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Vegan meatballs with a hearty gravy!
I’ve made these meatless meatballs a couple of times now, always with some variations. Finally, I created a recipe which totally convinced me. And not only I love these vegan meatballs, but my boyfriend is also a big fan as well. They are spicy, hearty and satisfying. And the gravy is seriously the best gravy I’ve ever made! Both recipes are plant-based, gluten-free, nut-free, and easy to make. You most likely already have all the ingredients at home or can buy them in the next store!
Perfect for dinner or meal prep
These vegan meatballs are perfect for dinner but they are also great as a meal prep for lunch at work, uni or school.
Great variety
What I love about these vegan meatballs, is, that they can be served with (mashed) potatoes, rice, and pasta. I prefer mashed potatoes since I love mashed potatoes a lot. But every combo tastes very delicious. You can get creative and eat them a couple of times per week but serve them differently every time which means that meals never get boring.
Vegan meatballs + gravy = perfect match
This hearty gravy is a perfect match for these vegan meatballs. They taste so good together and therefore I am sharing both recipes for you! You can store gravy leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 or 4 days.
These vegan meatballs are:
- Gluten-free
- Plant-based
- Nut-free
- Rich in protein
- Spicy
- Hearty
- Flavorful
- Satisfying
- Easy to make
Texture of these vegan meatballs
I love how the texture turned out. They do not fall apart but they aren’t gummy either. You have to give them a try, I am sure you will love them as well.
Should you recreate my recipe, please leave a comment below and don’t forget to tag me in your Instagram or Facebook post with @elavegan and #elavegan because I love to see your recreations.
Vegan meatballs with gravy
Ingredients
Vegan meatballs:
- One 15 oz can black beans , drained and rinsed (250 g)
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds (35 g)
- 1/2 cup oats (gluten-free if needed) (45 g)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste (60 g)
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 large onion, chopped
- 2 tbsp ground chia seeds or flax seeds
- Spice mix: 1/2 tbsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp ground oregano, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- Oil for frying
Gravy:
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth or water (360 ml)
- 1/3 cup plant-based cream or canned coconut milk (80 ml)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste (60 g)
- 1/2 tsp fresh ginger (minced)
- Ground spice mix: 3 tsp curry powder, 1 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, 1 tsp coconut sugar (or brown sugar), sea salt and pepper to taste
- 1 tbsp cornstarch (to thicken)
- Fresh parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 390 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Prepare mashed potatoes as described in this recipe or make your favorite pasta or rice (whatever you want to serve with your vegan meatballs).
Vegan meatballs:
- Put all ingredients (except oil) to a food processor or blender and pulse a couple of times. Scrape down the sides and pulse again. Repeat for about one minute or until the mixture sticks together.
- Roll the mixture with your hands into balls. I used 1 tbsp per ball (the recipe makes about 15 balls).
- Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in a pan/skillet and fry balls for about 6-8 minutes over medium heat. Shake the pan from time to time to fry the balls evenly from all sides.
- Transfer the balls to a baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Gravy:
- To make the gravy, simply add the tomato paste to a pan (use the same pan which you used for the vegan meatballs), pour in the plant-based cream and stir with a whisk to smooth out the tomato paste. Then slowly add the vegetable broth while stirring.
- Bring the sauce to a boil, add all other ingredients (except cornstarch and fresh parsley) and let simmer over medium heat for about 10-12 minutes (the longer you simmer the gravy, the more flavorful and thicker it will be).
- In a small bowl mix cornstarch with a little bit of water and add it to the pan. The gravy will get a little bit thicker. Keep simmering for a further 2-3 minutes.
- Pour the gravy over the vegan meatballs and serve with either mashed potatoes, pasta or rice! Store leftovers of the gravy in a container in the fridge (can be kept in the fridge for about 3-4 days).
If you are using Pinterest, feel free to pin the following photo:
Wow Ela, I’ve never had gravy before but looking at your pictures makes me crave it! Your vegan meatballs look very good as well, I love that your recipes are always very healthy 🙂
Have a nice weekend!
Thank you very much, Nolwenn! I hope you will give this recipe a try. Happy Sunday! 🙂
Ela, these ingredients are wonderful! Black beans, sunflower seeds, oats – they add such flavor and texture, well done!! Thanks so much for sharing your creative recipe❤️ Dee xx
Thank you for your sweet comment, Dee! Much love, Ela ❤️
Hallo Ela,
leider wird das Rezept nicht ins deutsche übersetzt. Könntest du mir bitte die deutsche Version zusenden? Danke Yvonne
Hallo Yvonne, das Rezept wird bis morgen auch auf Deutsch verfügbar sein. Ich muss den Blogpost noch in Deutsch verfassen, was sehr viel Zeit in Anspruch nimmt und leider nicht automatisch geht. LG, Ela 🙂
Hallo, danke für die schnelle Rückmeldung.. Uhi..deine Rezepte sind super.. schmeckt auch den Nichtveganern der Familie.. 😃🙋🏼Herzlichst Yvonne
This recipe definitely makes my mouth water!😍
It looks so delicious! Will definitely give it a try.
So excited how it will taste.
Much love,
Bianca ❤️
Thank you, Bianca! I really hope you will like it as much as I do.
Sending love back, Ela ❤️
This meatballs are wonderful. DELICIOUS!!!
Thanks for your great feedback. 🙂
ELA , THESE MEAT BALLS WERE SIMPLY FANTASTIC!! Non-vegan family members were surprised and delighted. Thank you for your hard work
Yay, that’s awesome! So happy you liked them. Thanks for your great feedback! 💛
Your meatballs were delicious! A mini muffin pan bakes meatballs beautifully all round, no need to shake the pan or turn over . (Just thought l would share how l cook mine. ) And to thank you for sharing such wonderfully delicious recipes.
Thanks for sharing, Karen! That’s amazing. 🙂
Karen, coolol, so you skipped the frying altogether and just baked in muffin tins? Trying to figure out how to make these oil free.
Ela, These meatballs and gravy look and sound amazing. I’m definitely going to give them a try! xo Debra
Thank you very much, Debra! 🙂
I’m gonna try these today – wondering how strong the ginger flavour is in the gravy though? 🙂 Not sure my fam would like that – safe to just leave it out, Ela? 🙂
Hello Alina, yes, you can simply leave it out or use just a tiny bit. 🙂
Hi Ela can I use normal oats if I dont have instant oats?
Of course! That’s no problem at all. 🙂
HI Ela, how many cups of beans if I am soaking them and not using canned? Also, thanks so much for all of these beautiful recipes!
Peace,
Melissa
Hey Melissa, I am not sure, since I always cook a huge amount of dry beans to have some leftovers but I just asked Google and here is the reply:
One cup of dry beans = 3 cups cooked beans, drained
One 15-oz. can of beans = 1.75 cups cooked beans, drained
So I would suggest cooking a heaped 1/2 cup of dry beans for this recipe OR 1 1/4 cups dry beans to double the recipe.
Hope this helps! 🙂
Am busy with this recipe at the moment and can’t wait to eat. There’s too much for me though. Can I freeze the meatballs? At what point can I freeze them? Before or after frying/baking?
I never tried freezing them but I guess it would be better to freeze them after frying/baking. Let me know how it goes. 🙂
This looks delicious! Did you use plant based cream or coconut milk? I know that would make a big difference in taste.
Hi Claudy, I used coconut milk. 🙂
Hi! I’m trying to make these and I’m having trouble with it being to sticky for me to roll them into balls. What should I do?
Hey! If the mixture is too wet/sticky then add more ground oats or ground flax seeds/chia seeds or put the mixture into the fridge for maybe 15 minutes, then it shouldn’t be sticky anymore. Hope this helps.
This recipe looks amazing. We are going to try it out but I did wonder if plant based milk could be subbed for plant based cream/coconut milk?
Yes, that’s no problem at all. 🙂
Made these tonight for dinner. They were very good, sturdy not gummy. Will make these again
Thanks for the recipe
Awesome! I am glad you liked my recipe, Lisa! 🙂
Hi, das sieht ja wirklich toll aus! Veggie-Bällchen mit Kartoffelbrei zu essen ist eine mega idee, die irgendwie in meinem Hirn nicht ganz da war (obwohl ich Bouletten früher immer mit Kartoffelbrei gegessen habe). Ich bin kein Fan von Bohnen, v.a. shwarze bohnen kann man da vllt was ersetzen? Ich werde es mal mit roten Linsen probieren… 😅
LG
Linsen sollten kein Problem sein. Viel Spaß beim Nachkochen. 🙂
Dear Ela
Thank you for all your wonderful recipe ideas. What do you mean by (GF if needed) in the below sentence in your recipe ?
1/2 cup instant oats (GF if needed) (45 g)
Dear Karen, GF means gluten-free. Best wishes, Ela 🙂
🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂 thank you so much !
Your recipes are my absolute favorite ~ thank you so much for sharing all your creativity with good ingredients that are flavorful and most of all so yummy. I’m making these tonight with some vegan pasta 💞
Thanks for the compliment, Anna! I hope you enjoyed the dish. 🙂
So I found a picture of this on my discovery page on instagram and I decided to make this since I had a half-full can of coconut milk and some ginger left from a soup I made yesterday. And all the other ingredients I always have at home so I thought this was the perfect recipe! This is the first time I’ve managed to make vegan “meatballs” that holds together well! Since my IBS doesn’t always like me eating spicy foods, I didn’t follow the exact measurements of the spices. I also forgot to add salt until after I had already mixed everything else together. So the “meatballs” didn’t taste much but the gravy tasted sooo good! I will definitely make this again but add more spices to the veggieball-mixture 🙂 Thank you for this recipe!
Hi Michaela, I am glad you liked my recipe. Thanks for leaving a feedback. ❤️
What do you think if I skip frying these maetballs and only bake them in oven? Has anyone tried that?
Hi Sonja, yes, someone tried it. I will copy and paste the comment from “Karen”: “Your meatballs were delicious! A mini muffin pan bakes meatballs beautifully all round, no need to shake the pan or turn over . (Just thought l would share how l cook mine. )…”
Question regarding the gravy recipe. Totaling all the spices in the gravy recipe it comes to more than 3/4 of a cup. Am I supposed to put all these spices into the gravy mix OR am I supposed to make the spice mixture and then add only a tablespoon or so to.the gravy. In the meatball section the spices only come to a reasonable 4.25 teaspoons but the gravy seems way out of balance. What to do please and thanks..
Hey Mary, I never measured the spices in cups. If you are afraid that the gravy might be too spicy I would suggest using just half of the amount. The recipe makes more than 2 cups of gravy in total. So far the feedback has been great and nobody actually complained that the gravy turned out too spicy. Hope this helps. Let me know how it turned out if you give it a try. 🙂
Thank you so much for your reply. I just wanted to make sure all the spices were to go into the gravy recipe and not end up throwing it out. Your feedback from others on this recipe sounds good so I shall try the recipe as stated.
Thank you once again for the clarification. My mind is worry free now.
You are welcome, Mary! ❤️
Hi Ela,
I just made the meatballs today. I can’t believe how tasty they are! Thank you so much for sharing your ideas. This was a whole new experience for me and my family.
Thank you, Daria! I am so happy you liked my recipe. 🙂
Loved this recipe!
Made it last night for my partner and I, he adored the taste and said it reminded him of the butter chicken sauce ( it’s one of his favourite curry sauces so that’s a good thing) I loved it too, so creative!
The “meatballs” have a fabulous textures and a great taste, Bravo Ela!
I will be posting my attempt up on Insta, I’ll make sure to tag you!
Thanks again!
Wonderful! Thanks a lot for your great feedback, Rhia. 🙂
Hi, Just discovered your blog through Instagram, I’d love to make these but want to check, when you say veg water do you mean veg stock, can u use a vegan veg stock cube/pot ? So many delicious looking food, sweet potato brownies and vegan alfredo are first on my list.
Yes, you can use a vegan veg stock cube. I hope you will like the recipe. 🙂
I made these meatballs to serve over mashed celery root/cauliflower for our Christmas dinner and they were a big hit!
I made the meatballs a few days ahead of time and froze them (unccooked) on a sheet pan. Once they were frozen, I stored them in a tupperware container in the freezer. Before cooking them, I moved the tupperware constainer into the fridge in the morning and then about an hour before dinnertime, I cooked them according the to instructions in the recipe.. They were perfect! It was nice to be able to make them ahead of time, and I will make another batch so I can keep some in the freezer for a quick dinner.anytime.
Thanks for the great feedback and also tips about freezing, Sherri! Happy holidays! 🙂
Hi Ella I’ve been eyeing out your recipes for ages but haven’t yet tried one. I’d love to try out this one today but I’m loathe to go shopping again to look for black beans. 🙁
I’m wondering if white beans will make a huge difference, taste and texture- wise?
Thank you for posting these delicious creations!
Anni
Hi Anni, white beans should be ok. But I haven’t tried it out yet. 🙂
Hi there! This recipe looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it! I just have a few questions, how long can I store the vegan meatballs and can I freeze them? Also can they be made entirely in the oven or do I have to fry them a bit in the pan first as stated in your recipe? 🙂
Thanks a lot in advance!
/N
Hi, you can store them in the fridge for up to 4 days I would say. And yes, you can freeze them. You can bake them in the oven without frying them first, however, they won’t be as crispy. 🙂
O mada it today and was delicious!!!
Thank you for the receipe 🙂
Awesome! I am glad you liked this recipe. 🙂
Can you use any other flour other than oat flour?
Yes, that’s possible.
Hi! I made the meatballs and all the family loved it.
In Greece we called them “soutzoukakia”.
We are meat lovers (sorry) but your recipe and photos made me a little skeptical!
I will definitely try more recipes and will read a little more about vegan way of life!
That makes me so happy! Thanks for trying out my recipe. ❤️
Hi 🙂
What is ” ground chia seeds “? I only have the
Regular chia seeds.. can i ground if in the Food Processor or just use the regular ?
Thanks .
Yes, you can process them in a blender or food processor! I use an electric coffee/spice grinder.
Loved the recipe…meatballs were perfect (and diverse, could use them with other sauces). The gravy and I fought for a while (to spicy and the curry was to prominent) for my taste. Also, I didn’t use the cornstarch, I let the gravy simmer and the thickness was perfect. I think I expected the gravy to be a little more neutral but overall an excellent recipe
Thanks for your feedback, Patricia! 🙂