Perfectly seasoned and stuffed with ham & mozzarella cheese. Topped with sauce and more cheese. Serve with pasta and a salad for a complete meal. This Italian Stuffed Meatloaf is kind of like a giant stuffed meatball!
Originally published 5/25/15. Post updated 7/12/25.
Meatloaf For A Winning Dinner
This Italian Stuffed Meatloaf is a fun, delicious & different dinner. Italian inspired, it’s kind of a giant, tender meatball filled with ham and cheese then topped with sauce and more cheese.
I serve this meatloaf with pasta and tomato sauce, lots of fresh bread and a salad. It’s a wonderful dinner and a change of pace from your average, everyday meatloaf.
It reheats great and makes crazy good sandwiches. Bake in a hoagie roll topped with sauce and cheese.
Here’s the thing – this meatloaf recipe involves a little more effort. It’s not that it’s difficult – it just involves a few minutes of patience while rolling it and putting it together. In other words, it involves more than just plopping a ball of meat into a loaf pan.
Love Italian dishes? Check out this Bucatini all Amatriciana (one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES) and Ricotta Stuffed Shells.
Ingredients
Ingredients are pretty standard to your typical meatloaf.
We’re seasoning this Italian Stuffed Meatloaf like a meatball. I like to add red wine for flavor, this can be omitted.
Mozzarella cheese & ham slices will go in the center and at the end of cooking you’ll top the meatloaf with tomato sauce and additional mozzarella cheese.
Instructions
I’ll jump to the chase and give you the secret to making any stuffed meatloaf successful. It’s simple.
Take a BIG handful of the meatloaf mixture and set it aside. After you roll and press together the meatloaf, you’ll notice there are areas that are a bit thin. These areas will be around the seam and at the ends. If you attempt to bake it like this you’ll find your “stuffed” meatloaf is now swimming in all that gooey melted cheese that’s supposed to be inside of it. (It’s happened to me more then once). Simple fix – patch up all those areas with the reserved meatloaf mixture.
That being said, this should now be a no fail for everyone. Throw down a sheet of wax paper and pat out the meatloaf mixture into a 12″ x 10″ rectangle. Lay down the ham and cheese, leaving a 1″ margin around the edges. To “roll” lift wax paper to bring edges of loaf together. Press together edges and ends. You should now have a cigar type roll. Fill in any thin areas with reserved meat mixture, paying attention to ends and around the seams.
Not too bad! After it’s finished baking, I pour a ladle of tomato sauce that’s been simmering away on top of the meatloaf. Sprinkle more shredded mozzarella on top of the meatloaf and throw it back in the oven until the cheese is melted. Yum.
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy!
Amanda ♥
Italian Stuffed Meatloaf
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan
- 1 tablespoon parsley
- 1 tablespoon basil
- 1/4 teaspoon oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon sage
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1/4 cup dry red wine
- 1 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1/4 pound of deli ham slices I usually use a bit more
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese DIVIDED
- 3/4 cup tomato sauce
- wax paper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- In a large mixing bowl, combine breadcrumbs, grated parmesan, parsley, basil, oregano, sage, salt , pepper, garlic and onions.
- Add in ground beef, ground pork, eggs and wine. Mix until well combined.
- Lay out a 15″ piece of wax paper.
- Set aside a LARGE handful of meatloaf mixture.
- Pat out meatloaf mixture onto waxpaper into a 12″ x 10″ rectangle.
- Leaving a 1″ margin around edges, lay out ham slices on top of meat. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese on top of ham.
- To “roll” lift wax paper to bring edges of loaf together. Press/pat/pinch together edges and ends. You should now have a cigar type roll.
- Fill in any thin areas with reserved meat mixture, paying attention to ends and around the seams.
- Carefully place meat roll onto a baking pan, seam side down.
- Bake for 70 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Pour on tomato sauce (I usually have a pot going) and sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese on top.
- Pop meatlaf back in oven for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
- Let meatloaf rest for 10 minutes before cutting.
- Serve and enjoy : )
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