This elk meatloaf recipe is a delicious way to use ground elk meat. There is no pork in this elk meat recipe, just 100% wild game and simple pantry ingredients. The onion and garlic adds flavor, along with the homemade sauce. This recipe will feed a family, or you can halve the recipe if you need fewer servings. I have used this recipe for years, and I use it for all wild game meatloaf; elk, deer, or antelope.
Making simple elk meatloaf
First, place the oatmeal, milk, onion, garlic, ketchup, and seasonings into a large bowl. Add the ground elk meat and gently mix it together. You can use your hands or a spoon. I find that my hands work better than a spoon. You don't want to mix it too long or too hard - that could make it tough. Just gently mix it together.
When you have the meatloaf mixed, place it in a greased baking pan and form it into an oval shape. It doesn't have to be perfect! Sometimes at this point, I add some scrubbed potatoes and carrots around the edge of the meatloaf, for an easy one-pan supper.
Mix the sauce ingredients together and pour it over the meatloaf. Spread the sauce evenly over the top.
Bake the meatloaf at 350* for one hour. Store leftovers in the fridge or freezer. You could serve this with a savory spinach salad, Easy French Bread, and some No-Bake Cherry Cheesecake for dessert!
Some more Elk Recipes you might enjoy:
Rustic Elk Lasagna
Venison Meatballs with Homemade BBQ sauce
Crockpot Elk Stew
Crockpot Venison Pasta Sauce (with frozen meat!)
Elk Meatloaf Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground elk
- 1 onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 cup quick oatmeal
- 1 cup milk
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper optional
- 1 Tablespoon mustard
- 2 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- Sauce:
- 1 cup ketchup
- 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
- 1/4 cup onion, diced
- 2 Tablespoons Worchestershire sauce
- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Place oatmeal, onion, garlic, milk, salt, pepper, cayenne, mustard, ketchup, worchestershire sauce, and ground elk in a large mixing bowl. Mix gently with hands or a spoon.
- Form into a loaf and place in a greased pan. (I use a 9x13)
- For the sauce: Mix 1 cup ketchup, 3 T brown sugar, 2 T vinegar, 2 T worchestershire, and 1/4 cup onion together. Spread over th e meatloaf and bake uncovered for 1 hour.
Nutrition
Loved it! However my packages of elk were only 14 oz, and I used two. Next time, I'll adjust the liquids, oatmeal, etc. accordingly, OR add 4 more oz of meat. We love elk as a beef alternative! Thank you for this recipe.
I adjusted some ingredients to my liking. I didn't use any wosteshire sauce and I sauté the onion and the garlic. It was the fluffier meatloaf that we have had.
Delicious - since I used half elk and half beef I added an egg and had to drain some
Grease off. Also added crunchy fried onions to top the sauce.
Oh the crunchy onions sound good!
I only had one and a half pounds of ground elk so I cut the ingredients down by a fourth it was excellent thank you for this wonderful recipe it will become a family favorite.
Others have told me you have to add fat to elk for meatloaf or hamburgers. Your meatloaf looks great. So is added fat not necessary?Thanks for your recipe and your help.
Fat makes it tasty and adds juiciness, but we do not add fat to most of our elk meat. It is very lean, but we like it a lot. We only add fat when we make breakfast sausage.
Easy to follow. Fully flavored. Though next time I will omit the onions, they didn’t cool through and were so crunchy and prevalent that it wasn’t favorable.
Will make again.
Thank you for the honest review! I appreciate it.
I am new to cooking Elk. I want to say that this recipe is the very best meatloaf I have ever made. The sauce blended the flavor. I would recommend anyone to try it. It was excellent.
I'm happy to hear this! Thank you!
Great recipe for using grand elk. Quite tasty and with a few modifications it works well for someone with GERD. Thanks.
I prepared this recipe a couple nights ago and it was by far the best meatloaf I've ever had. I didn't add any additional fat or fluid, although I was anticipating a dry meatloaf. Moisture was perfect. I did add baby carrots to the sides of the pan as you had suggested. Leftovers were scarce. It's a great recipe, thank you.
Best meatloaf recipe for wild game or non wild meat! We love it and routinely make it for ourselves and guests. And people have asked for the recipe time and again. Thanks!
This was fantastic! The flavors were just right, and it wasn't dry at all. We were so glad we didnt add sausage or anything.
Oh good! I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
Great easy to follow and well illustrated. Tasty and was a wonderful Valentines Day meal for my hunter. He had been mentioning how much he loves meatloaf , so I thought I would try it. Absolutely delightful with mashed loaded baked potatoes. Thank you for this recipe!
i was looking for recipes and found this but not trying it cause when you said elk is "gaming" and to use lots of onions and garlic i had to laugh....
elk is better than beef are you even a hunter ???
I'm not sure what you are talking about... I can't find anywhere in this post where I said elk is gaming? I do add onions & garlic because it enhances the flavor. I certainly am a hunter, shot a bull elk last week that scored 354. 🙂
I also am always looking for new and delicious will game recipes ,mostly deer and elk. I too have just returned from elk hunting and was blessed to take a nice 6 point. I am definitely going to try this recipe and although I agree elk ,if properly taken care of ,it is better than beef.In saying that i would never ever complain about some onion and garlic. God bless
Congrats on the elk! And thank you for your kind comment.
Finally got to try the meatloaf recipe and was pleasantly impressed! I am already planning dinner tonight with the half that we didn’t eat. Just change up the sides and the main course will lead the way! Thanks for a wonderful recipe and God bless!
Thank you Greg! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!