If You Love Meatloaf, You Need This Pan

If you're looking for a comforting, crowd-pleasing supper, you can't do much better than old-fashioned homemade meatloaf. Served alongside some mashed potatoes or your favorite starchy side, it's a nostalgic favorite that can be tailored to your preferences—go traditional with beef, lighten it up with ground turkey, upgrade it with chopped bacon or Italian sausage, or make it vegetarian with meatless crumbles. There is a meatloaf for every situation and crowd.

However you choose to make it, you should use a proper meatloaf pan. If you don't own one of these wonderful things already, you might be skeptical—why buy a special pan just for meatloaf when you can make it in a regular old loaf pan? Because a meatloaf pan makes it so much easier.

Most meatloaf pans are two nonstick loaf pans that fit inside each other. The inner pan, where the meatloaf bakes, has drainage holes at the bottom and is meant to be lifted up so that liquid and fat remains in the outer pan. No messy spills, no blotting the meatloaf with paper towels, and most importantly, no wet, greasy meatloaf. A meatloaf pan also makes slicing much easier—because the meatloaf comes completely out of the pan, you can cut it into neat, even portions.

Price at time of publish: $15

This highly-rated meatloaf baking set by Wilton is made of steel with a reinforced non-stick coating and ridged bottom so that the meatloaf slides right out of the inner pan. It's dishwasher safe, although the manufacturer recommends washing both pans in warm, soapy water before first and after each use. And it has a 10 year warranty—which should cover countless pans of meatloaf. Thankfully, we've got you covered.