Tasty's Vegan Meatless Meatballs

Happy New Year! 

I am very excited about the changes I am making to the blog this year, and would even love your input! I had a ton of fun last year being inspired by others, in order to create my own delicious vegan and vegetarian recipes. This year, I am going to be searching and seeking for new recipes to try from Pinterest, recipe forums, and in any direction that I can find them! Instead of changing up the recipes, I will be creating the recipes AS IS. Now, this may mean swapping out meat for vegan seitan or beans, but I want to follow these recipes as close as I am able, to the T! 

I will begin with the original recipe, and I will offer notes and alternatives that I used (as needed). I will let you know if the recipe was as easy to make as it said it was, or if my experience was different than expected.

Let's give this a try, and if there is a recipe you'd like to see me make, please send it my way! 

Check out this delicious recipe by one of my favorite recipe sites Tasty.co, and I hope you do something fun this Sunday! 

THE  ORIGINAL RECIPE:

 You can find the original recipe for Tasty.co here -->Tasty's Meatless Meatballs

INGREDIENTS: 

Original recipe is for for 12 meatball sub sliders

• 8 oz cremini mushroom, finely chopped

• 15 oz cannellini bean, 1 can, drained and rinsed

• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped

• 1 ¼ cups bread crumbs (I used panko breadcrumbs)

• ½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped (I didn't have fresh, so I used dried)

• 3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary

• 1 teaspoon vegan worcestershire sauce

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

• ½ teaspoon liquid smoke (I used Mesquite flavor)

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon pepper

• 1 tablespoon canola oil (I used olive oil)

• 1 cup marinara sauce (I used jar Prego marinara sauce)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large bowl, combine the mushrooms, cannellini beans, onion, bread crumbs, ½ cup (15 grams) of parsley, 3 cloves of minced garlic, the dried rosemary, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, nutmeg, liquid smoke, salt, and pepper and mix well.

2. Roll the mushroom mixture into golf ball-sized balls.

3. Heat the canola oil in a large pot over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place the balls in the pot and cook for 1 minute on each side until browned all over, 3-4 minutes total.

4. Add the marinara sauce and stir to coat the balls.

​If you would like to continue the recipe to make the sliders, follow the remaining instructions at Tasty.co. 

MY REVIEW:

This recipe was just as easy to make as the video! I was very impressed with the firmness of the "meatballs", which I'm guessing is from the magical qualities of cannelli beans. I made sure to cook them in the olive oil in my cast iron skillet on each side, adding more olive oil as needed, until all sides were nice and toasty brown. I also have a basil plant in my kitchen, so I chopped up a few leaves and threw them in the mixture as well. I paired them with regular Prego spaghetti sauce and noodles for a quick lunch prep, but a homemade marinara sauce would work as well.They are an easy and very tasty alternative to meat-meatballs and even satisfied the taste buds of my very skeptical husband. Give them a try and I hope you do something fun this Sunday! 

#Meatballs