Italian Deer Meatloaf is the absolute best meatloaf recipe ever. It’s moist, spicy, cheesy, and delicious–it’s all things good crammed into this recipe! The whole family loves it–even the kids, and it’s easy and inexpensive to make.
Meatloaf is one of my favorite foods, even though I have a hard time picking a favorite of anything. Meatloaf is comfort food and I guess that’s why I enjoy it so much.
I spent years searching for the meatloaf of all meatloaves and to me, this is it. When I made this recipe, everyone loved it. They told me to never make any other meatloaf recipe ever, so I haven’t.
Even though it’s delicious, it’s not very diet-friendly. It’s low in calories, but if you plan to eat sides with it like mashed potatoes and gravy, you might go overboard. Eat a nice salad with it instead. Be sure to take a look at my tips for making this a more diet-friendly recipe.
Italian Deer Meatloaf
| Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Yield: 2 Small Meatloaves – Cut into 16 1″ Slices |
| Cook Time: 55 Minutes | Serving Size: 2 Slices |
| Total Time: 1 Hour | Calories Per Serving: 359 |
Ingredients:
- 2 lb. ground deer burger
- 1 pkg. (6 oz.) of chicken stuffing mix
- 1 Tbsp. of salt
- 1 Tbsp. of black pepper
- 1/2 Tbsp. of garlic powder (optional)
- 1 can (14-1/2 oz.) of Italian-style diced tomatoes
- 2 eggs
- 1 onion – diced (optional)
- 2 cups spaghetti sauce (reserve 1 cup for topping)
- 1 1/2 cups of mozzarella cheese
Instructions:
- Heat the oven to 375°F. Mix ingredients together except for 1 cup of spaghetti sauce and the mozzarella cheese. Mix it so that it sticks together well.
- Spray a 9″ x 13″ baking dish with cooking spray. Shape the meatloaf mixture into a loaf and place it into the baking dish and perfect the form a little more. You don’t want it to be lopsided or uneven.
- Bake the meatloaf for 50 minutes or until it reaches a temperature of 160ºF. Then spoon 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce over each loaf. Then sprinkle it with mozzarella cheese and bake it for another 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
For those of you with more patience than me, you can use the jumbo cupcake tins or a jumbo muffin pan and make mini Italian meatloaves.
You can freeze the Italian Deer Meatloaf (mini or regular) for later use, with a vacuum sealer or a good quality freezer bag. This really helps when you need dinner in a hurry or you’re like me and don’t want to cook–not that I’m looking for ways to be lazy, but if it helps me accomplish that–YAY!!!
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The good, the bad, and the delicious…
- The Italian Deer Meatloaf is low in sugar and has vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, and a little fiber and it very high in protein.
- It might be too high in saturated fat and sodium, especially for those that are on special diets.
See tips below for making this a more diet friendly recipe.
Italian Deer Meatloaf Nutrition Facts
| Yields: 2 Meatloaves | Serving Size: 2 Slices |
| Calories 359 | Calories from fat: 20 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 19 | 29% |
| Saturated Fat 8 g | 42% |
| Monounsaturated Fat 0 g | |
| Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g | |
| Trans Fat 0 g | |
| Cholesterol 62 mg | 21% |
| Sodium 1544 mg | 64% |
| Total Carbohydrates 14 g | 5% |
| Dietary Fiber 2 g | 9% |
| Sugars 4 g | |
| Protein 32 g | 63% |
| Vitamin A 13% | Vitamin C 6% |
| Calcium 18% | Iron 7% |
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA, but were calculated by MyFitnessPal, Inc. by Under Armour, Inc.
To make this dish more diet-friendly…
- To help lower the cholesterol and fat you could use less fat in your ground venison burger but keep in mind that for meatloaf you really need the fat. You want it to be juicy and moist. If you leave out too much fat the meatloaf will be dry and gross. This recipe was calculated using 80/20 ground venison burger.
- To lower the saturated fat, calories and sodium omit the cheese.
- To help lower the sodium, also omit the added salt and replace the spaghetti sauce with fresh tomato sauce and a dash of oregano and basil. This will change the taste, but it will still be delicious.
- To help lower everything, eat one slice instead of 2.
- Whatever changes you make to your Italian Deer Meatloaf, you can recalculate the nutrition facts at myfitnesspal.com
Bon Appétit
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Thanks for the recipe. I can’t wait to try it this evening.
You are very welcome. I hope you enjoy it!
Made this meatloaf Sat. It is just great. I made two loaves, I vacuum sealed and froze one. My wife won’t eat deer meat so I am going to eat it for a few meals and a few sandwiches now and then. I got a few deer this year so I will be trying more of your recipes. Keep up the good work.
Congratulations on getting a few deer this year! I’m so glad you enjoyed the meatloaf. Freezing it is a great idea. I hope you find more recipes on the site that you enjoy.
I don’t normally leave comments, but thought I needed to. Awesome recipe. Can’t wait for leftovers tomorrow night.
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment! It makes me so happy when people enjoy my recipes. That encourages me to keep doing what I’m doing.
Does it make a huge difference if you use Turkey stuffing instead of chicken stuffing?
Hi Melissa! Either one will work just fine. In my opinion, there’s not much of a difference between the two.
To make and freeze, do you freeze before it’s cooked or after?
I have always frozen the meatloaf after it was cooked. I suppose you could freeze it before or after but I’m not sure.
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