How to Make Delicious Vegan Meatballs

by Anne Paddock

These vegan meatballs are a great alternative to the good old fashioned meatball. Instead of relying on meat, eggs, cheese, and breadcrumbs, these super easy vegan meatballs are made primarily of beans, couscous, tomato sauce, onions, lots of seasoning, and brown rice flour to make an alternative meatball that goes great with your favorite pasta. Moist and “meaty,” these “beanballs” are simply delicious (and full of fiber).

Ingredients:

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans
1 15-ounce can kidney beans
1/2 cup couscous
1 medium sized onion, chopped
1 cup of tomato sauce (I use Frik and Frak Marinara Sauce, available at Whole Foods)
1/4 cup Italian Seasoning (don’t reduce this amount; beans tend to be bland and need seasoning)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
salt (1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon), optional
pepper (1 teaspoon)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.

Pour 1/2 cup of water in a small pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat off, pour 1/2 cup of couscous in the water, stir, cover, and wait 5 minutes.

Drain and rinse the beans.

Place the chopped onion and beans in a food processor and pulse about 6 times to break up the mixture (you don’t want mush). Add the sauce, seasoning, chili powder, parsley, salt and pepper and process a few times. Transfer the ingredients to a medium-sized bowl. Add the couscous and rice flour and blend with a spoon but don’t over mix.

Moisten hands or moisten kitchen-gloved hands. Roll the mixture into 24 golf-ball sized balls and place on the parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes, Remove from the oven.

Make the pasta of your choice. Add optional steamed vegetables. Heat up the sauce of choice and add just the meatballs that you plan to serve (store the rest in an airtight container in the refrigerator to use in the next few days). Once the sauce is bubbling, gently place the meatballs on top of the pasta (and vegetables if adding) and pour sauce over the top. Enjoy.