Best Plant-Based Meatless Meatballs

I’ve probably made about a dozen recipes for WFPB meatballs, and I’m not busting your balls! Most of these experiments ended with me saying, “yup, not doing that one again.” Not this one. This plant-based meatballs recipe is wife, kids, and Kev-approved.

These meatballs are vegan, oil-free, and even soy-free. There are no “meatless crumbles” or other processed fake meat-like ingredients. So if you’re looking for something that tastes just like a beef or pork meatball, this is not it. BUT… these meatballs are moist (yeah I said it), flavorful and don’t last very long in my house!

Best Plant-Based Meatless Meatballs

This makes about 12-15 meatballs

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Total Time: 1 hour

Servings: 6

Note: I wouldn’t put these in your pot of sauce like you might with a regular meatball. They could fall apart easily if too saturated. I normally keep these out of the sauce until it’s time to serve them, then pour sauce over them, like in the photo.

What you’ll need

• ▢ 1 ½ cups whole wheat breadcrumbs, regular or panko
• ▢ 1 tsp Italian seasoning (omit if using seasoned breadcrumbs)
• ▢ ½ tsp garlic powder
• ▢ ⅛ tsp sea salt
• ▢ ½ cup walnuts, chopped (or 3/4 cup whole)
• ▢ 8 oz sliced mushrooms
• ▢ 1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

How you’ll do it

• Preheat oven to 350° and line a baking pan with parchment paper or a baking mat.
• Add bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and salt to a large bowl.
• Add walnuts to food processor and chop into coarse crumbs. Add walnuts to the bowl and mix to incorporate.
• Add mushrooms and onion to large food processor or blender and process until you have a chunky puree.
• Scoop mushroom-onion mixture into bowl with dry ingredients. Stir mixture well until fully combined.
• Scoop out about 1 ½ tbsp of mixture at a time and mold into meatballs, placing onto the baking sheet as you go. If you want to make them a little bigger than that, go for it. You'll just need to bake them a bit longer.
• Bake for 25 minutes. Roll meatballs over gently and bake another 15-20 minutes or until meatballs have firmed up and don't feel mushy after a gentle squeeze.
• Serve with whole wheat pasta and a healthy slather of Super Easy Oil-Free Vegan Tomato Sauce

Did you make this? Well, what did you think? Leave a comment and let me know how it came out, or if you have a question about the recipe, fire away!

Do you have a favorite recipe you’d like to share on KevCooksPlants? Send it to me at kev@kevcooksplants.com and I’ll take a look (and of course credit you when it’s posted).