Vegan Mushroom & Walnut Meatballs with a Marinara Sauce
These delicious and flavour-packed vegan mushroom meatballs with a rich marinara sauce will soon become a family favourite!
If you’re feeling adventurous, add cheese and use a warm baguette to enjoy a totally vegan mushroom meatball sub.
Want more vegan recipes? Try 3 issues of Vegan Food & Living magazine for just £3!
We’ve paired these vegan mushroom meatballs with freshly boiled spaghetti for this recipe, but feel free to use any pasta you wish – just check the package to make sure it’s vegan-friendly.
What is a good binder for vegan meatballs?
Typically, meatballs are bound together with egg or breadcrumbs soaked in milk. This stops the meatballs from falling apart during the cooking process.
In this vegan recipe, we’ve swapped traditional eggs for chia seed eggs. 1 tablespoon mixed with 3 tablespoons of water is the equivalent of 1 regular egg.
Make sure to leave your chia egg mixture to sit for 5 minutes to allow the mixture to thicken and have a gel-like texture.
Why do my meatballs fall apart when I cook them?
Most meatballs fall apart because they are not bound correctly. Often, not adding the right amount of breadcrumbs can cause the meatballs to break.
Too many breadcrumbs and the mixture becomes dry and crumbly, too little and the mixture is too wet.
Total Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Calories: 594
Servings: 4
Rating:
Total Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes
Calories: 594
Servings: 4
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
(Servings: 4)
- 0.25 0.25 tbsp olive oil
- 0.75 0.75 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 0.5 0.5 tsp dried Italian herbs
- 1 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 0.25 0.25 tsp sea salt flakes
- 0.25 0.25 tbsp tomato purée
- 0.25 0.25 white onions peeled and finely chopped
- 93.75 93.75 g chestnut mushrooms, wiped and chopped
- 37.5 37.5 g walnuts
- 25 25 g fresh breadcrumbs
- 0.25 0.25 tbsp chia seeds
- black pepper, to taste
- For the sauce
- 0.5 0.5 tbsp olive oil
- 0.75 0.75 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 0.25 0.25 tsp dried Italian herbs
- 0.25 0.25 large onions, peeled and finely chopped
- 0.25 0.25 tin chopped tomatoes
- 0.5 0.5 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 0.25 0.25 tbsp sugar
- sea salt and black pepper, to taste
- To serve
- cooked spaghetti, enough to serve 4
- fresh basil leaves
- a little extra virgin olive oil
Method
- Make the meatballs by heating the oil in a large pan and adding the onions and a pinch of salt.
- Gently cook for 5 minutes or until beginning to soften.
- Add the mushrooms and garlic to the pan and continue to cook until the mushrooms are soft.
- Mix the chia seeds with 3 tablespoons of water and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F / Gas 4 and lightly brush a baking sheet with oil.
- Add the cooked mushroom mixture to a food processor and add in all the remaining meatball ingredients.
- Scrape in the chia ‘egg’ and process until everything is finely chopped and well combined. If the mixture is sticky, add a little more of the breadcrumbs or a tablespoon of plain flour. Season the mixture really well.
- With wet hands, roll the mixture into 16 balls and place them with oil and transfer to the oven to bake for 25 minutes.
- Place the oil for the sauce into a pan and add the onion and a pinch of salt. Fry gently until the beginning to soften and add the garlic. Cook for a further 2 minutes, or until fragrant.
- Pour in the balsamic vinegar and allow to bubble for a minute before adding the rest of the sauce ingredients to the pan.
- Bring to a simmer and leave to cook for 20 minutes, or until slightly reduced and thickened.
- When the meatballs are cooked, serve them with the cooked pasta and a generous helping of sauce spooned over. Garnish with fresh basil and a little drizzle of extra virgin oil if you life.
Each 451g serving provides:
38g Fat, 4.3g Saturates, 17g Sugars, 4.4g Salt.
