The best vegan meatball sub you’ll ever eat!
When I was young my parents would take me to Subway and I would always get the meatball sub. There’s something simply delicious about this comforting classic, and now vegans can enjoy it too.
My approach was to forget about the typical junk a low-level vegetarian would throw into a meatless meatball. This recipe is soy free, and does not use textured vegetable protein (tvp). Forget about those frankenfoodstuffs™. These “meat” balls use simple ingredients, are so easy to make, and are absolutely delicious.
This recipe can be approached two ways: healthy, and not as healthy. I like to go the not as healthy route (this is comfort food), and fry these guys in some light olive oil! You are of course welcome to bake them, should you choose a healthier alternative. Whichever method you use, this simple, delicious recipe will definitely satisfy.
Prep Time: 20 minutes (chickpeas need longer to soak).
Cook Time: 6 minutes if frying, 24-28 minutes if baking.
Makes about 30 meatballs.
Ingredients
- 16oz bag (2 cups) dry chickpeas
- 1 medium onion (roughly chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds Level Up Ingredient
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley
- light olive oil (for frying, of course vegetable or canola also acceptable)
You’ll Also Need
- Food processor
- Pan for frying
- Baking sheet (only if baking)
Soak chickpeas overnight or at least 12 hours in cold water. Drain and rinse well. Do not dry them but make sure there is no excess water dripping from them.
If baking, pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Toss all ingredients except parsley (and oil if frying) into your food processor. See, I told you this was easy!
Process until you get a grainy, mealy consistency. We are not going for creamy here.
Add the parsley and pulse the mixture a few times until the leaves are roughly chopped throughout, still maintaining a rough, grainy texture.
Form the mixture into 1 inch to 1 1/2 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.
If baking, line meatballs on a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake for 30 – 35 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.
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.
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!
I like to toss them in some marinara and eat them on a sub sandwich.
Enjoy
- 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)
- 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.
- If baking, pre-heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Toss all ingredients except parsley (and oil if frying) into your food processor.
- Process until you get a grainy, mealy consistency. We are not going for creamy here.
- Add the parsley and pulse the mixture a few times until the leaves are roughly chopped throughout, still maintaining a rough, grainy texture.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!