The BEST vegan recipe for meatballs
This is the best vegan recipe for meatballs I have ever made! Super easy, with just a few simple ingredients! Moist but not mushy and they won't fall apart either!
Ingredients
- 250 g black beans, drained a generous 1 1/2 cups cooked from dried or canned, drained and rinsed
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- 1/2 red onion diced
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/8 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 200 g quinoa 1 1/2 cup, cooked and chilled
- 25 g grated vegan parmesan 1/2 cup
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 bunch chopped parsley about 1/4 cup chopped, packed
- 1 tsp sambal oelek
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1 x roasted red bell pepper sauce or marinara - see notes
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350 F. Blot your beans dry and spread them onto a lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until they look quite dry and start to crack open. Remove from the oven and dial the oven temperature up to 375F!
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In the meantime, heat coconut oil in a pan on medium heat and fry diced onions for seven minutes or until softened and starting to brown.
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Place black beans, onion, and spices into the bowl of your food processor and pulse until coarse meal forms. We're not looking for a paste, but a coarse mixture.
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Add quinoa, grated parm, parsley and sambal and blend until a tacky mass forms. Again, no we do not want a paste, but a tacky mass that holds together when pressed.
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Season the meatball mixture with more salt, if needed. Now, taking one tbsp of mixture at a time, roll meatballs and place them on a plate. Cover with plastic film and chill.
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Heat one tbsp of coconut oil in an oven-safe skillet on medium-high heat and fry meatballs just until a crust starts to form. Transfer skillet to the oven for another 20 minutes.
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Serve with my Red Bell Pepper Sauce and a generous sprinkling of parsley.
Recipe Notes
- To prevent your vegan meatballs from being mushy, you really want to make sure your beans are dried out properly and start to crack. Don't skip this step!
- Make the quinoa in advance! It should be cooled, or even better chilled as that will make shaping your vegan meatballs way easier!
- For this vegan meatballs recipe, I use vegan parmesan cheese which I make myself using this easy recipe. You can also buy it here.
- I serve my vegan meatballs with my Instant Pot Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. Marinara will do just fine, or you can toss them with salsa and serve them with guacamole and vegan sour cream.
