Smoked Taco Meatloaf on the Kamado Joe

Kamado Joe Up today is a smoked Taco Meatloaf.

This is definitely an outdoor on-your-smoker recipe, not something made indoors in the oven.

Smoked meatloaf is excellent, but it’s even better the next day. Cold meatloaf sandwich lovers, well, this is for you.

The neighbors will be climbing the fence and inviting themselves over to get in on the action. You’re going to need a taller fence.

So let’s get started.

Smoked Taco Meatloaf

We’re using our Kamado Joe Classic as a smoker. But you don’t need a ceramic grill, use the smoker you already have.

Supplies Needed

• Cherry smoking wood, or your smoking wood of choice
• Stainless steel cooling rack, such as this one, optional

The optional cooling racks make it easy to carry the meatloaf to and from the smoker. It also allows the wood smoke to flow around the taco meatloaf.

Be sure to check this out, available only on Amazon, Wood Smoke and Smoking Wood: A Guide to Better Backyard Barbecue.” It’s everything you need to know about wood smoke and smoking wood. Pick up a copy today. Amazon gives you seven days to decide.

The smoked taco meatloaf ingredients needed to get you going. You don’t need all that much, you might have almost everything you need in your pantry to make this.

Smoked Taco Meatloaf Ingredients

You don’t need much in the way of ingredients for this smoked taco meatloaf recipe. You might have almost everything in the pantry.

• 5 ounces of Frito corn chips, original flavor
• 2 pounds of ground beef or your favorite mix, today I used 1 pound of Johnsonville sausage and 1.25 pounds of 85/15 hamburger
• 3 medium eggs
• 1 ounce of taco seasoning, one packet
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon dried cilantro, or ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro, optional
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped, we like bigger pieces of onion
• 8 ounces of finely shredded Mexican cheese blend, divided
• Salsa for topping

Putting It All Together

So this smoked taco meatloaf is real quick and easy to make.

Here we have all of the smoked taco meatloaf ingredients in a large mixing bowl. The next step is to thoroughly mix all of the ingredients. Use the best tool for the job, your clean hands. You’ll get the job done in no time.

Mix the Frito corn chips, meat, eggs, spices, and 1/2 of the finely shredded Mexican cheese blend in a large mixing bowl. You’ve done this before; use your hands and mix everything up really well into a meatloaf shape. You know what one of those looks like, right?

It’s all mixed up and ready to go. The wire-grid stainless-steel cooling rack makes the task of transporting the goods to the smoker easy with no spillage.

How to Smoke the Taco Meatloaf

Stabilize your smoker at 350 °F / 177 °C, and set it up for indirect cooking as appropriate. Since we’re cooking outside today, we added one chunk of cherry smoking wood to the charcoal basket. Of course, this is optional, but we like wood-smoked foods.

It might take an hour to stabilize your smoker at the target temperature.

Once the smoker has stabilized, put the taco meatloaf on the grates. We like the stainless-steel cooling racks with a wire grid for making smoked meatloaf, or other small items that might fall through grill grate openings.

The taco meatloaf is on the smoker. We’ll be eating in another hour or so.

Smoke the taco meatloaf for an hour or so, until the internal temperature reaches 150 °F / 65 °C or so. It’s got another 5 or 10 minutes to go. Top the taco meatloaf with the remaining cheese. When the internal temperature reaches 160 °F / 71 °C, it’s done.

The smoked taco meatloaf is almost done. We layered on the remaining cheese on top of the meatloaf. I’ll be ready in about 5 or 10 minutes. We’re eating good tonight with plenty of leftovers for later.

We are using our ThermoWorks Signals barbecue thermometer to monitor the internal temperature of the smoked taco meatloaf.

Taco Meatloaf Taste Test

The melty cheese is done and we’re ready to eat. Here come the neighbors hoping for a slice of smoked taco meatloaf. We need a taller fence.

Well, as you might expect, a smoked taco meatloaf was good, really good. Topped with some chunky salsa sends it over the top. Even better, there are plenty of leftovers for cold meatloaf sandwiches and midnight meat snacks. I can’t wait until morning.

Using a single piece of smoking wood in our ash basket keeps us from over-smoking the meatloaf. Yeah, we have all done that.

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to get up and make a smoked taco meatloaf; you’ll be glad you did.

Favorite Products We Using Today

These are some of the products we are using today; they have been described many times over here in our grilling and smoking recipes.

NoCry heat-resistant gloves. These heat-resistant gloves help protect your hand and forearms from that grilling heat. The heat-resistant gloves have over 1000 Amazon customer reviews with an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars. Get a few pairs so you always have them on hand. They are great for grilling, the outdoor pizza oven, and also for the fire pit as you move logs around for burning.

Barbecue Towels. Read about why you need these to maintain a peaceful household here. You’ll be glad you did.

These stainless-steel wire-grid cooling racks are great for smoking a meatloaf like we’re doing today. But it really shines when we’re grilling smaller things like shrimp that might fall through the grates. They come in several sizes and are easy to keep clean. These have over 27,000 amazon customer reviews with an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars. Pick up several, you’ll be using them again and again.

Check out my other Kamado Joe and JoeTisserie recipes and links here on my Outdoor Eats page.