Plant-Based Sweet & Sour “Meatballs”
This is the plant-based sweet and sour meatballs recipe you'll actually keep making. They're simple to prepare, incredibly satisfying, and have a wonderfully balanced flavor that avoids being overly sweet or artificial. I'll show you how to get the perfect texture in your vegan meatballs without any complicated steps and then we'll smother them in a rich sweet and sour sauce. This recipe is a fantastic choice for a quick weeknight dinner or for easy meal prep throughout the week. If you're looking for an easy, flavor-packed alternative to classic takeout, this is a must-try!
Ingredients
"Meatballs"
- 1 tbsp flax meal
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 8 ounces mushrooms chopped or sliced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 7 ounces tofu extra firm, frozen and thawed, squeeze out extra liquid
- 15 ounces kidney beans
- ½ cup rolled oats
- ¼ cup walnuts
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp soy sauce low sodium, or tamari
- ½ tsp thyme
Sauce
- ⅓ cup rice vinegar
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 ½ tbsp miso paste dark
- ⅓ cup dates
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp arrowroot flour or cornstarch
- 1 cup water
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp cracked pepper
Instructions
"Meatballs"
- Mix the flax meal and water together and let sit.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Sauté the onions and mushrooms until liquid is cooked out of the mushrooms.
- Add the garlic and let cook for about a minute.
- Add the flax mixture, and mushroom, onion, and garlic mixture to a food processor along with the remaining ingredients.
- Pulse a few times to mix. It should still look chunky, not like paté
- Roll into small balls, a little smaller than a golf ball and place on a parchment lined baking tray.
- Bake for 20 minutes, flip and bake for another 20 minutes.
Sauce
- Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until the dates are pulverized.
- Pour into a sauce pan and cook on low while the meatballs are baking to thicken.
- Keep "meatballs" and sauce separate until you are ready to serve or the "meatballs" will get soggy.
Nutrition
Calories: 225kcalCarbohydrates: 31gProtein: 13gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 728mgPotassium: 582mgFiber: 8gSugar: 9gVitamin A: 146IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 95mgIron: 3mg
I voted for these in the membership community!!! Can’t wait to try them!
yum, i got pretty close with the texture and the sauce is purrfect
how many meatballs are in a serving? thanks.
4
Family has nut allergies. Can the walnuts be subbed or left out?
You can use sunflower seeds
Thanks for the great recipe, Jill! The sauce is perfection!
The meatball instructions don’t make sense as it doesn’t outline all the ingredients?