Meat Loaf Wellington

In terms of fancy dinners, beef Wellington is near the top of the list. A piece of tenderloin is wrapped in layers of foie gras or paté, a mushroom-based sauce called duxelles, dough, prosciutto or ham, and other ingredients, depending on the recipe. It’s become known for its intense preparation process and luxurious flavor.

The preparation can take hours, so it’s not a dish that you’d whip up during the workweek. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have a faster version of it, and that’s where this meat loaf Wellington recipe comes in. A basic meat loaf is baked in crescent roll dough and served with a premade beef gravy for a relatively swift meal. The entire process takes a little more than an hour, but most of that is cooking time. The preparation is blessedly simple.

Where did beef Wellington’s name come from?

The origin of beef Wellington isn’t clear, though the “Wellington” is likely in honor of 19th-century British Prime Minister Arthur Wellesley, also known as the first Duke of Wellington. However, whether it was just named for him or actually had anything to do with him is unknown. No written record of the dish appears until the early 20th century, and there’s an earlier and very similar French recipe called filet de boeuf en croute.

Meat Loaf Wellington Ingredients

• Gravy: Gravy provides flavor and moisture. For this recipe, you’ll add some canned beef gravy to the meat loaf mixture and use the rest as an accompaniment to the finished dish.
• Cubed day-old bread: Bread that’s a little older and drier helps absorb the juices that flow out of ground beef as it cooks. The bread also combines with the egg to bind all the meat loaf ingredients together.
• Chopped onion: The flavor of onion combines well with the beef.
• Egg: This is the main binding ingredient for the meat loaf and allows it to remain in a stable shape. The fat and protein in the egg also provide flavor.
• Ground beef: The key ingredient for the meat loaf, of course, is beef. Instead of using multiple layers of different foods wrapped around a tenderloin to provide flavor, you’ll mix the ground beef with the other ingredients, which will infuse every bite with savory goodness.
• Crescent rolls: Tubed, refrigerated crescent roll dough is affordable, bakes up quickly and forms a flaky crust. Other than a few pats to seal up the perforations between the crescent roll pieces, this is a low-fuss dough that saves time.

Directions

Step 1: Mix the meat loaf

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In a bowl, combine 1/4 cup of the gravy, the bread cubes, onion, egg and salt. Crumble the ground beef on top and mix it together well.

Step 2: Bake the meat loaf

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Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan and place the ground beef mixture inside, pressing it down. Bake the meat loaf, uncovered, for one hour, then test it with a meat thermometer. It should read at least 160°, and the inside of the meat loaf should not be pink.

Step 3: Wrap the meat loaf

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Remove the meat loaf from the pan and place it on paper towels to drain the grease, then place it in a greased 13×9-inch pan. Unroll the crescent roll dough, and seal any seams and perforations by pressing down on them. Place the crescent roll dough over the meat loaf, covering the top and sides of the loaf and trimming away any excess dough.

Step 4: Bake the Wellington

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Put the dough-covered meat loaf back in the oven, and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Heat the remaining gravy, and serve it with the meat loaf.

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Meat Loaf Wellington Variations

• Use your favorite meat loaf: Have a favorite meat loaf recipe? Here’s your chance to try it wrapped in crescent roll dough. Make enough for a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
• Make it dairy-free: The ingredient list for this recipe mentions no specific dairy items, so it’s a good candidate for a completely dairy-free meal if you’re serving someone who has an allergy or another nondairy dietary requirement. Just check that the gravy, bread and crescent roll dough you use are dairy-free as well.
• Make it gluten-free: You could try using a gluten-free bread along with gluten-free crescent roll mix. Also, double-check the gravy to ensure it doesn’t contain flour as a thickener or use “natural flavors” that could contain gluten.

How to Store Meat Loaf Wellington

Storage for leftover meat loaf Wellington is kind of tricky, because of the crescent roll dough. The meat loaf itself and the gravy can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer; slice up the meat loaf, portion out the gravy and put them in separate airtight containers (the amount you put in each container should not exceed 2 inches in height). Then, either refrigerate for no more than two days, or freeze for no more than three months.

But if you want to store the crescent roll portion as well, be aware that the crescent roll may not have the same texture after being stored, especially after freezing; it likely won’t be as flaky as it was to start.

Can you make meat loaf Wellington ahead of time?

It’s not really advisable, because of the crescent roll crust. If you made the whole Wellington ahead of time and stored it, the crust’s texture would likely change once reheated. If you made the meat loaf ahead of time and then put everything else together later, you’d have to reheat the meat loaf before adding the crust, and you’d run the risk of overcooking the meat.

You can experiment, of course, but do that before you try to serve the dish to guests. And always check the interior temperature of the meat loaf with an instant-read meat thermometer.

Meat Loaf Wellington Tips

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Can you use an egg substitute or replacement?

If you’re allergic to eggs, you could try using your favorite egg replacement in the meat loaf. There are commercial mixes available, or you could try ground flaxseed mixed with water. One flax egg, as they’re called, is usually 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water. This may change the meat loaf’s taste or texture slightly.

Can you cook the chopped onion before adding it to the meat loaf mixture?

There’s no reason you can’t cook the onion first in general. Just be aware that the final texture of the meat loaf may be smoother because you’re adding soft, cooked onion to the meat instead of crunchy raw onion. The raw onion would still soften somewhat during baking, but the bits can sometimes have a little bite to them even after cooking is done. The taste will also be different, as soft, cooked onions are much mellower than raw onions.

Can you do anything with the extra crescent roll dough you cut away before baking?

After you trim the crescent roll dough, you can bake those leftover pieces on the same tray with the meat loaf Wellington as an extra snack. Bake them right away, and for the same amount of time as the Wellington, to ensure that any beef stuck to the dough is thoroughly cooked. Raw crescent roll dough from a tube doesn’t store well at all, so you can’t keep the pieces for later use.