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The BEST gluten-free & vegan lentil meatballs! Hearty, healthy and absolutely delicious. A true resemblance of authentic Italian style meatballs.
There are so many things that I love about my Italian upbringing. I could go on and on about all of the fond memories I have of the delicious food, my wonderful family and all of the great memories I’ve made from our weekly Sunday Italian dinners growing up.
One person I have the best memories with is my grandmother, Fran. She was the most amazing person in this entire world and I miss her dearly. She was always in the kitchen cooking and baking and everything she made tasted amazing, especially her meatballs! I ate meat as a kid and I absolutely adored her meatballs. They were fried and so crispy and savory on the outside and soft and hearty on the inside. Everybody loved them!
Well, I really haven’t liked any vegetarian or vegan meatballs that I’ve tried whether it be store-bought or in a restaurant, so I knew I wanted to whip some up myself and see if I could emulate my grandmother’s meatballs.
Well, friends, I did it and if you love authentic Italian meatballs then you will absolutely adore these vegan lentil meatballs! I make them with lentils, walnuts, fresh and dried herbs and the texture is almost identical to a homemade Italian meatball.
How to Make
Start by sauteing onion, fresh garlic and olive oil. Once onions are cooked, add dry lentils and veggie broth to the pan, bring to a boil, reduce heat then simmer. When your lentils are cooked (not firm but not overly soft), transfer to a strainer to strain the excess liquid out but DON’T dry them! You’ll want to keep the moisture that’s in the lentils, only straining leftover liquid from the pan.
Once cooled, tranfer to a food processor, add remaining ingredients and pulse slowly! You want this to be slightly wet and mushy but with texture from the walnuts so don’t over-pulse. Be sure to scrape the food off the sides of the food processor and down toward the blade as you‘re processing.
If you feel at this point your mixture is too wet, you can add extra nutritional yeast. If you feel that your mixture is too dry, add a splash of veggie broth or an extra splash of coconut aminos, but add very slowly and only a tiny amount. I’ve made this recipe several times with these exact instructions and the texture has always come out perfect!
Preheat your oven to 375 and start rolling your mixture into medium size balls. This will make about 10 meatballs. Cook for a total of 18 minutes, flipping over at the 9 minute mark.
Obviously one of the best ways to enjoy these vegan lentil meatballs is over a fresh plate of pasta and marinara sauce, but we like to eat them plain fresh out of the oven!
Vegan Lentil Meatballs [GF]
Equipment
- food processor
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup dry green lentils
- 2 cups veggie broth Do NOT sub water! See notes
- 1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
- 2 cloves fresh garlic
- 1 tbsp olive oil + a touch more for the baking sheet
- 1/4 cup oat flour Certified GF oats if needed
- 1/2 cup raw walnuts
- 1 & 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tbsp dried Italian seasoning
- 2 & 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley
- About 4-5 fresh medium basil leaves
- 1/2 tbsp coconut aminos
- 1/8 tsp salt more to taste
- Pinch of pepper
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- Saute fresh garlic, onion and olive oil over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes.
- Add dry lentils and veggie broth to the saute pan with the onions and garlic. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, immediately turn down heat and simmer on low. Stir frequently. Check on your lentils often-you don’t want them hard and you don’t want them overly cooked and mushy. About 15-20 minutes should do it.
- Put the lentil mixture in a strainer to get rid of excess liquid but don’t dry the lentils! You want them slightly wet.
- Let your lentils cool down.Once cooled, and all remaining ingredients into the food processor. If you don’t have oat flour on hand and only whole oats, just add them to the food processor first to make oat flour then add everything else in.
- Pulse slowly! You don’t want to over-pulse, you need some texture. You want the mixture to be mushy with bits of texture throughout. See notes for texture info.
- Transfer mixture to a bowl. Mix well again and taste test.
- You’ll want to check on texture at this point. If it’s too dry, add a tiny bit more of coconut aminos or a tiny splash of vegetable broth. If it’s too wet, add an additional half to 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast.
- Roll mixture into medium size balls and place on a baking sheet that has been lightly coated in oil. I like to sprinkle a bit of nutritional yeast on top of the meatballs but it’s not necessary.
- Bake for a total of 18 minutes, flipping the meatballs over at the 9 minute mark.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- The key to getting the perfect texture on the inside is the consistency of the mixture before it goes into the oven. You want your mixture to be mushy but malleable. It should not be doughy. It will be slightly sticky and wet. I’ve made this recipe multiple times and each time the texture has been perfect following those exact directions. Follow the instructions above if mixture comes out too wet or dry.
- I recommend using green lentils for this recipe but I’ve made it before using a lentil trio of red, black and green and it worked fine. Just be extra careful when pulsing and make sure to check on your mixture.
- Do not sub water for the veggie broth. The veggie broth is vital to the recipe as it provides a lot of the flavor!
[…] I really love lentil dishes! If you need more dinner ideas, check out this lentil walnut taco meat or these lentil walnut meatballs! […]