Whether you’re full-time vegetarian or just trying to cut back on meat, if you’ve got a hankering for spaghetti and meatballs, these no-fail, protein-packed vegetarian meatballs always hit the spot. Intensely savory, with mushrooms, Parmesan and plenty of garlic flavoring a protein-packed base, there’s no sacrifice here. Even kids will enjoy them, either on their own as a super nutritious toddler finger food, or dressed in jarred tomato sauce or scratch-made sauce like our easy Marinara Sauce or delicious Tomato Sauce, regular old spaghetti or tender Homemade Pappardelle. We’re big meatball fans, so for even more meatball recipe ideas, check out our favorite meatball recipes.
Why This Recipe Works
- Umami, times 2! Meaty mushrooms and parmesan both contribute umami to these vegetarian meatballs. Defined as the elusive fifth flavor, and often defined simply as savory-ness or earthiness, it’s extra important to us to make sure that plant-based recipes have at least one ingredient (and ideally more than one) that ensures plenty of umami flavor. It’s our trick for making our meatless recipes deeply satisfying.
- Panko! These airy, crunchy, Japanese-style breadcrumbs are much lighter than traditional breadcrumbs, and they work perfectly in this recipe to help hold the lentil meatball mixture together without weighing things down or making the meatballs overly dense.
- We bake the meatballs on a sheet pan. A lot of meatball recipes are pan-fried, and you could pan fry these if you wanted to, but we like the ease of baking them on a sheet pan. It makes it easy to make a lot of them at once, and the high heat creates a crust around the meatballs that’s just right. Brush them with a little oil before roasting to really encourage that lovely crisp crust.
Main Ingredients + Optional Alternatives
- Lentils: Regular brown lentils, or French lentils both work well in this recipe, red lentils do not. Whether you use brown lentils or French lentils, be sure to check the cooking instructions on the packaging to confirm the best cook time for the type of lentil you’re using.
- Onions & garlic: The base of every savory meal!
- Mushrooms: Cremini mushrooms are our preference because they always seem to have a bit more flavor than white button mushrooms. But either would work fine.
- Panko: Airy breadcrumbs are the best, and we are so glad panko has become a breeze to track down. It’s a pantry staple.
- Seasonings: Italian seasoning, cayenne, basil.
- Eggs: Eggs bind the lentil mixture together so that you can roll them into meatballs, and the added protein is a bonus!
- Parmesan cheese: Tons of salty, savory flavor in one ingredient that we always have on-hand. Grate it yourself with a microplane for best results.
Make Them Vegan
With eggs and Parmesan cheese, these meatballs are solidly vegetarian, not vegan. But, you absolutely can make them vegan without compromising the flavor because lentils, mushrooms and herbs are at the heart of what makes them delicious. To make them vegan:
- Swap a vegan Parmesan for the regular Parm. Many alternative grocery stores or even well-stocked big chains have vegan cheeses now. Feel free to swap in a vegan Parmesan for regular. If it isn’t finely-grated, you may want to pulverize it with a few pulses in the food processor so that it mixes more uniformly into the meatball mixture.
- Use a flax “egg” instead of a real egg to bind the lentil meatball mixture.
How To Serve Vegetarian Meatballs
- With pasta: Maybe the most obvious way to serve them, and our favorite. They’re a great way to add big nutritious oomph to basic pasta dishes. Try tossing them into Bow Tie Pasta, Pasta Primavera, or swap them in for regular meatballs in recipes like our Baked Chicken Meatballs with Broccoli Pesto Pasta.
- Vegetarian meatballs make awesome toddler food! Having trouble getting your tiniest family member to eat their veggies? We’ve found that when veggies look like meatballs, they have a magical tendency to disappear, even from our toddlers’ plates!
- Tuck them into school lunches. We worry a little bit about trying to pack meatballs (room temperature plus meat gets questionable fast) but not when the meatballs are vegetarian! We love that they’re budget-friendly, too.
- Try them in a sandwich! Vegetarian meatball sub, anyone?
- As a protein-rich salad topper! When we make a batch of these lentil meatballs, we always make extra so we’re guaranteed to be able to indulge in our favorite healthy lunches! Kale Salad + these meatballs is a go-to ultra-healthy, filling lunch that powers us through ‘til dinner.
4 More Gorgeous Vegetarian Dinner Ideas
Pass The Meatballs!
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