Delicious meat-free chickpea meatballs ready in about 30 minutes, vegan and vegetarian, freezer-friendly, the perfect side or appetizer, or serve in a sandwich.
⅔cupparmesan cheeseor 3 tablespoon nutritional yeast and more breadcrumbs
¼cupfresh parsleychopped
⅔cuponion, diced very smallor chopped green onion
½teaspoongarlic powder
2teaspoonoregano
2tablespoonbasil
¼teaspoonblack pepper
pinchsalt
Sauce to put meatballs in
1jarquality tomato sauce such as RAO Marinara*
Instructions
Prep
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Layer a baking sheet with parchment. You can very lightly mist the parchment paper with oil to keep the meatballs from sticking.
Make the Meatballs
Rinse the chickpeas (I used canned), put in a food processor.
Add the rinsed chickpeas, tomato sauce, breadcrumbs, cheese and spices into the food processor and process for 1-2 minutes or until all chickpeas are broken down.
2 can chickpeas, canned, 1 cup ketchup or quality tomato sauce*, ½ cup breadcrumbs, ⅔ cup parmesan cheese, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, 2 teaspoon oregano, 2 tablespoon basil, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, pinch salt
Add in the rest of the ingredients and either stir to combine or use the food processor for 15 seconds just to combine, not to puree.
¼ cup fresh parsley, ⅔ cup onion, diced very small
Use a medium cookie scoop (or measure 2 tbsp) to create 30 meatballs and set them in rows on the lined baking sheet.** They can touch, they might spread a little but not much.
Brush the tops only with a finger dab of olive oil or avocado oil. Coating just the tops keep them from drying out.
Bake meatballs uncovered for 30 minutes. The balls should be cooked soft in center but crusty on the outside.
Serving. Add a hefty amount of jarred tomato sauce to a container and layer the meatballs on top, spooning a little on top when serving.
1 jar quality tomato sauce such as RAO Marinara*
Storage
The meatballs can last in the refrigerator for 5 days, cooked and 2 days uncooked. The meatballs can be frozen uncooked for three months. To freeze them cooked, first toss them in a marinara sauce, and freeze them in single-meal batches for three months.
Video
Notes
*Be sure it is a quality brand of ketchup or tomato sauce because this is a major flavor in your meatballs. Lately, I recommend RAO Marinira for both the meatball recipe (instead of ketchup) and to serve meatballs in.** You can roll them into perfect balls with wet hands, or just leave them in the scoop shape with the flat bottom.1.Make them without a food processor. You can also put all ingredients in a bowl and use your hands or potato masher to knead the mixture that way.2.Use a medium cookie scoop (2 tbsp) to make sure your balls are uniform in size.3.Use nutritional yeast if you can't find dairy free parmesan cheese. Or use regular parmesan cheese if you don't need to keep the meatballs to be dairy free and vegan.