I generally feel like Americans eat way too much meat. Now don’t get me wrong, I love a good slab of bacon, but I think being a flexatarian is a much healthier food lifestyle. Flexatarians are occasional meat eaters that tend to gravitate toward a plant-based diet. Because we only eat meat a couple of times a week, that means we love to try out new vegetarian meals. And sometimes even vegan!
These vegan “meat” balls were sent to me by a friend from work and I am so, totally impressed with them! They are a blend of cooked lentils, brown rice, oats and lots of great spices and flavors. They taste great, look like traditional meatballs and have an incredible meat-like texture. We ate them on top of spaghetti, but I can’t wait to try them in a meatball sub. I love a good meatball sub.
This would be an excellent recipe to introduce vegetarianism to meat-lovers. These are packed with flavor, hearty and comforting. Anyone will love these! Don’t be afraid of the long ingredient list, it takes a lot of spices to make these yummy, yummy balls. I promise these come together in no time flat!
Vegan “Meat” Balls
(Adapted from My Vegan Cookbook)
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup cooked lentil
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 1/4 cup oats
- 1/3 cup wheat germ
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup (could sub molasses)
- 1 teaspoons dry mustard
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until mixture resembles texture and appearance of ground meat and most lentils are no longer whole. Do not over mix.
- Wet hands and form mixture into balls about 1-1/2″ in diameter. You should get around 16. Place on a baking sheet.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, turning once halfway through baking time. Let rest for 10 minutes after baking to firm up.
These are pretty much endlessly customizable. If you aren’t vegan, try throwing in a handful of parmesan cheese (yum!). Want more summer flavor? Add some fresh chopped basil and oregano. Looking for more of a cocktail meatball taste? Up the maple syrup and toss the meatballs in your favorite barbecue sauce. Let me know your variations!
Do you consider yourself a vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, flexatarian or some other class of eater? Or do you just eat what you like and not label it?
I like how the green leaves spell out “Al” on the top meatball.
Love reading this BTHR, its my guilty pleasure.
Hope all is well! Much love!
HAHA! I didn’t even notice that. That’s awesome!
that looks amazing! i think i need to try those vegan balls!
Let me know how you like them!
Looks amazing — thanks for sharing!
No problem! Let me know if you like them.
These look delicious! I’ll definitely have to make these! Thank you. 🙂
No problem! Let me know if you try any variations on them. 😀
Thanks for the recipe! I’m going to have to try this one. I love cooking with lentils. I just made some lentil Sloppy Joe’s the other night they turned out pretty fab. They really do have the texture of meat and I actually enjoyed them more than I anticipated.
I’m not a hardcore vegan but I follow mostly a vegan diet because I feel best when I eat that way. Combine lactose intolerance with a generally fussy digestive system and vegan eats are the way to go for me.
But I agree with you, I think flexitarian is a very healthy choice. Most Americans eats WAY too much meat and dairy and I think there’s been a bit of a movement lately in the direction to follow a more plant-based diet. Have you seen the new documentary Forks Over Knives yet? I’m dying to see it!
Anyway, that’s all for now. Great post! 🙂
Oooh! No! I loooove food documentaries. Thanks for the recommendation!
I’m vegan and I’m soooooo making these – wonderful! Thanks for the recipe and beautiful photos:)
Let me know how they turn out!
Bookmarked- thank you!
Wow, good grief. These would cost me a fortune to try to make.. I’d have to buy Lentils, Wheat Germ, Wheat Flour, Kosher Salt, Balsamic Vinegar, Nutmeg, Mustard–whole packages of them even though I only need a little bit. Any ideas on how to sample recipes on a dime?
Wow, that is so crazy because everything in this recipe are pantry “staples” for me. The only thing I had to buy are then lentils, and that was only because we were out!
Do you have co-op or health food store nearby with bulk bins? That is how I test out recipes. You can buy 1 teaspoon of many of the spices (plus the flour, wheat germ and lentils) for only pennies. And then if you like it, you can invest in the full-size containers.
Sweet! There’s a WholeFoods a few miles away. I’ll see if they have the bulk foods section. Great idea!
This recipe is about as frugal as you can get. I buy various beans and brown rice by the 25# bags. Not only saving money but the planet too by avoiding all the plastic and cardboard from small expensive packages.
I’m going to try the recipe. It sounds REALLY good.
Thanks
I like your vegan meat balls a lot. Thanks to you I know what I will have for dinner this week 🙂
I made these last week and I’m making them again tonight! Probably going to repost on my blog too — I’ll be sure to link back to you. Absolutely delicious! I used smoked paprika and chipotle chili powder, so they had a bit of a southwestern kick. Delicious!
I made these tonight! They turned out really delicious, thanks so much for the recipe! 🙂
yummmmmm yumm. My meat-eating boyfriend loved them!
http://lovesveggies.blogspot.com/2011/06/homemade-marinara-and-vacation-r.html
YAY! So glad you liked them! I can’t wait to try them on a meatball sub. YUM.
Awesome! I can’t wait to try these out. I’m making a freezer-full of goodies for my boyfriend and I’m trying to sneak in healthy versions of his favorite comfort foods. These look delicious and meaty enough to trick him into enjoying it 🙂
Just wondering if you’ve tried freezing these at any stage: either after shaping into balls, or after baking?
Thanks so much!
I would say freeze them before baking. I think they’d freeze great! Let me know if you try it out.
I am just switching from vegetarian to vegan. Those look totally scrumptious! Will try them out for sure. Thanks for the recipe!
Hope you love them. They are one of our favorites!
I’m cooking these vegan meatballs tonight with a friend! I can’t wait. I’m vegan and I cook lots of delicious meals but I’ve never tried meatballs.
Let me know how you like ’em. Have a great dinner with your friend. 🙂
Oh my goodness! I’m not even vegetarian and these are phenomenal! I might get addicted to this stuff, LOL. If this is what vegan food tastes like, I think I could become a vegan!
I was wondering what kind of oats you used? (instant, old-fashioned rolled, quick oats, etc…)
Old-fashioned rolled. 🙂
great!I have never made a recipe with oats in it, so I was at a loss as to what I should buy. Thank you! 🙂
These are delicious, thanks for sharing the recipe!
Next time, I might try and add some parsley or spinach to add a little greens.
Thanks for this recipe! I doubled the batch and froze them. Now I have them handy to heat them up with pasta sauce or BBQ sauce. Definitely my favorite plant-based meat recipe and I (used to) love meat!
I have tried many different kinds. Ones I have made and others have. I will be trying therein a few weeks. I’ll let you know how we like them. Seems not many people write back so I’ll be sure to let you know. They look very good.
Hi, are the lentils, rice etc measured dry or cooked? If cooked, can you advise regarding the precooked volume?
Thanks 🙂
This recipe was quick,easy and delicious! My family and I just enjoyed eating some. The only major change I made was to chop one onion,two cloves of garlic, one stick of celery, and some fresh parsley in my food processor first before adding the other ingredients. Due to the high salt content and lack of genuine flavor, I don’t use onion or garlic powder. Thanks for this user friendly, fantastic recipe. It’s definitely worth saving.