Vegan Italian Meatballs
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Cuisine: Italian American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 30 meatballs
 
Ingredients
  • 16oz bag (2 cups) dry chickpeas
  • 1 medium onion (roughly chopped)
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 4 Tablespoons bread crumbs (I used Panko). For gluten-free, substitute with garbanzo bean or rice flour.
  • ¾ teaspoon dried oregano
  • ¾ teaspoon dried thyme
  • ½ teaspoon dried basil
  • ¼ teaspoon ground red pepper
  • ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
  • 1 & ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • ¼ cup fresh Italian parsley
  • light olive oil (for frying, of course vegetable or canola also acceptable)
Instructions
  1. Soak chickpeas overnight or at least 8 hours in cold water. Drain and rinse well. Do not dry them but make sure there is no excess water dripping from them.
  2. If baking, pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  3. Toss all ingredients except parsley (and oil if frying) into your food processor.
  4. Process until you get a grainy, mealy consistency. We are not going for creamy here.
  5. Add the parsley and pulse the mixture a few times until the leaves are roughly chopped throughout, still maintaining a rough, grainy texture.
  6. Form the mixture into 1 inch to 1½ inch balls with your hands. The mixture should be damp but not too sticky. It should form balls nicely without falling apart or sticking to your hands.
  7. If baking, line meatballs on a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake for 24 to 28 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. They should start to brown ever so slightly, but not as much as if they were fried. Feel free to broil them for about 2 minutes at the end to crisp them up a little more. They are likely to stick a little to the pan so use a spatula to carefully remove them.
  8. If frying, heat about 1 inch, or about half the diameter of your balls, of olive oil in a pan to about 350 degrees. If you don’t have a thermometer get your hands damp and flick a bit of water into the oil. If it splatters about in the oil it’s ready. Add your newly formed meatballs to the pan. The balls should cook for 2 – 3 minutes and turn a dark golden brown. If they brown up or get too dark too quickly, reduce heat. Flip over and repeat.
  9. You should get a crispy outside with a light inside. These taste great as is right out of the pan! At this point you can do whatever you’d like with these delicious vegan Italian meatballs, whether it’s over spaghetti, on a hoagie, or even on a pizza!
Recipe by Vegetarian Level Up at https://www.vegetarianlevelup.com/vegan-italian-meatballs/