These vegan lentil Italian meatballs are bursting with so much delicious savory Italian flavor that you won’t even miss the meat! Whether you are vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, or simply looking for a delicious dinner idea, you will love these meatballs! They are delicious served with pasta, spaghetti squash, marinara sauce, on a meatball sub sandwich, crumbled on top of a salad for lunch…so many options here! These plant-based meatballs are PACKED with protein and fiber and I daresay will be the star of your meal.
I’m always so excited to bring you a new savory recipe, probably because there are so many sweeter (but healthier!) breakfast/snack type recipes around here that it’s fun to switch it up. Lately I’ve been going back to some other savory recipes on the blog for easy sides/meals. This Brussels sprouts salad has been on repeat this entire fall/winter season. I seriously have lost count how many times I’ve made it. Other favorites have included Italian baked beans, this broccoli salad, and this blueberry farro feta chicken meal prep salad for yummy lunches during the work week!
This recipe was partially created due to the fact I had an unopened bag of lentils that has been sitting in my pantry for…far too long. As in it was TECHNICALLY past it’s expiration…and since dried lentils are obviously a shelf-stable food you know that means I’ve had them for quite awhile haha. I couldn’t remember the last time I’ve used lentils in a recipe, so thought it was time to get creative! While lentils don’t have a ton of flavor on their own, they definitely take on the flavors of the other ingredients you add to them or eat them with.
Ingredients in Vegan Meatballs
Lentils
The lentils obviously make up the base for this recipe. A ratio of 1 cup of lentils is used to 3 cups of liquid for cooking them on the stove. Dried lentils cook much quicker than dried beans and require no soaking time prior to cooking. I used chicken bone broth from Aldi to cook these lentils in instead of water…which obviously didn’t make them vegan anymore. BUT it added so much flavor. If you want to make these completely vegan, I highly recommend using vegetable stock versus plain water to cook the lentils for maximum flavor! I did have a little extra broth leftover after the lentils were cooked that I simply just drained off.
A note on what type of lentils to use: I used regular green/brown lentils for this recipe (which might be the most common type?!). You might have also seen/eaten red or black lentils before. These have different textures, so I’d recommend sticking with the green/brown lentils unless you’re up for some recipe experimenting. OR, to make this recipe even simpler, you can use canned and drained lentils instead of cooking them yourself! This blog article is a great in-depth resource for more info on how to cook lentils and the different varieties!
Garlic and Onion
Garlic and onion provide delicious flavor to these meatballs! Since you pulse everything together in a food processor, you don’t have to worry about eating large pieces of onion.
Panko Bread Crumbs
I used whole wheat Panko breadcrumbs for this recipe, although you could also use original or Italian flavored Panko. I personally prefer Panko to regular breadcrumbs and they have a much better texture (and flavor in my opinion!) compared to regular breadcrumbs. However, I’m sure regular breadcrumbs or even oat flour (if you need these to be gluten-free) would also work.
Nutritional Yeast
I love adding nutritional yeast to Italian dishes; it reminds me a lot of Parmesan cheese! Nutritional yeast is an inactive yeast that is very high in B vitamins (especially vitamin B12), which is especially important to watch if consuming a primarily plant-based (or vegan) diet. It is also a complete protein, which means it contains all 9 essential amino acids (like meat/animal protein). This this article does a good job of explaining what nutritional yeast is and some of the health benefits if you’re interested! If you don’t have nutritional yeast (which is pretty easy to find in major grocery stores nowadays), you can omit or substitute with Parmesan cheese if you don’t need these to be vegan!
Sundried tomatoes
I LOVE the pop of color, taste, and texture that adding some diced sun-dried tomatoes adds in these vegan lentil Italian meatballs! I wouldn’t recommend omitting them. Sun-dried tomatoes are sometimes found in the produce section of a grocery store, and I’ve also seen them in in the canned goods aisle with pasta sauce and olives.
Herbs
Just like with the sun-dried tomatoes, I also highly recommend adding in fresh herbs if possible! I used fresh oregano, but fresh basil is also delicious. I used an entire ½ ounce packet of fresh herbs from the produce section of the grocery store. You can substitute dried oregano or basil in place of the fresh; I’d only use about 1 tablespoon of dried though. I did use a mix of dried and fresh herbs for this recipe. Feel free to mix and match! Italian seasoning, dried parsley, oregano, and basil are all good options.
- 1-1 ½ cups dry green lentils, cooked according to package*
- ½ tablespoon olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced OR ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 medium onion, diced
- ½ cup whole wheat Panko bread crumbs**
- ¼ cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, diced
- ½ ounce fresh oregano OR basil (1/4 cup)-or use 1 tablespoon dried oregano or basil
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, for frying
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and
- Cooks lentils according to package directions (or use 3 cups cooked canned lentils). If cooking yourself, be sure to drain off any broth/water after cooking. Set aside.
- In a medium skillet over medium heat, saute onion in ½ tablespoon olive oil until soft; add minced garlic and cook a minute or two more until fragrant.
- Add all cooked lentils, sauteed onion and garlic, and rest of ingredients to a food processor and pulse until combined, but not pureed (leave some texture).
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil on skillet over medium heat over stove. Add ½ of meatballs and saute until deep golden brown, turning to evenly cook on all sides. Repeat with remaining olive oil and meatballs.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Makes about 25 meatballs.
**can also use regular breadcrumbs, but I prefer the taste/texture of panko
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