Recipe for veggie balls

Nutty, rich and hearty, it’s MUSHROOMS that are the star ingredient in this recipe for veggie balls.

I’m a vegetarian, which means I eat plenty of beans, chickpeas and lentils. Sometimes I just don’t want any more of that stuff. So these meatballs contain no legumes, instead they have less than 10 simple ingredients, and it’s all about the nutty flavour of those mushrooms. 

These veggie meatballs are incredibly delicious, easy to make and super healthy.

They also freeze well, so you can batch cook them for a quick midweek dinner.

Do you need eggs in meatballs?

Absolutely not! This recipe for veggie balls contains NO EGGS but each meatball holds together perfectly. You can pick them up, dip them in salsa, give them to your toddler as finger food, they are so substantial and versatile. So whether you have omitted eggs from your diet, or you don’t have any in the house, fear not because these eggless veggie meatballs have got you covered.

How do you keep veggie balls from falling apart?

Eggs can act as a binder in a lot of recipes. However in this recipe, we use grated cheese to bind the mixture together. Once the cheese melts, it binds the meatball together just as an egg would. Also, by cooking down the mushrooms, it gets rid of most of the moisture, which helps the mixture to get really sticky before the meatballs go in the oven.

How to make eggless veggie balls

Less than 10 ingredients are needed for these delicious veggie meatballs, and they are:

• Olive oil
• Onions
• Garlic
• Mushrooms
• Parsley/thyme/oregano
• Cheddar cheese
• Oats

The only equipment you need is a frying pan, a food processor and an oven. They couldn’t be easier! 

I like to serve these meatballs with spaghetti like the Italian-American classic. However they are so versatile, try them as finger food dipped into your favourite salsa, or maybe in a sandwich with hummus and roasted tomatoes. YUM!

Veggie balls

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• Author: noasmodernkitchen
• Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
• Yield: 15 meatballs 1x
• Diet: Vegetarian

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Ingredients

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• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 red onion, roughy chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
• 450g mushrooms (any variety i.e. button or chestnut work well), washed and finely sliced
• Fresh or dried parsley
• Salt
• Black pepper
• 75g Cheddar cheese, grated
• 120g oats

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Instructions

1. Heat a frying pan over a low heat with the olive oil.
2. Add the onion to the pan, and gently fry for around 10 minutes until the onions are soft and golden.
3. Add the garlic and gently fry for another 2 minutes.
4. Add the mushrooms to the pan, and cook for around 20 minutes, until most of the liquid from the mushrooms has cooked away
5. When the mushrooms are soft and caramelised (they should look like they have reduced down), stir through the parsley and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Remove the pan from the heat.
6. Preheat the oven to 180c.
7. Add the grated cheese, oats and the mushroom mixture to the food processor.
8. Blitz the mixture until it is sticky. You may need to add a tablespoon of water to the mixture, but there should be a little bit of liquid still in the mushrooms that helps everything to come together.
9. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Place even balls of mixture onto the tray. I like to make 15 small meatballs, but you can make them as big as you like. If they are a lot bigger, you may need to adjust the cooking time.
10. Bake in the oven at 180c for 15 minutes. If you have very large meatballs, cook for 20 minutes.

Notes

This recipe makes 15 small meatballs, which should serve 5 people.

• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 45 minutes

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 3 meatballs
• Calories: 202

Keywords: Recipe for veggie meatballs