freySite
the life and times of J T Frey

Vegetarian Meatballs

My daughter has a friend who does not eat meat or dairy, so the prospect of spaghetti and meatballs when she came to visit seemed fraught with disappointment for her: everyone else happily wolfing-down chunks of meatball with a forkfull of saucy pasta. My mission: can I create a suitably-delicious meatless ball that also includes no cheese products? A satisfying veggieball?

Makes about 24 small meatballs
ingredients:

Vegetables:

  • 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 10 oz button mushrooms, caps
  • 2 cloves garlic (unpeeled)
  • ½ an onion, in quarters (unpeeled)
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 200 g canned chickpeas, drained

Veggieball filler:

  • 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten
  • 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
  • ½ tsp oregano, dried
  • ½ tsp basil, dried
  • 2 tbsp nutrional yeast flake
  • 1 ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • ½ tsp red pepper flake
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 ½ tsp hickory smoke
  1. Preheat oven to bake at 400 °F.
  2. Wash cauliflower florets and scrub mushrooms before removing stems.
  3. Toss cauliflower, mushroom caps, garlic, and onion with oil, then spread on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
  4. Roast in the oven until the cauliflower is soft and beginning to brown on its edges (about 30 minutes).
  5. Allow the vegetables to cool then peel the garlic and onion pieces. At this point the approximate mass of each roasted ingredient should be: 215 g cauliflower florets, 114 g mushroom caps, 95 g onion, 8 g garlic
  6. Add the roasted vegetables and the drained chickpeas to a bowl then cool the mixture in the freezer until firm (40 minutes to one hour).
  7. Remove vegetables from the freezer and immediately grind using a 1/8" plate.
  8. Add all of the veggieball filler ingredients to the ground mixture. Mix well then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, up to 24 hours.

The mixture can be frozen or immediately formed into 24 small veggieballs or 18 larger veggieballs.

  1. Preheat oven to bake at 325 °F.
  2. Place the veggieballs on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet then bake until the exteriors begin to brown.
  3. Allow the veggieballs to cool so that moisture in the interior can redistribute.

I don't recommend further cooking the veggieballs in sauce. If your prefer to finish your spaghetti in sauce before serving, just be sure to save a little extra sauce to ladle over the veggieballs.

Written by Jeff Frey on Saturday October 25, 2025
Permalink -