Vegan Meatballs
At last, meatless meatballs that don’t call for any specialty ingredients! These Easy Vegan Meatballs are relatively simple and perfectly meaty, and you probably already have the ingredients in your kitchen.
Servings: 36 1-inch meatballs
Calories: 44kcal
Ingredients
- 14 ounces chickpeas drained and rinsed
- ½ large onion roughly chopped (about ⅓ cup)
- ½ cup walnuts toasted is great, but not necessary
- ½ cup old-fashioned oats gluten-free, if necessary
- 1 clove garlic peeled
- 1 cup cooked brown rice wild rice is great, too
- 2 tablespoons ketchup
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce use coconut aminos or tamari if gluten-free
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- ½ teaspoon salt plus more to taste
- Additional spices if desired (see notes)
- Avocado oil or other high heat oil, for pan-frying
Instructions
- In the basin of a food processor, pulse together 14 ounces chickpeas, ½ large onion, ½ cup walnuts, ½ cup old-fashioned oats, and 1 clove garlic until it forms a coarse meal about the texture of ground beef. Don’t overmix. You should still see a few small chunks.
- Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl, and add in 1 cup cooked brown rice, 2 tablespoons ketchup, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 teaspoons chili powder, ½ teaspoon salt, and any Additional spices you’re using. Stir until well-mixed.
- If you like a meatball with smoother texture, transfer half of the mixture back into the food processor, and pulse until very smooth and pasty—add back to the other half of mixture and stir well to combine.
- Heat a couple of tablespoons of Avocado oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Form the meatball mixture into 1” balls and fry in skillet until golden brown on all sides—about 10 minutes total. Don’t overcrowd the pan—you’ll probably want to work in 2-3 batches.
Video
Notes
- This is great base recipe, but you can doctor these up with spices however you see fit—add two tablespoons of Italian seasoning plus two tablespoons of nutritional yeast for serving over pasta with tomato sauce. Add Montreal Steak Seasoning for great cocktail meatballs to serve as appetizers. The possibilities are endless!
- We use avocado oil instead of something like olive oil because the avocado oil has a higher smoke point and won't get smoky and burnt during pan-frying. You can also use grapeseed oil, safflower oil, or another high-heat oil.
- If your meatballs aren’t holding together, feel free to add either an egg (if you’re not vegan) or a flax egg (mix one tablespoon ground flaxseed meal with three tablespoons warm water and let thicken for five minutes) to the meatball mixture. I didn’t find this necessary for my meatballs to stay together well.
- For an extra boost of flavor, cook your brown rice in veggie broth or even not-beef broth.
- If you want to skip pan-frying, you can just put the formed meatballs directly on the baking sheet and bake at 425°F for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and firm.
- Add these meatballs to your saucepan right before serving. The longer they swim around in the sauce, the more tender they become.
Nutrition
Serving: 1meatball | Calories: 44kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 2g | Sodium: 113mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g
