The Best Vegan Meatballs

I was excited to try these, but thought they were just ok and too much work to make again. I made exactly as the recipe said. My husband liked them better than me, so it was probably just a personal taste thing.

I’ve made these a couple of times now–fantastic recipe. My daughter and I have been vegetarian for a year now, and while she likes some meat substitutes, she is not a fan of the ground beef (including pre-made “meatless” meatballs). So, this recipe fills an important food role for us! I made a few modifications, just for time and ease (and based upon years of making meatballs (with meat:). This recipe is step-intensive (having to make the quinoa and roasting black beans), so I was looking for a way to reduce. Instead of sautéing shallots and garlic, I substituted 1/2 – 3/4 tsp garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon onion powder. Also, instead of sautéing meatballs, I just scooped them directly onto parchment paper-lined tray, sprayed them with cooking spray (you could probably skip this), and cooked for 20 minutes (flipping them over half way). They still brown nicely. I used all fresh parsley (just b/c cheaper and keeps longer), so I added 1 tsp dried basil in addition to the dried oregano. Minus fennel (just not a fan in my meatballs), all other ingredients remained as written. Very important to roast the black beans first, so don’t skip that step! I made enough quinoa to make these 2 weeks in a row! We’ve had with pasta sauce, but I also used as part of a Korean rice bowl with brown rice, edamame, broccoli, bbq sauce, and Siraccha! Supper delicious! Thanks so much for your great techniques!

i made it with seitan and it was great. just adding onion. carrot and celery and some herbs. thank you

Oh my gosh! These meatballs are delicious. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I had them fresh out of the oven, in tomato sauce and in a sandwich :) that’s how delicious they are. I only changed one minor thing in the recipe and used nutritional yeast instead of vegan Parmesan and they came out perfectly. They were holding up nicely before cooking and have just the right crunch now, can’t wait to eat more of the leftovers. My husband loves them too and I will make sure to spread the word and recipe among my friends. These will surely be a regular dish in our house :)

I made these a little bit of work for sure. And I didn’t have a few items but still not bad. Made fewer then 12 but its ok for first time. Now what do I do with left over quinoa ?

This is the most amazing recipe. I tried it tonight and can’t believe how good it is -a million times better than the store brands. I didn’t make any modifications.

These are amazing! I am not vegan or vegetarian, just trying to eat less meat and these will help! I made a couple modifications, I used regular Parmesan and Worcestershire sauce and used dried herbs instead of fresh and they came out great. Great texture, stayed together well and easy to put together. I quickly cooked a couple to try but I froze the rest to have when we have spaghetti and meatballs! Thank you for the great recipe, I will make again!!

I made these several times and loved them! They were approved by my boyfriend as well. Big on flavor and simple ingredients – can’t get better than this. We liked serving them with homemade marinara sauce and mashed potatoes.

The name does not lie – these are the best vegan meatballs! I’ve tried a number of other recipes, and they either don’t hold together, they get too soggy, they have too many ingredients, or they are simply just lacking. But THESE are none of that. They held together great – although I skipped putting them in the pan after they immediately started to stick – and threw them in the oven on a baking sheet with parchment paper instead. They still got a crunchy crust. The ingredients were all things I already had on hand. And they seriously tasted amazing. We are not vegans but like substituting plant based food for comfort food so I used regular Worcestershire. I like the combo of parsley and basil. My boyfriend kept saying “this is one of the best things I’ve eaten in so long… these meatballs are amazing!” I have to agree. We made a half batch and wished we had more – although, we probably would’ve eaten all of them in one sitting!! Thank you for this recipe.

Thank you for this recipe. It is one of my families absolute favourites. Our latest variation is to poke a cube of vegan cheese inside the meatball once it is rolled. Then I dip the meatball in linseed and water mixture (egg replacement) and then roll in breadcrumbs (panko if you have them). Pop on an oven tray, spray with a little olive oil spray ( I don’t always do this) and bake for perhaps 45 mins at about 375F . I check them at some point and turn them. My timing is vague as I haven’t really checked before. My youngest daughter loves them really crispy on the outside so I often leave them longer. Turns out a bit like a vegan arancini ball!

I really enjoyed these, i will be making some more, i didnt put fennel seeds in them but i will next time, yummy

Dana – I made these tonight. Unfortunately, after pulling from the oven, I put them in marinara sauce and they fell apart in the sauce. I was in a bit of a rush and bypassed the step of putting the meatballs in the fridge. Do you think that is why they fell apart? Or perhaps I needed to add more vegan parmesan to dry out? Despite crumbling in the sauce, they were still great tasting! Thanks for the recipe and any tips to improve.

I followed the recipe completely, the fennel seed was barely noticeable but I feel that it really made these a 5 star recipe. I made them as meatball subs, with marinara, shredded vegan mozzarella, and a little more Parmesan. My kids couldn’t believe it was vegan. I’m not one to trick people, but seriously no one would know these were made with black beans.

Thank you so very much. Your recipes are big hit in our house. First that amazing taco “meat,” then the cashew alfredo sauce, and now these “meat” balls! (Oh, I can’t forget those biscuits!) My husband the meat-eater is clearing his plate with a big smile. I didn’t have worcestershire sauce so I used BBQ sauce instead. It worked out perfectly. I made your parmesian “cheese” recipe and we incorporated it into several meals. Your meals make vegan food fun, filling, and healthy. I can’t thank you enough!

Fantastic recipe!

I was missing a few ingredients, but I modified by using pinto beans and balsamic vinegar/tamari in place of the vegan Worcestershire.

They. Were. Amaze-balls. (Pun intended?)

I plan on eating the rest with marinara and some vegan mozza baked on top

I am a full time uni student so I try to do meal prep in order for me to save time & money. I’m so glad I made these, they are amazing! The ‘dough’ made enough for 18 meatballs, and they had so much flavour as is, but after reading other reviews I think I will try adding the fennel seeds next time. I did sub the vegan parmesan cheese for nutritional yeast as I couldn’t find it anywhere, and I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. I used a vegetarian worcestershire sauce from the supermarket as I couldn’t find a vegan option locally. I actually baked the meatballs in the oven before I popped them into the pan, as it would be easier to add the sauce, and I wanted them extra crispy. For the marinara sauce, I just used a jar of organic pasta sauce which I added to the pan after cooking. The inside of the meatballs were still soft, but still held the shape in tact.
Thanks for another great recipe Dana!!

These were so good, I couldn’t stop eating them out of the bowl! I used truffle salt instead of sea salt and they were beyond fabulous!

I made these yesterday because the recipe sounded amazing…they were delicious!! Definitely, do not skip the fennel, it added so much flavor! I didn’t change a thing in the recipe, and just made a simple marinara from whole Italian canned tomatoes and it was delicous! The recipe made 16 golf ball size meatballs and 5 of them was plenty for dinner! HIghly recommend!!

Note, I heated them in the sauce before eating and they held together pretty well, just be gentle when stirring!

My youngest daughter and I are vegan…my Husband and oldest daughter are not. As you can imagine dinner time is structured chaos at best. To throw salt on an open wound, my Husband doesn’t eat fruits or vegetables (to be fair… he drink orange juice and will eat lima beans drowned in butter and corn during the summer… I rest my case). All that said, I LOVE cooking and it’s hard for me not to be able to prepare a meal for my entire family where everyone’s pallet is satisfied. I’m always on the hunt for a recipe that might be a keeper. Dan’s recipes are fabulous, so I went ahead and planned to make a double batch of these meatballs. I followed the recipe to a tee, but added a dash of cayenne and grand cloves for an added kick. My Husband picked around at them, but eventually ate everything on his plate and said that they weren’t bad…. which in my my book, was a win! I think it was a texture thing for him (beans/grains vs animal meat…there’s always going to be a slight difference). All that said, I’m once again grateful for another stellar recipe. I loved it… and my 4 year old is having leftovers tonight for dinner :) Thanks Dana & John!

SO GOOD! Definitely will be keeping this recipe around to use regularly.

Absolutely delicious! Plan on making more tomorrow and freezing them. :) So happy to have found a veg version that tastes close to the meatballs I used to make. Beyond grateful for that bc I miss them! Thank you for the wonderful recipe.

I made these last night and they were amazing! When I tried to set the crust in the pan, the balls were sticking too much. I then tried cooking them in the oven only as mentioned in one of the other comments but they weren’t getting nice and brown the way I would have preferred. I moved them to the air fryer and that worked to get the nice brown color and crispy outer texture.

These are seriously THE BEST! We became vegan last August and this is the closest recipe I have found to a traditional meatball flavor. The crisp exterior with a softer interior was perfect. We struggled to brown them in the pan without adding oil, so we skipped that step and placed them in the broiler for a few minutes instead, turning once. Then we baked them in the oven as the instructions indicate. Turned out perfect. Thanks again for the great recipe!

Delish. Thank you for the recipe. Subbed vegan parnesan with blitzed nutritional yeast and cashews. Used probably twice as much quinoa as suggested in recipe. (My food processor struggled a bit with the mix so finished by mixing by hand and added extra quinoa to make less gloopy. Sauted the shallots and garlic in veg stock. Didn’t pan fry the balls, just cooked in oven with no oil. Served with a sauce of sauted onions & garlic, cumin, tomatoes, bay leaves, veg stock, pinch of sugar, bayleaves and chickpeas. But think would also be good with blitzed red onions, garlic, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and basil simmered for 10 mins. Have frozen the meatballs in portions with the sauce, separated with greaseproof paper so they don’t go soggy.

I made this recipe once and it’s absolutely delicious. Making some more right now.

These were phenomenally delicious! But quite labor intensive. Definitely not a weeknight recipe if you work. I like that they use such healthy ingredients. I normally don’t use oil, but I did sauté them in some olive oil before transferring to my silicon-baking sheet covered cookie sheet to bake for about 25 minutes. Now I’m just trying to not eat them all before my family gets home!

These are freakin’ fantastic! We couldn’t stop talking about how good they were and cannot wait to make them again! The two of us had to stop ourselves from eating all of them so we have leftovers today (yay!). They only thing I changed was that I did not use the fennel seeds or oregano (don’t like), otherwise made as-is and used vegan worcestershire which I think is a critical ingredient. I also made your marinara sauce and served the meatballs with the sauce and spaghetti! AMAZING!

This recipe was great! I subbed onions for shallots and nutritional yeast for vegan Parmesan. These meatballs were great, but I would definitely recommend soaking them in sauce before serving!

I absolutely loved these! Perfect comfort food for this vegetarian. The only exception to the ingredients I made was that I used real Parmesan cheese since I’m not vegan. I cooked the quinoa and rinsed, dried, and baked the beans earlier in the day so there was less to do at dinnertime. Using fresh basil is a must! I covered these meatballs in marinara and served over whole wheat pasta. My non-vegetarian husband said this recipe was a keeper!

Made this for the family (made two batches), absolutely fantastic, simple easy to make.
Had all the ingredients in my food cupboard except for the vegan parmesan cheese (used B12).
The family loved it, my daughter especially because she has been a vegan for a few years.
This is a keeper.

These are INCREDIBLE & sooo filling we had leftovers i made into ‘beanball’ subs ;) I made these to go with the ‘cheesey’ squash and it was perfect and hearty. I did feel lik the food processor was a bit unecessary so i put all the ingredients (i didnt use worchester sauce) in a bowl and mixed it with my hands and they came out even better than expected. Will definitely be making these again!

I seriously cannot believe how easy and delicious these were! I was almost speechless when I first tasted the “dough”. I had been curating vegan recipes for our Daniel Fast and these fit the bill perfectly. Even my carnivore husband had to admit they were pretty good!

Amazingly creative and delicious!

I forgot the 15 minutes’ refrigeration and they seemed okay.

I like kick, so for my double recipe I used a smallish jalapeño and some chipotle pepper flakes.

My one other modification comes from laziness: I skipped the frying part, but wiped a baking sheet with a thin coating of olive oil and lightly brushed some on the meatballs. I then baked them for about 25 minutes and finished them gently under the broiler for about five minutes, turning once.

Served with homemade marinara from an Italian deli.

We loved them!!

Made these this weekend and they were delicious! Followed the recipe as it was (used Henderson’s Relish in place of Lea and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce) (for British readers!) and served them with wholewheat pasta, home made tomato sauce (Marinara) salad, and garlic bread made with sunflower spread. Thank you Dana!

Oh my GOSH, these are incredible. My meat eater fiancé loves them too. So good. Will be telling all my friends. Thank you for this new stable in my dinner rotation!

I made this but used it for stuffed tomatoes cooked in the crockpot with marinara sauce. I added some chopped sun dried tomatoes & mushrooms & spinach. Delish!

These were delicious! I didn’t have any vegan parm on hand so I substituted nutritional yeast and used all fresh basil. Food processor decided to die so I mixed/mashed all ingredients in a large bowl with a fork and they still turned out great! I paired these with vegan tuscan pasta……YUM!!!!

I never usually comment on recipes but this one I couldn’t just make it and leave it alone. These were AMAZING. I had to restrain myself from eating all of the meatballs after my first bowl.

I did not sub any ingredients or change any measurements. They were so flavorful and the perfect blend of spicy, and savory. I do recommend leaving the fennel in, it’s so good with it!
THANK YOU!! My Italian husband is so happy. I’m happy. You made my night with this recipe!

Delicious recipe! I wish I had turned them halfway through the cooking process as they burned. :(

One additional tip for those (like me) who are not measuring in cups but with a scale:
1 cup cooked quinoa equals 60 grams uncooked quinoa.

Hi! We made these “beanballs” last night for dinner and they were the one of the best, most flavorfull meals we’ve ever eaten. Since were not vegan (or vegetarian), I used “real” parmesan cheese und worcestershire sauce. I didn’t sauté them first but put them right into the oven and they came out crispy on the outside and just a little mushy (the good kind) on the inside. I have just a hand blender so I was a little nervous about the consistency, but all went fine.
I served them with spaghetti and a simple marinara sauce – just canned tomatoes, olive oil, onion, garlic and oregano simmered for 35 minutes. My husband loved them and demanded that I make them again next week :-)
In fact, they were so good that I ordered a food processor last night to make them again and again and again (and hummus of course – because I loooooove hummus :-))))

So good I had to take them away from my husband because he threatened to eat them all.
They are yummy!

Delicious! My 4yr old enjoyed rolling them too. Will make a double batch next time.

THESE ARE THE BEST! I added a handful of walnuts for nutty flavor and spinach to sneak in some greens but this was QUICK, DELICIOUS, and nutritious!

Dana! You did it again.. These are THE BOMB. Thank you so much for your delicious creations.

I have to say, I had low expectations for these and was pleasantly surprised! They were great!! So happy to have found your site! I am all about minimal ingredients!

I subbed quinoa for about a half cup of cooked very thin rice noodles that I chopped. Added about a quarter cup of mushrooms that I dried in the oven along with the beans. Added a quarter cup of homemade breadcrumbs. These may be the best vegan meatballs ever. If you substitute just make sure to keep the moisture level in mind else they may fall apart on you !

I made these the other night and they turned out pretty good – the only reason they were not great is because, for me, the 3T of parsley and basil (which I combined) was a bit too much. I love parsley and basil but I did find them to overpower the rest of the flavors. That is just for me. I will reduce to 1T.
I also did not have cashews to make my parmesan so I used a couple of tablespoons of nutritional yeast. I will use the vegan parm next batch.
I ate these with zucchini noodles and a jarred tomato sauce. I will make my own marinara sauce next time. I will also double or triple this recipe because for the clean-up it is worth having a double batch.
Thank you for another great recipe.

I made these and thought they were extremely time consuming. Way more steps than your average recipe. However, I was game to try since almost all of your recipes are super on point!??

But these meatballs fell super short. Even though I added all the additional ingredients, I thought they really lacked flavor. Maybe they’ll taste better after a day?

Only thing I was super stoked about, was they did keep their shape well. Meatless meatballs have the tendency to fall apart.

You win some and you lose some.

I lerv these! Thanks for the super yum! No v. Worchestershire so used Ume plum vinegar

O they are so so good, thank you! Made a large batch and froze half last week , paired with the marinara they are perfection!

Delicious!!!

I tried the recipe for our Sunday lunch. It was delicious. As well as the marinara sauce. It took me a bit longer than I thought… next time I will be a bit more effective. And will prepare a bigger quantity. Thank you for your excellent recipes Dana.

I made the meatballs for dinner tonight and they were sooo delicious even by themselves. I made a veggie tomato sauce to go with And some quinoa and it was awesome!! I used fresh parley verse the oregano and also some dry Italian mix in the meatball also. I didn’t have any Worcestershire sauce but it still turned out great. This did take some time to make this isn’t a quick recipe. Also if you have a big family you may want to double recipe, mine made about 8 meatballs. Every recipe I have tried by Dana has always been good!

Made the recipe (tripling it because we were having a party and serving meatballs as an appetizer) and it was good. They stick together, they have a nice texture, though I think I needed to adjust the flavour with some more salt as they could be a little less bland (no Worcestershire sauce used because we didn’t have a vegan version in the house and that also might’ve helped).
An excellent addition to these “meatballs” though was this recipe https://simpleveganblog.com/sweet-and-sour-sauce/ for sweet & sour sauce. It was super easy and fast, with ingredients we always have in the house. Perfect! For ratio reference, having tripled the meatballs, we quadrupled the sauce recipe. I think maybe x5 would be better but I do like things saucy and with the quadrupled they did get a light coating all over so your call. Thanks for the meatball recipe. It’ll definitely be a keeper.

These are great! I just discovered yet another reliable recipe to use often in the future. Thank you for your minimalist/simple yet delicious recipes Dana!

I just made this for Christmas. I have always loved Italian on Christmas Day and these “meatless” balls were the ?-diggity! I didn’t have fennel on hand but otherwise followed the recipe to a T. Wow – Thank you! I even made a post-dinner “meatless” sub with the leftover balls and vegan parm. Like how can you miss meat with recipes like this?

Thanks for making my Christmas merry and bright by allowing me to continue to indulge in past traditions – with a ? twist .

This recipe turned out really great for me. They stayed together really well even after adding the sauce and tasted amazing! They stood up even as leftovers the next day. Highly recommend this recipe!

I made these last night for my family and my wife and I thought they were absolutely delicious. My kids still preferred “Dad’s own recipe” that I’ve made for them for years, but I’ll be making these from now on I think.

I used onion instead of shallots and dried instead of fresh basil but that didn’t seem to be a problem.

If I had one issue, it was that they were very soft so when I poured the sauce into the frying pan to heat the balls up a bit they started to fall apart a little. When I then served them any pressure from the serving spoon etc would squash them. If I could remedy that, they would be perfect.

Worth the effort! Delicious!

I really like the texture. These are the best vegan meatballs I’ve had.

I just made these and am so pleased with the results. I doubled the recipe so we could have for dinner tonight and lunch for Mon + hopefully Tues (if it lasts!) I followed the recipe with two exceptions: I did not include the optional ingredients, and I used real dairy parmesan in place of the vegan parmesan. I paired this with your marinara sauce, I threw in some diced onion and oregano to the sauce as well. This is a recipe I will keep on hand and continue to make.

Instead of making the quinoa beforehand, I cooked it while the beans were baking. Then, I spread the cooked quinoa on the dirty sheet pan and popped it in the freezer for 10 min to get the quinoa to cool down.

Thanks so much!

I made this per the recipe. I didn’t have any left over grains in the fridge so went ahead and cooked some quinoa, attempted to dry it somewhat in the pan, cooled it and then proceeded with the recipe. Thought that sauteing the garlic and onion separately and drying the canned beans was a little over the top, but did it anyway. The combination of flavors was really good and I liked that they tasted different to any bean burger/meatball that I had made before. Served with marinara and spaghetti, with spinach and broccoli. Next time, I think I am just going to quickly whiz it in the food processor and use it as a burito filling.

Wow! These meatballs are AMAZING! After cooking in the oven, I simmered them in marinara and then put in sub rolls topped with cashew mozzarella! It was literally one of the best meals I have ever made! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!

I made this recipe and it was soooo flavorful. I am not a vegan so I used regular Worcestershire sauce. The black beans added a great texture and bite to the meatball. I also REALLY enjoyed the vegan parmesan (used the whole jar)! I ate it with spaghetti squash and I definitely will be making it again!