Why do you use bread crumbs in meatloaf?

For meatloaf to be appetizing you need a bread, oats or cooked rice to keep it light and to keep the meat from compacting into a brick that wont fall apart and be tough and difficult to digest. Most people use eggs and/or milk for the binder If you use eggs be careful not to use too many as the white will cook and make your loaf tough. Also a little water will also help with lightness and moisture, but very little. Note: Mix with your hands, but as little as possible since the more you handle it the toughness problem comes into play. The same goes for burgers and meatballs.

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You know how when you buy a pound or so of packaged ground beef how its a block at first, but once you unwrap it, its really loose and sloppy - like meat "worms" that easily come apart? Thats how your meatloaf would be without using the bread and the eggs, which act as binder, or glue. Same goes for meatballs. The thing about crockpot cooking is that anything CAN go in the CP (like CP lasagna, which is a real thing, awful, but real) - the question is, can you tweak it enough with this method so that your family will still gobble it up. Otherwise, youre back to the oven.

Take Care!!

bread crumbs or quick oats are binders. Also they extend the meat, of course. They keep the loaf nice and moist by soaking up juice and not letting it cook away. Don't skip them. You probably can use the crockpot if you grease it. Check the recipe book that came with it for times.

Not really, bread crumbs act as a binder to hold the ingredients together. Without it, the meatloaf would crumble into little bits and no one would really want to eat it.

you can use crackers instead, even stuffing mix (I like to put a few pieces of fresh bread pulled into little bits because it soaks in some of the fat and makes your meatloaf nice and moist and decadent)

You can definitely use cracker crumbs. I would use the oyster crackers. The way I do it is to put in a large ziploc bag and pound with my fists until crushed. It works out great!