The Best Vegan Meatballs

Making these meatballs was a lot of work but the end result was worth it. I really enjoyed the flavor. I read somewhere that coconut liquid aminos was a good substitute for worcestershire sauce. I went with the aminos because my local grocery store didn’t have sugar free worcestershire sauce. I will say that my meatballs didn’t hold the shape. However, I do not blame the recipe, I blame myself

I made these for a family I chef for & both my husband & myself wish we could keep them all. Absolutely delicious. I avoid recipes that use fake cheeses, though will occasionally use a little Violife parmesan for others.
I would like to eliminate the parmesan next time I make these. I can’t imagine it changing the flavor much. I’d just add a little more beans/quinoa to make up the bulk.
Have you made these both w/ & w/o the parm & thought they are better with it?
I did one batch w/ cooking on stove first, then realized it was a step I didn’t need so the 2nd & 3rd batches went straight from fridge to oven.
Using my melon scooper, I got 18 balls per batch. WINNER!

Another delicious recipe! Did not change a thing and everyone loved – even the meat eaters in the family!

Took a chance on this for a cozy at home vegan New Year’s Eve dinner – OMG. Sooo good. Automatic addition to ‘regular’ rotation meals. They’re a bit of work so if you have time through the day I’d suggest prepping the quinoa and black beans so you’re ready to go.
And next time I’ll try someone elses tip to add a bit of flour. Thank you so much for this recipe, I hadn’t had spaghetti and meat balls since going plant based

I made this recipe for 10 meateaters (all men) and they thought they were eating meat! Even the Italian guy absolutely loved the Italian style meatballs. This is delicious and I love that the ‘meatballs’ are really firm. I did add one big tablespoon of flour to make it a bit more firm. Cooling it in the fridge is key. Thanks for the delicious recipe! ♥️

So delicious! I subbed the shallot for an onion and I omitted the Worcestershire sauce. I ended with 26 meatballs so I stuck the leftovers in the freezer. I also let it sit in the fridge overnight and cooked them up the next day. Tastes like the real deal! Thank you!

I just made these and they are delicious – I wouldn’t change a thing! I’ll definitely be making them again. Thanks!

Ok, these are ABSOLUTLEY AMAZING. I added actual fennel(about 1/2 cup, sautéed with onions and garlic). I also subbed out the tomato paste for sundried tomato’s and the flavour is unreal. TRY THESE!

I have made these several times now for my vegetarian daughters. There is one huge problem with them…they love them so much and so do their family. I must admit that I also find them very tasty. Do yourself a favour and make them. Don’t tell your family they are vegetarian and trust me they will be begging you to make them again as mine do. Best wishes

Delicious recipe! Thank you for posting this and the vegan Parmesan recipes. I doubled the recipe at the start because knew if they were good, I’d want leftovers to enjoy for a few more meals. And they were and glad I made a double batch.

I skipped pan frying the meatballs and instead popped them directly into a 400 degree oven. It worked like a charms and the meatballs were perfectly roasted and stayed whole. I then heated up some pasta sauce and added the meatballs to the pan for a few minutes and had no problems with them falling apart at all. Will definitely be making these again, on a regular basis! Thank you again!

Well worth the time it takes to make this recipe. I tripled batched today to have some to freeze 💫 delicious. Thanks Dana!

I’ve made this recent multiple times now and it’s a huge hit in our family! A few things I’ve done differently as as follows: 1. I blend all the spices before adding in the black beans with everything minus the quinoa. 2. I grind the black beans into nearly a paste so that when I add the quinoa the mixture is sticky and holds together nicely. This way, I omit the vegan cheese (I’m not a fan of cheese substitutes and find it unnecessary) 3. I air fry the meatballs (they turn out super crispy), but I have also baked them and they turn out amazing! Thank you for the great recipe!! It’s one of my new favorite dinners and will be on repeat until further notice :)

10/10 would recommend!!!! I made this for my family as a vegan option for me to enjoy alongside everyone else eating regular meatballs. To my surprise some family members completely skipped the beef, and opted for the vegan ones and enjoyed them! This recipe was super easy to make and as long as you prep the quinoa in advance (or even use leftovers!) It comes together fairly quickly!

These fell apart in the pan after an hour of preparing these. I’m so disappointed

Make sure and begin with cooking the quinoa – which does add a bit of time to the recipe. This being said, I let it cook while I drained and dried then oven dried the black beans, and it worked pretty well. Another point is – oven should not be “on” until you put the balls in the fridge – wasted energy otherwise. I used vegan cheese I had, I had no parmesan, and cilantro for the herb. Turned out great!

Sorry I forgot to rate. Definitely five stars.

These are wonderful! Truly delicious! I followed the recipe exactly. I should have made a double batch.

This is the first ‘meatball’ I have made plant based. They turned out very well. I subbed canned navy beans for the black beans and millet for the quinoa. I forgot to add the water and think they turned out really well. Baked as directed without putting them in the fridge. I made 16 balls from the mixture and they held together very well.

These are so amazing! I made these for myself and toddler and we both loved them. We are pescatarian, so we just used the non-vegan options (cheese and worcestershire sauce). Also, I just baked mine (convection) the whole way (instead of sauteeing) and they were perfect.

Thank you for this great versatile recipe!
I made it with baked white and black soybeans instead of black beans ’cause my husband is on a low fodmap diet.
Also added some roasted red peppers and miso and tamari to replace the worcestershire sauce, was delicious, will definitely make it again.

These truly are the best vegan meatballs that ever have existed. Made them for the first time today and am I already planning to make them again next week!

We doubled the recipe thinking we’d have leftovers but it was delicious . (We also made the marinara sauce.) My husband and I ate this double batch in one sitting! Am I embarrassed? Slightly, but mostly pleased that we found this.

I added double to triple the garlic, and made sure there was enough oil and heat to get the crisp around the meatball before putting in the over. Next time I might squish the meatball into a patty so more surface area is crispy.

This was incredibly tasty, I can’t believe how well they turned out. So satisfying and so much flavour. I roasted them for ten minutes (of the recommended time) but then added arabiatta sauce and vegan cheese and roasted them for another 15 or so to make a bake. I think I will use the recipe to make some « meat » for kebabs, changing out the herbs for spices. Really loved this and it is definitely now in the rotation. Doubled it to have leftovers. Thank you so much!

Greeting from Australia. oh what flavour. The only problem was converting your ox to our mls. A truely delicious recipe. Thank you so much

so thankful for this recipe! this is the only good vegan bean balls. the secret is to bake the beans so it doesn’t end up mushy. will do that to all future beans/lentil balls. this is the only recipe that i found that has this important step. it turned out so good! I never leave comments but I was so excited to finally find a good recipe for this. thank you so much!

Amazing recipe, I replaced the tomato paste by a spoon of organic ketchup (I didn’t have any at home). And use fresh garlic for the vegan parmesan.
So tasty!

Not done making these, but im obsessed with the raw batter! Right now they’re still in the fridge but i think my family will love them. I used dried/dehydrated oregano, basil, and parsley instead of fresh, 1 cup quinoa and 0.5 cup brown rice (for 20 meatballs), yellow onion instead of shallot, and seasoned Italian breadcrumbs instead of vegan Parmesan cheese. I really recommend this recipe to meat-eaters and non-meat eaters, this meatballs would taste amazing with pasta or in a sandwich.

Drying the beans in oven, genius. Still a little soft and crumbly but very flavorful. Frying them in a bit more oil wold have made a crispier exterior but trying to cut back. Thank you!

I made the meatballs today, they turned out great for my first try, and they taste delicious. I just need to make a sauce. Thankyou for your recipe 🥰

I made these tonight for the first time along with homemade marinara sauce and they were amazing! I did not have an issue with them sticking to the pan like other reviewers mentioned. I transferred them to a parchment paper lined baking sheet to finish them off in the oven. The texture and flavor were outstanding. I’ve been on a bit of a Minimalist Baker cooking streak lately (sweet potato brownies, vegan moussaka…) and I so appreciate all of your wonderful plant based recipes. Thank you!!

I made the vegan “meatballs” with marinara sauce and “Parmesan cheese” today and loved it. It took a long time to prepare with all of the different steps but, luckily, it was worth the effort. All of the processes add dimension and depth. It’s savory and tasty.

I love that it has quinoa and black beans in it and no flour or eggs.

I left out the nutritional yeast because I don’t have it and heard that it’s not really that good for us.

Thank you for all of the wonderful recipes and tips.

I made this for dinner yesterday with pasta and marinara sauce and it was amazing! I’m not vegetarian but trying to cook more vegetarian meals. Honestly I didn’t miss the meat! It’s probably one of the most filling meals I’ve had. Though, I agree with a few of the comments in that there are a lot of steps and it took longer than what I would’ve normally liked for a dinner. Things I did differently were I used a vegetarian substitute for the Worcestershire sauce, omitted the parsley (used just basil because I love basil), and after pulsing the black bean mixture, I put that in a bowl to mix the quinoa, herbs etc together as it was easier without over mixing and it came out great. Thanks for the recipe!

Great recipe- it was delicious

Followed recipe to a tee, used more than enough oil when frying – still stuck from being too sticky, and then used baking paper to bake – still didn’t firm up nice and then fell apart in the sauce.

These are a lot work and did not hold together whatsoever. Not sure what went wrong.

These are a favorite for us so we double or triple the recipe to get more bang for our time. I don’t make any major subs but I don’t pan fry bc my family isn’t too picky and I am lazy. I am sure that would add a nice textural element. We have used both nutritional yeast and regular parm with the exact same results so we just do what’s on hand. We pair them with Trader Joe’s Marinara sauce or Arabiatta. My brother and dad LOVE them so it’s nice to have a meal that satisfies my meat eaters and vegetarians!

I’m sad about this one. I wanted to love them, as the ingredients sounded so great together. And they were! However, it’s certainly not a minimalist recipe by any means. 13 ingredients (if you include all the optional ones), verrrry time consuming, and many, many steps. I didn’t change a thing in this recipe and stuck to the instructions to the letter, since I’d not made them before. I couldn’t get that nice, crusty outer layer from their time in the skillet, as they stuck to it. Every time I turned them over, it left the crust behind. They did fine in the oven, but again, some stuck. While they certainly have delicious flavor, they started to break apart in the sauce, which was a disappointment. Honestly, for me, it was too much effort for the end result.

Recipe was just delicious. My partner said it was his meal of the year and top 5 all time. Our little boy munch it down too!

I scaled up a bit because we’re greedy in my house. Going for about 1.5 the amounts given in the recipe. Worked fine.

Others may probably have guessed but I didn’t grate the parmesan before adding to the food processor and my machine didn’t get it fine with everything else in there too. Could have been the machine (which is old). Anyway we actually liked having little chunks of parm in the meatballs.

Served our with a cheat marinara I made from passata and spaghetti.

Fabulous!

These are incredible! Honestly, even just the smell exceeded every expectation. So good, planning on making these as soon as dinner parties are a thing again (damn you covid). Thanks again!

Delicious , what a treat. I will need a lot of practice to be able to complete them in 30 min though!! I love Christina’s suggestion for nutritional yeast, would make more affordable. Due to family preference, I decided to go with sage and thyme rather than fennel.

These tasted so amazing.
I added some additional things to the receipe: fresh coriander and rosemary, a teaspoon of Italian herb mix. I also added some dried shallots, two anchovy’s, and instead of salt I used vegeta real stock powder. I only had half a can of black beans so I added in half a can of cannellini beans.
Very impressed. I will definitely be making these again. Thank you for the recipe.

I love this recipe! I’ve made it a couple of times and my husband (who is not easily convinced) has asked me to make a recipe card so we’ll have it in our repertoire and hopefully eat it every week. Last time I made them I had no basil or parsley so I used frozen spinach, and it was all right (not as delicious though).

These vegan meatballs were delicious! I was really impressed with the flavor, pre-cooked texture and that they did not fall apart during cooking. However Im surprised more people didn’t share that they are not firm all the way through like you’d expect from a regular meatball or even like a vegan sausage. They kind of crumbled in my roll. Therefore I think they’re best served alone with sauce vs in a roll or over pasta for that reason.

The only sub I made was to use plain old nutritional yeast instead of ‘vegan parm! I opted to use Worcestershire sauce because we like the flavor and opted out for the fennel seeds because we didn’t have them. I also didn’t sear them I just baked them for 20 mins flipping halfway through because I was getting hungry! Well worth the time just wish I doubled the recipe – they were that good!

This was great! I used regular parmesan cheese and marmite instead of worcestershire sauce since they were out at the store. Best vegetarian meatballs. I want to try the full vegan version at some point, but for those not strictly vegan, this was a winner! My 14 month old loved them too!

These “meatballs” were absolutely amazing! I made them on Thanksgiving 2020, just to change it up. Wow, wow, wow! So impressed. I followed the recipe to a T, except for I used regular parm. I will make these on a regular- and I had so many left overs! As a new vegan, your recipes inspire me all the time! Thanks a bunch!

These meatballs were awesome! Most people in my house are meat-eaters, but everyone complimented them. We didn’t have vegan parm, and no one is a strict vegan, so we used regular parm and they worked perfectly. We were also using crushed San Marzano tomatoes for another component of the meal, so we used that rather than tomato paste. They still tasted wonderful! Thank you for the great recipe.

These are great! I was a bit worried about them tasting strongly like black beans or quinoa but I was pleasantly surprised by the mild taste. The fennel seeds really made these stand out – they tasted kind of like an italian sausage which I’m sure is what was intended. After baking them I found them a tad dry so next time I plan on simmering them in the sauce for a few minutes before serving.

The name says it all – these really are the best vegan meatballs. They formed together perfectly and tasted so delicious in the Easy 1-Pot marinara from this site (our go-to now) with a noodle/zoodle combo. I used dried basil and parsley, since that’s what I had on hand, and really thought the fennel seeds were a good add. I didn’t have shallots so sub’d with red onions. My ‘meatballs’ started sticking when I was frying them in the pan, so I just transferred them to a parchment lined baking sheet and threw them in the oven. Absolutely delicious – this is a keeper!

These ‘meatballs’ were really flavourful. I like how they were lightly browned in a pan & then finished off in the oven. They are delicate. I was worried about a strong black bean flavour but they just added body to a marinara sauce and pasta. I didn’t have fresh herbs so just used dry. Nice! Thanks!

Great way to use leftover quinoa. It was so delish. Will definitely make again.

Excellent recipe! I followed the recipe to a T and it tasted heavenly. A filling, tasty weeknight dinner

YUM! My kids even liked this

This was soooogood!
Me and hubby are doing plant based for 30 days and paired this with chick pea pasta..amazing

Really good. Fresh Oregano and shallot made these amazing

I screwed up so many steps in this recipe (not the recipe’s fault, but my own, as I wasn’t reading closely), and it still turned out absolutely delicious. Made it with red sauce and the carrot noodles. Huge hit with my husband, also.

I love these meatballs, and I make them pretty often. I don’t have a food processor so I used to use my blender, but I’d have to stop and stir it a lot to get the texture right. Then one day I decided to mix them by hand using a pastry blender, and it worked great! Obviously I had to chop up the veg/herbs a little finer, but the texture was easier to control and better than the times I over-mixed it in the blender.

This came out quite well. I haven’t finished the whole process but they are really tasty before finishing in the oven. I will finish this step just before dinner so they will be freshly cooked.

I substituted the vegan parmesan for nutritional yeast instead because that is what I had on hand.
This has to be the most delicious recipe ever ! I didn’t use the Worcestershire Sauce

I made these exactly as posted. They are very flavorful, but they still fell apart. I’m not sure what I did wrong. Next time I think I will add a flax or chia egg to the mixture hoping that will help keep them together.

I couldn’t agree more. These are absolutely full of flavor! We recently changed to eating plant base and my teenage son was missing his favorite meal (meatballs) so he was so excited when I made these and he absolutely loved them. I thought the size were probably too small for his and my husband’s appetite but they were both full with just three each. My tween daughter was full with 2. A total hit with the whole family. Lastly, the parmesan cheese was spot on. Thank you for these amazing recipe!

I got too excited about them and forgot to add the stars. Obviously 5/5!

I’m making these right now and have just tasted the mixture as stage 5 suggest. THEY ARE SO TASTY!!! I could eat them in this cookie dough form! Cannot wait for the end result. Salivating as they are cooking. YUMMY! Thank you so much for another great recipe!

These are so delicious and taste just like meat! Really nice flavor and umami, and the texture is spot-on. I made these subbing pinto beans for black beans and vegan steak sauce for vegan Worcestershire sauce. I also didn’t chill the meatballs because I was rushing on time. Served them with store-bought marinara and spaghetti squash. Truly the BEST vegan meatballs :)

After my husband was in ICU following 3 strokes from high blood pressure he was encouraged to make some dietary changes. Although we are not completely vegetarian (fish high in omega 3 was highly recommended) I’ve been trying to find recipes my carnivorous spouse likes. This one was a home run!!!

I just made these, and they really are pretty much perfect. Veggie balls can be challenging… sticky, crumbly, not tasty… but these were none of those. Recipe was perfect, and balls were yummo!!

I love love love these damn meatballs!!!
I make them with the marinara sauce linked to the recipe and make them into a beautiful veg meatball sub 🤤

I made this yesterday and its truly one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. I recently turned plant based so your blog has been my GO TO for recipes. I’m just so happy with every recipe I’ve tried from you, but this one takes the cake. Thank you!!!!

I couldn’t believe how much I loved these meatballs! They were surprisingly meaty and my non-vegan husband has been asking for these ever since I made them. I also thought that they were surprisingly easy to make.

I absolutely loved this recipe, I made last night with spaghetti squash and wanted to eat for breakfast today, they are that good!! I used nutritional yeast 2 tablespoons instead of the vegan parm and I air fried them for about 18 minutes flipping halfway through. They are a lot of work but believe me they are worth it!! 5 🌟!!

Awesome!!!! Easy. Two kids under five and the Kids loved it! Thank you.