease (as you described) may have caused the meat to be more “dry.”
Isis says
I’d like to make your low-carb barbecue sauce, but I don’t have any chipotle powder. Do you think the recipe will turn out if I sub in a canned chipotle pepper or two? I’ve never used ground chipotle, so I don’t know how the ground/canned versions compare taste/texture-wise. Thanks for your help.
Isis says
Okay, here’s an update for anyone who might want to know this – I made the sauce with two very small canned chipotle peppers (they were about 1×1.5 inches) instead of the chipotle powder. I added them when I pureed the tomato mixture in the food processor and followed the rest of the recipe as written. The sauce turned out good, but was spicier than I expected for only adding those two little chipotles, lol. I may adjust that next time I make it, but overall the sweetness and other flavors of the bbq sauce were just right.
Christina says
Has anyone tried making this in the oven yet? I’d really rather do it in the oven than in a slow cooker.
Carolyn says
Follow the basic instructions for doing this one in the oven: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2016/03/low-carb-taco-meatloaf.html
Donna Steed says
I substitute cooked quinoa with ancient grains for the almond flour. I have also added small amounts of very finely chopped green pepper. Lastly, some chopped mushrooms are nice in this. I cooked them in the oven in muffin pans (pregreased). They are then in small servings that freeze well. I call them meat muffins.
Paulette says
Do you think I could substitute hemp hearts for the almond flour? I have a lot of it and not many ways to use it.
Carolyn says
Um…maybe? I’ve never tried it. Might be best to grind them first.
Pam says
I not only use BBQ sauce IN the meatloaf but we like sliced green olives in it too. Somehow, it just tastes really good. And sliced thin the next day it’s like olive loaf.
Carolyn says
Sounds delicious!
Samantha says
If you cut the recipe in half then would it be half the cook time as well??
Carolyn says
No, it may take less time but certainly not cut in half. Maybe an hour or so less?
Nyx says
Is there a reason you use ground beef and pork? The reason I ask, is that I’ve just received a great deal of ground moose meat, and I’d love to try it out in this recipe, but I don’t know what kind of changes that could cause. Since moose is pretty low fat, would I need to add anything for moisture, like the people who are attempting to use ground turkey? And by the way, I just adore using my crockpot any time that I can, so this recipe is amazing! I can’t wait to try it out and see how the moose does.
Carolyn says
Just moisture and flavour. If moose meat is low fat, then you have to make that fat up somehow. I’d add some bacon fat or lard in there.
Genelly Blandon says
Is there a difference in switching the almond flower for coconut flower? I would love to make this today and can’t find almond flower anywhere.
Carolyn says
Use only about 1/3 the amount of coconut flour. It’s very powdery and absorbent.
Sandra says
Sounds like a great recipe..Can I use Parchment paper to line crockpot?
Carolyn says
Sure, I can’t see why not.
Carolyn says
Do you place the tin foil in the crock pot?
Carolyn says
Yep.
Angie says
This sounds like a great recipe!
I want to know if I can make this as a freezer crock pot recipe? REALLY interested in those to make ahead low carb. Not much out there – need more like this. Don’t want to do all the cook ahead stuff.
Thanks
Carolyn says
Do you mean prep it ahead and then freeze the loaf and then put it in the crockpot later? I can’t see why not although you will need to de-frost it.
TheaMaria says
This meatloaf is outstanding. I’ve made it three times in the last month, LOL. Today I finally made the Chipotle Whiskey BBQ Sauce. It is the PERFECT accompaniment to the meatloaf – takes it to a whole new level. Thank you!
Trisa says
Do you need to cook the hamburger and pork before you put in the crcokpot? I want to make it tommorow night…
Carolyn says
No, you simply shape the meatloaf and put it in.
trisa blask says
Thanks!! It’s almost done but for some reason the top got hard and only been 5 hours so I got the barebcue sauce on top
Katie says
I’m confused how to “ball up” the tinfoil to put in the bottom of the crock pot. Could you post a photo? Thanks.
Carolyn says
I don’t have a photo but just take two good size squares of foil and crumple them into something that will hold the loaf off the bottom of the cooker.
Erin | Dinners,Dishes and Dessert says
This is definitely a must-make! Looks really good!
Anna says
This meatloaf is pure comfort food! Perfect for fall weekends!
Sabrina says
I’m obsessed with using my slow cooker! Having dinner ready at the end of a crazy day is the only way I stay sane!! This looks fantastic!
Jocelyn says
I love that this meatloaf can be made in a slow cooker and is great reheated!!! Sounds like the perfect meal for busy nights!
Sandy C says
This is one of my favorite weeknight meals. Not too dry, but very moist. My family loves this!
lilly says
was wondering if u could share your bbq sauce
or if its somewhere in the recipes…
thanks
Carolyn says
https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/sugar-free-bbq-sauce/
Carla says
All these comments, and I don’t see my question. So…in the ingredient list it calls for 1 cup bbq sauce. In the directions I can only find it mentioned at the end, where it’s talking about 1/3 cup of it. Maybe I’m being too literal, but what happened to the rest of the sauce? I don’t see it being mentioned to mix it in, or top the loaf when you start. Making it now, so I guess the answer will be for the future…
Carolyn says
At the end it says: Slice and serve with the remaining BBQ sauce.
Emily says
Can i use ground deer meat only?
Carolyn says
It might be a bit on the lean/dry side but I can’t see why not.
Tiffany says
I want to try this recipe tomorrow… But I have a question about timing. I’m gone for most of the day so the slow cooker would be on for much longer than 6 hours (more like 10 hours). I’m assuming it’ll be overcooked at that point?
My other option is to turn it right on at 5PM. Can I set it to high and would it be done in half the time, by 8PM? Has anyone tried cooking this on the high setting?
Thanks in advance. 🙂
Tiffany
Carolyn says
I don’t think either of those are very good options. Does it have any programmable sort of settings where you can tell it to turn off and it will just stay warm?
Laura says
ah, we loved this one!
Chelsea says
This is the best BBQ meatloaf ever!! Seriously sooo delicious! Thanks so much!
Kristyn says
Love the idea of a crock pot version! All the men in the family crave meatloaf, so I will have to try this next time, it’s on the menu!
Julie says
This is so delicious! The sauce is amazing and perfect compliment to the meatloaf!
Anna says
This meatloaf is a winner! So delicious!