Delicious Vegan Meatballs Made with Simple Ingredients!

It's time to make vegetarian plant based meatballs! These easy to make vegan and vegetarian meatballs are made using easy to find, budget friendly ingredients that you can easily find at the supermarket. They can also be made in the Thermomix including the sauce and are a great snack to keep in the fridge too!

I love making these meatballs because they are so good for you! The main base for these "meatballs" is beans. These vegetarian meatballs are also very economical and make an enormous batch of meatballs, enough for 4-6 people at a fraction of the cost of using meat. They are also easy to make and don't require any refrigeration before rolling! I've made these around 6 times in the last couple of months and we still love them. I sometimes leave some meatballs without sauce in the fridge to snack on.

The key to making these super delicious meatballs that taste meaty but don't contain any meat is to seasoned it well. Vegetarian food needs more seasoning than meat and you have to ensure that you add these flavours in.

Tips For Making Vegetarian or Vegan Plant Based Meatballs

1 - I used a tin of black beans and a tin of red kidney beans but you can make these all black bean or all red kidney bean.

2 - You don't need eggs or an egg replacer, these will stick together just fine.

3 - It may sound like a lot of seasoning but you want to mimic the flavour of beef or pork meatballs and beans don't really have the same flavour so you need to add these in.

4 - I use a small 3/4 oz ice cream scoop to ensure even quantities and even cooking. These are the ice cream scoops that I use. They're not cheap but they were a gift that has lasted for over a decade without breaking!

5 - Always toast the nuts first before adding them to a recipe. This brings out the umami and savoury flavour of the nuts.

After a trip away eating a lot of rich food I like to make a big batch of these vegan meatballs. This makes such a large amount that I make some in the sauce but also just keep a container of these without sauce. I use them like felafels in sandwiches or just snack of them by themselves. I started making these after I got back from Antarctica and South America.

A funny thing happened on my way to the Antarctic cruise when I transited through Buenos Aires to Ushuaia. We went through the security scanner at BA airport to board the charter flight and they asked us to remove our watches. Each country seems to have idiosyncratic rules about what can go through so I removed my watch and placed it in the plastic tray along with my bag and coat. I went through the scanner and then I put my coat back on and slung the bag over my shoulder. I grabbed the plastic tray and placed it on an unattended pile of stacked trays and went to meet the other passengers on the cruise that I had been talking to before.

Instinctively I reached down to check the time but my watch wasn't on my wrist. I quickly ran back towards the security screening and started rifling through the stacked trays. A security woman came up to me quietly and said, "What are you looking for?". I told her that I was looking for my watch.

"What colour is your dog?" she whispered. "Huh, what?" I answered confused. "I have one white dog and one brown dog". She was asking me because my watch has photos of Mochi, Teddy and Milo on it and she was trying to ascertain whether I was the owner of the watch. She passed me my watch and I gratefully said "Gracias! Thank you, thank you so much!" and put it on.

But when I was on the plane, I started thinking about it. I had sort of known that I hadn't left the watch on the tray as I had swung it up onto the pile and I would have heard a watch skidding along the plastic of the tray. I mean if anything is left on those trays, when you move them they would skid along and make a noise. It left me wondering if they had taken my watch hoping that I would forget and get on the plane. I wondered if the watch thing is either a ruse to get everyone's watches or they just take it as an opportunity to put some watches aside!

So tell me Dear Reader, am I being paranoid about my watch? And do you eat differently after you've been on holiday?

Vegan Vegetarian Meatballs

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves 4-6 people

• 160g/8ozs walnuts or almonds
• 1/2 cup/50g/1.7ozs breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup/60ml/2flozs water
• 2 teaspoons Italian herb mix
• 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1 medium white or yellow onion, peeled and diced
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
• 400g/14oz tin black beans, drained and rinsed
• 400g/14oz tin red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup/100g/3.5ozs rolled or quick oats
• 50g/1.7ozs tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon your favourite chilli sauce (I used Muraca hot chilli peppers)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Oil spray

For Pasta

• 3x400ml/14oz jars of marinara sauce (I use my homemade marinara sauce)
• 500g/1.1lbs spaghetti

Step 1 - First roast the walnuts or almonds. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 180C/350F fan forced for 6-8 minutes or until toasted. You can also toast the nuts in a dry frying pan. Process the nuts until fine and then set aside. Mix the breadcrumbs with the water in a bowl to rehydrate.

Step 2 - Mix the herbs together in a small. bowl Sauté the onion in oil for 6-7 minutes on medium heat until fragrant. Then add the herbs and allow to get toasted for a minute or two. Then add the garlic and cook briefly for 1 minute. Remove from the heat.

Step 3 - Place the beans in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the nuts, breadcrumbs, onion spice mix, oats, tomato paste, soy sauce, chilli sauce and salt. Process until well mixed together.

Step 4 - Line a large baking tray and preheat oven to 160C/320F fan forced. Shape into small walnut sized balls using slightly damp hands. Place on the tray and spray with oil spray. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool on the tray for 15 minutes (they will firm up a bit more upon cooling.

Step 5 - Heat the marinara sauce in a large pot and once simmering, gently add the meatballs and simmer for 5 minutes. Cook the pasta in plenty of boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain and mix some of the sauce with the spaghetti. Divide the pasta among the bowls and then divide the meatballs. Add parsley and cheese if desired.