Halloween Rat Loaf

Halloween is gross food time. If you follow our blog then you know we always go a little crazy at Halloween with spooky, gross, sometimes cute but always Halloweeny dishes. Check out the tab at the top of the blog labelled "Holidays" to see all our creations!

Last year Sue created this monster meatloaf rat to completely freak everyone out. He is stuffed with cheese and french fried onions and tastes super delicious. 

As it is getting close to October again I figured I better share this guy so you can add him to your spooky dinner list for this year. 

Good luck getting anyone to eat him though. He's pretty nasty looking. 

Delicious... but gross. The Halloween conundrum. 

Enjoy.

Halloween Rat Loaf

Ingredients

Meatloaf

2 lbs lean ground beef

1 small onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 egg

1 cup fine bread crumbs

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

salt & pepper 

Filling

1 cup shredded, aged cheddar

1/2 cup French's fried onions

Decorations

2 pickled white onions (eyes)

6 strands of raw spaghetti (whiskers)

2 slices of potato (ears) 

1/2 cup BBQ sauce (for color) 

1/2 cup French's Fried Onions (hair) + 1/2 cup shredded, aged cheddar (hair) 

1 black olive (nose)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside. 

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the meatloaf ingredients until well combined. (I find using your hands works best.) 

Shape half of the meat mixture into a large teardrop shape on the prepared cookie sheet. In another mixing bowl, mix together the cheese and 1/2 cup of French's Fried Onions. Spread the mixture onto the teardrop of meatloaf, leaving at last an inch around the edge. Place remaining meat mixture on top of the filling and again, shape the meat into a large teardrop. Make sure you press the edges together around the filling. 

This will be the body and head of the rat. (See photo below for clarification.)

Gently but firmly press the potato slices into the top of the rat's head for the ears. Press the onions in for eyes, and the spaghetti for whiskers. (See photo below for clarification.)

Brush the body of the rat with the BBQ sauce. Carefully brush the head and nose area with BBQ sauce as well. (See photo below.)

Mix the 1/2 cup French's Fried Onions and 1/2 cup shredded cheese and firmly press onto the rat's body. (See photo below.)

Bake the meatloaf at 350 until meatloaf is completely cooked: approximately one to one and a half hours. (To be sure, use a meat thermometer!) 

Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Use a knife to cut a small hole at the nose of the rat and press the black olive on. Carefully transfer to a serving platter (we used a cutting board as our platter). (See photo below for clarification.) 

Serve hot! 

For even more Halloween fun we bought a giant rat trap from the local hardware store as a prop for our meatloaf. 

It's hard to tell because of the lighting in this photo but the inside is a little gooey from the cheese. The onions on the outside add a little crunch and even more flavor to this tasty little critter. 

A few notes: The spaghetti becomes quite brittle as it cooks in the meatloaf. Don't worry if any break off. You can use uncooked spaghetti for whiskers if this happens. 

If you find your meatloaf is getting too dark but still not cooked through, tent with tinfoil and continue to cook until done. (Just watch the whiskers!) 

We didn't do a tail on our rat but, if you wanted too, you could make a bread stick tail with bread dough.