Halloween Bloody Baked Rats

These creepy-cute mini meatloaves are spooktacular for Halloween dinner. See more

READY IN 1½ hrs

Halloween Bloody Baked Rats

Read Reviews (73)

"This is a fun, inexpensive, creepy Halloween entree that will gross out and impress your dinner guests. It is mini meatloaves baked in tomato sauce that are shaped like rats with cheese in the middle. When you cut it open, gooey cheese will come oozing out. Garnished with a spaghetti noodle tail and carrot ears, these pests are sure to be a devilishly delectable dinner." — ANGELA O.

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, combine the ground beef, onion, egg, bread crumbs, and meatloaf seasoning. Use your hands to mix until well blended. Measure out 1/3 cupfuls of the meat mixture and mold around a cube of cheese like a meatball. Shape into a point at one end and lengthen the body a bit by rolling between your hands. Place your ''rat'' into a shallow baking dish, and continue with the remaining meat. Insert pieces of uncooked spaghetti into the rounded end of the rats to make tails.
In a medium bowl, stir together the tomato sauce, sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the rats in the dish and cover the dish with a lid or aluminum foil.
Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven. Uncover the dish and continue to bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, basting occasionally with the sauce to glaze the rats.
While the rats finish baking, heat the peas and carrots in a small bowl in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
Carefully transfer the rats to a serving platter so that their delicate tails don't fall off. Press peas into the pointy end to make eyes, and insert carrot slices to make ears. Spoon some of the tomato sauce around them and serve.

Kitchen-Friendly View

PREP 15 mins
COOK 1 hr 15 mins
READY IN 1 hr 30 mins

Reviews More Reviews

Most Helpful Positive Review

Jul 28, 2010

Try freezing your cheese cubes a little before stuffing the rats. It cuts down on leakage.

—Dan

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Most Helpful Critical Review

Nov 03, 2009

I had a hard time getting the ears on right, but that's just me. Taste wise it was fine, but my family is more accustomed to my meatloaf, which never has tomato, and I don't used packaged seasonings. I think I'll make this again next year, but I might do it spaghetti and meatballs style (spaghetti can either be worms or the "rats nest" cuz my creativeness-less self could not think of something to fit it to serve w/ so I tossed it ontop of some shoestring hashbrowns and said they were in a rats nest lol

—Mandi

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90 Ratings

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Nov 09, 2009

Five stars for presentation! I used my own meatloaf recipe and halved the "blood" sauce. Also used cooked asparagus for tails, almond slivers for ears, and tiny bits of raisin for the eyes. Hubby suggested adding a cooked spaghetti noodle to the cheese inside to look like guts. ;D Great Halloween dinner!

—Holly

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Oct 30, 2009

My rats actually came out cute instead of scary, lol! I used raw carrots for the ears, red bell peppers for the eyes and I felt like it needed a nose so I stuck in a piece of cheese. I tossed spaghetti in some sauce and served my rats over it. I did have slight leakage of the cheese like other reviewers but this was definitely yummy! Also I didn't put too much sauce on my rats before baking and heated up leftover sauce and put it over before serving. I saved one strand of cooked spaghetti per rat and draped it over the finished rats as the tail. Thanks for the great idea and recipe.

—Roxanne J.R.

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Oct 15, 2010

Good Recipe! The only changes I made were: I used 1 cheese slice per rat, I folded the slice until it wouldn't fold anymore. For the whiskers I used French Fried Onions and for the ears I used the corners of Doritos. Tip: Make sure the seam is sealed at the bottom and not at the top. I did half and half thinking I would save time and wound up with split top rats. Very fun to make and the gross factor sets it off!

—4BIDNLOVE

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Oct 22, 2009

This was so much fun to make and serve! I used limp asparagus spears for the tails and almond slivers for the ears. The cheese did bubble through as it baked, however it simply added to the gore of the dish. Great Halloween fun! Thank you for this recipe Angela!

—spicegrrl

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Nov 16, 2010

These were a hit on Halloween! Everyone loved the look and the flavor. Yummmy! I used a noodle and cheese in each rat like suggested in another comment. And also froze the cheese cubes 15 minutes before using them. I also noticed that the onion, though adding flavor, breaks the meat apart. Perhaps chopping the onion very fine in a food processor would help. This would cut down on the cheese ooze during cooking. This is our new Halloween meat dish from here on out. Thank u so much for sharing :)

—tonmeilleurami

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Oct 28, 2010

I made these for my annual Halloween-themed dinner last night. These were so much fun and awesomely disgusting! Just after I'd pulled these out of the oven, my husband came over to tell me something and stopped short when he saw these. His laughing/surprised/disgusted expression was hilarious :) We both really enjoyed these, they tasted great and the presentation was so creepy! I used linguine for tails instead of spaghetti and I thought they worked much better than spaghetti would have. They looked more like real tails for the size of the body and they cooked all the way through. We did think the rats were a little over done after 45 min covered and 20 min uncovered, and my rats were pretty big. I would probably cut down a little on cooking time next time, but otherwise great recipe!! Thanks, Angela!

—Spirited Sarah

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Nutrition

Calories
966 kcal
48%

Carbohydrates
94.2 g
30%

Cholesterol
225 mg
75%

Fat
40.7 g
63%

Fiber
5 g
20%

Protein
56.9 g
114%

Sodium
2516 mg
101%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Nutritional Information

Halloween Bloody Baked Rats

Serving Size: 1/4 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 966
Calories from Fat: 366

% Daily Value *
Total Fat 40.7g 63 %
Saturated Fat 18.2g 91 %
Cholesterol 225mg 75 %
Sodium 2516mg 101 %
** Potassium 1367mg 38 %
Total Carbohydrates 94.2g 30 %
Dietary Fiber 5g 20 %
Protein 56.9g 114 %
Sugars 63.5g
** Vitamin A 54 %
** Vitamin C 29 %
** Calcium 44 %
** Iron 83 %
** Thiamin 51 %
** Niacin 185 %
** Vitamin B6 44 %
** Magnesium 34 %
** Folate 56 %

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
** Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.