Vegan Meatballs, a hearty, nutritious and delicious alternative. They have a great texture, they keep their form without crumbling and are gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free and vegan.
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They can be served hot with courgetti, spaghetti, rice, etc or cold as a snack. Scroll down to the end to see useful nutritional information and links.
What are Vegan Meatballs made of?
There are various ways they can be produced using different combinations of beans, grains, vegetables, herbs and spices. These were made with Butter beans (also known as Lima beans) and 3 vegetables, my usual aim for Miss ND, protein and loads of vegetables packed into food.
How do you make Vegan Meatballs?
Process précis follows. (For full ingredient list and amounts, see the recipe card at the end of this post). First start with dry toasting the Fennel and Cumin seeds, cool, grind and pop in a bowl. Then sauté a finely diced red onion in olive oil. Next add the Butter beans to the bowl and mash up with a fork or potato masher. Peel and grate all the vegetables and add them and the red onion to the mashed Butter beans along with the chickpea/garbanzo/gram flour, Paprika (and chilli flakes if using), salt and black pepper. Combine thoroughly.
Put some chickpea/garbanzo/gram flour into a bowl and then shape your Butter bean, vegetable mixture into balls. The size will depend of your personal taste, I make some large and some small. Roll them into the flour until coated. Chill in the fridge for up to an hour if possible. Transfer to a pan and fry lightly in olive oil until browned. Then transfer to a baking tray and roast the vegan meatballs in the oven for around 25 minutes.
Along with the vegan meatballs, I roasted tomatoes tossed in olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt (some were the last of our homegrown cherry tomatoes) with a large garlic bulb for the accompanying sauce. The simplest, easiest sauce! Once roasted, blitz the tomatoes (taking out the vines first) in a liquidiser/blender, squeeze out as much of the roasted garlic to your taste and add to the liquidiser/blender along with some basil.
Courgetti! What is it?
Simply courgettes (zucchini) using a spiralizer to create vegetable spaghetti. For Miss ND I combine =zucchini (zoodles) with some pasta spaghetti to make it more kid-taste-friendly and of course, to pack in more vegetables!
Zucchini only need cooking briefly, depending on how crunchy/soft you like your vegetables. I blanch them in boiling water for a couple of minutes and longer for Miss ND.
Serve as below, everything should be complete around the same time.
Can they be made ahead?
Yes, I sometimes make both the the meatballs and sauce a day ahead and keep in a covered container in the fridge. Any leftovers keeps for an extra day too.
Are Vegan Meatballs Freezable?
Yes, they are! This recipe makes enough for 4 servings and freezes very well. When you need them, defrost at room temperature and give them a teeny drizzle of olive oil before baking.
Super delicious, vegetable packed, incredibly healthy vegan meatballs with roasted tomato and garlic sauce on a bed of zucchini noodles.
Nutritional Info:
- Butter (Lima) beans are rich in insoluble fibre, which helps promote digestive tract health. Take a look at this for more information.
- Sweet Potatoes, this article is a great read on the health benefits of sweet potatoes.
- Healthy benefits of courgette/zucchini here.
- Nutritional benefits of Parsnip here.
- Carrots health benefits here.
- Health benefits of Tomatoes here.
- Health benefits of Garlic here.
Vegan Meatballs with Zucchini Noodles
Ingredients
For the Vegan Meatballs
- 1 tablespoon each of fennel and cumin seeds
- 15 ounces Butter beans
- 2 large carrots, peeled
- 1 medium parsnip, peeled
- 1 large sweet potato, peeled
- 3.5 ounces chickpea
- 2 teaspoons Paprika
- 2 teaspoons chilli flakes, optional
- Olive oil for frying
For the Roasted Tomato Sauce
- 8-10 large tomatoes
- 1 large garlic bulb
- Olive oil , to coat the tomatoes
- Sea salt, to taste
For the Zucchini Noodles
- 2 large zucchini
Instructions
For the Vegan Meatballs
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Start by dry toasting the fennel and cumin seeds until they are fragrant, around 2 minutes on low heat. Cool, then grind in a grinder.
- Sauté the diced red onion until soft.
- Mash the butter beans in a bowl.
- Grate all the vegetables and add them to the butter beans along with the ground fennel and cumin seeds, paprika, chickpea/garbanzo/gram flour plus salt and black pepper to your taste. Mix to combine all ingredients thoroughly.
- Shape the mixture into balls, whatever size you wish.
- Place some chickpeas into a bowl and roll the shaped balls in the flour to lightly coat.
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the balls until browned. Transfer them to a baking tray and roast them for 20-25 minutes.
For the Roasted Tomato Sauce
- Place the whole tomatoes and garlic bulb on a lined baking tray, drizzle generously with the olive oil, making sure all are coated. Sprinkle with the sea salt.
- Roast in the oven with the vegan meatballs for around 20 minutes.
- Once roasted, put the tomatoes in the liquidiser/blender and blend until roughly chopped.
- Squeeze as many garlic cloves from the garlic bulb to your taste into the liquidiser/blender along with some basil (taste as you go along) and blend until smooth.
For the Zucchini Noodles
- Spiralize the zucchini (or use a peeler which will create wider ribbons) to create vegetable spaghetti/zoodles.
- Blanch in boiling water for 2 minutes or to however crunchy/soft you wish. Drain and serve immediately.
- Place the zucchini noodles into serving bowls, add the vegan meatballs and coat with the roasted tomato and garlic sauce. Sprinkle with chopped basil and serve!
*Nutritional data is provided as a courtesy and is accurate to the best of my knowledge. You can verify it using the nutrition calculator of your choice. All data is based on net carbs, without sugar alcohol: Swerve, Erythritol, Monk Fruit or Allulose.
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Daniela Modesto
Although I'm not vegan, I try to eat a little less meat and looking for alternatives so I'll be sure to check these out!!
ND
Thank you Daniela!
Raia Todd
This looks so delicious! Totally like comfort food. 🙂
ND
They really are and so many combinations of ingredients to make them!
ChihYu
Love this hearty, comforting vegan meal! So good!!
ND
Thank you!
linda spiker
Wow! Love these 'meatballs' for getting in the extra veggies!
ND
I know, right! Always trying to get more veggies into the children, these do pack them in!
Bita
These look SO YUM! Thanks for the recipe! Also, I love how you make this with lima beans! So smart!
ND
Thank you, the beans really are a star ingredient!
Don Baiocchi
I love anything with parsnips and sweet potatoes so these are right up my alley!
ND
Sweet potatoes, love, parsnips I'm still trying to find ways to enjoy them!
Stacey Crawford
I love this brilliant idea! I would have never thought of making veggie meat-free balls with chickpea flour and butter beans. A great boost of protein without having to use a soy-based ingredient.
ND
These were very tasty and there are so many combinations to try!
Jenni LeBaron
These vegan meatballs sound so delicious! I can't wait to add them into our Meatless Monday rotation!
ND
We really enjoyed them!
jennifer
Looks so yummy, what are butter beans -- I've never tried them?!
ND
We call them Butter beans in the UK but I think you may know them as Lima Beans??
Anne Lawton
These look absolutely delicious! Thanks for all of the tips to make these.
ND
Thanks Anne, pleased you liked them!