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The phrase “vegetarian meatballs” does admittedly sound like a bit of an oxymoron. But while these Southeast Asian-inspired vegetarian meatballs don’t in fact involve meat, they are deeelicious.
Vegetarian and Super Flavorful!
Okay, so let me get something out of the way before I move on. I sense that all of you vegan and vegetarian readers out there are cheering, happy to add another wholesome meatless recipe to your repertoire.
But you carnivores in the audience…ya’ll are shaking your heads. You’re thinking, “nahhhh…now where are those BEEF recipes??” I see you, Carnivores. I see the doubt in your eyes.
As a former carnivore myself, allow me to open your minds. Rather than your standard cocktail of ground meats, these vegetarian meatballs are made with split peas, veggies, and meaty mushrooms. To add richness, I added toasted nuts—kind of a move from left field. I used almonds, but you could use walnuts or cashews too. Whatever you have!
To pack in even MORE flavor, I threw in herbs like basil, cilantro, and mint, as well as lots of ginger, garlic, and chili—the flavors you might find in a big bowl of Vietnamese pho or a Thai stir-fry. (In the interest of staying true to the Southeast Asian vibe, I DID also add fish sauce, but if you’d like to keep the recipe completely vegetarian/vegan, feel free to omit it.)
Blending the Vegetarian Meatball Mixture
The key to meatless meatballs, of course, is blending all of those ingredients while getting the texture right. Enter: The Vitamix. The Beethoven of blenders. Seriously, the Ascent Series blenders are total game-changers.
It wasn’t just how powerful the blender was, the key feature for me is how smoothly and quietly it was able to blend up this filling. It was practically humming.
For these vegetarian meatballs, you want your filling to be sort of half smooth, half chunky—smooth enough to hold together, but you also want to be able to see some of the vegetables and herbs that went into making them.
Speaking of which, let’s make some meatballs!
Vegetarian Meatballs: Recipe Instructions
In a medium pot, cover the lentils with water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 35-40 minutes, until they’re tender but not falling apart. Drain and allow to cool.
Next, add 3 tablespoons of oil to a wok or large skillet over medium heat, and add the ginger. Cook until fragrant (about 2 minutes). Add the garlic and onion, and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Then add the carrots, celery, and salt, and cook for another 10 minutes.
Add the shiitake mushrooms and cook for another 10 minutes or so, until all the liquid released by the vegetables has cooked off. Set aside to cool.
Add the nuts, red chili, Thai or sweet basil leaves, cilantro leaves, mint, fish sauce, and sesame oil to your blender.
Pulse until the nuts and herbs have been finely chopped.
Add the cooled lentils and cooked vegetable mixture. Pulse until the mixture has been incorporated, but still looks a little chunky.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and mix with the eggs and breadcrumbs.
Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drizzle some olive oil on the paper.
Roll the chilled vegetable mixture into golf ball-sized meatballs, packing the mixture firmly. Place onto the sheet pan, with a ½ inch of space between them.
Drizzle the meatballs with olive oil, and roast in the oven for 40-45 minutes, until crisp.
Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients (soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, water, sugar, chili sauce, and sesame seeds) in a bowl, and serve it alongside the meatballs.
Like any humble meatball, these babies can be used in a variety of ways. You can go the route we’ve gone here and serve them alongside a dipping sauce in a cocktail-hour-noms situation, throw them on a toasted baguette with sriracha mayo, herbs, and a some pickled carrot and daikon to make a banh mi, or serve them with pasta and sauce! The texture of these meatballs is a bit similar to falafel, and they’d be great in a salad or a pita too. The world is your meatball, and the possibilities are endless!
Vegetarian Meatballs with a Southeast Asian Twist
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 1 1/2 cups yellow split peas (or lentils)
- 2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil (plus more for drizzling)
- 2 tablespoons ginger (minced)
- 5 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 2 medium carrots (chopped)
- 2 stalks celery (chopped)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 12 ounces mushrooms (cremini, button, or shiitake mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced)
- 1/3 cup cashews, almonds or walnuts
- 1 fresh red chili
- 1/2 cup thai or sweet basil leaves
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1 cup mint
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce (optional for vegetarians/vegans)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
For the dipping sauce:
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon chili sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a medium pot, cover the lentils with water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 35-40 minutes, until they’re tender but not falling apart. Drain and allow to cool.
- Next, add 3 tablespoons of oil to a wok or large skillet over medium heat, and add the ginger. Cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and onion, and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Then add the carrots, celery, and salt, and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms and cook for another 10 minutes or so, until all the liquid released by the vegetables has cooked off. Set aside to cool.
- To your blender, add the nuts, chili, basil, cilantro, mint, fish sauce and sesame oil. Pulse until the nuts and herbs have been finely chopped. Add the cooled lentils and cooked vegetable mixture. Pulse until the mixture has been incorporated, but still looks a little chunky.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and mix with the eggs and breadcrumbs. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drizzle some olive oil on the paper.
- Roll the chilled vegetable mixture into golf ball sized meatballs, packing the mixture firmly. Place onto the sheet pan, with a ½ inch of space between them. Drizzle the meatballs with olive oil, and roast in the oven for 40-45 minutes, until crisp.
- Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce by combining all the sauce ingredients in a bowl, and serve alongside the meatballs.
Tips & Notes:
nutrition facts
These are so delicious! We have a vegan in the family so we used flax eggs. I’ve tried other vegetarian/vegan meatballs but these are the best, very flavorful. It’s a medley of tastes. My dad who loves his lamb meatballs devoured these. We sautéed the leftovers with onions and curry powder the next day, which was equally delicious. I made another batch and froze them for meatball emergencies.
Amazing! So glad you enjoyed these Hina!!
I have just declared your spicy meatball recipe my favorite, and now this awesome recipe pops up… I am torn about whether to go vegetarian ;-). Do you think this recipe could also work in a waffle maker, rather than baked in oven?
Note: I tried recipe in Belgian Wafflemaker, and turned out excellent. Nice and crunchy. I left them in there for 15 min probably.
INTERESTING! I’ve never thought to do that. Our waffle iron just broke, but I definitely want to try this idea. Thanks!
Haha good to hear it worked in your comment above!
Gosh, thanks Sarah – perfect timing!
It’s 4.30 pm in the UK at the moment and my thoughts had just turned to what to make for dinner tonight. Et voila, notification of your latest recipe arrived in my inbox. And not just any recipe, but a vegetarian one, all of whose ingredients I already have to hand.
Serendipitous or what!
Wow, totally serendipitous! Good on you for having such a well-stocked pantry and fridge. :) Hope you like these, Anne!
These look amazing! My daughter has been following a mostly vegetarian diet, and we generally try to include a lot of plant based meals in our family. One question – do you think we could try substituting sunflower seeds for the nuts? (nut allergy) Or any other recommendation there? Thanks! I could just cook from your blog every day and eat nothing else!
Maybe bulgur cracked wheat for the nuts? (I try to guess before you get the Real Answer from our fabulous bloggers!) :)
Haha thanks for the suggestion Toni Jean! Bulgur could be a good option. I think the sunflower seeds would also work––they have a high fat content like nuts––might make sense to grind them up a bit separately first, though!
Aw thanks, Traci! See my reply to Toni Jean’s comment below!