Pasta and ' meatballs'

[madjock2010]

One of my favourite dishes used to be pasta and meatballs. Does anyone have a good alternative?

 

[Second Summer]

Pasta and falafel? Pasta and vegan meatballs? I don't have a recipe, but should be easy to find one if you google.

 

[Mischief]

I don't have a "meatball" recipe I use, since even in my meat loving days I preferred my spaghetti sauce meatless. However, IS is correct that if you google, you'll find quite a few recipes. I took a quick look, and these looked the most promising:

Veggie Balls Recipe | Epicurious.com

Vegetarian Lentil and Mushroom Meatballs

Vegan Meatballs (Mushroom "Neat" Balls) | Vegangela

Vegan MEATBALLS - Well Vegan

Spaghetti and (Vegan) Meatballs | Whole Foods Market

Meatball Sliders - Chef Chloe - Vegan Cooking and Recipes

Italian Vegetarian Meatballs | Lightlife

With respect to any recipe that contains eggs, you can substitute, for each egg, a tablespoon of flaxmeal stirred together with 3 tablespoons of water until that stirred egg consistency is achieved.

If I were making "meatballs" that I wanted to stick together through simmering in spaghetti sauce, I personally would use some vital wheat gluten as a binder. That would give you a meatball that wouldn't fall apart if simmered in sauce for a while, and it would also give you a "meatier" texture, especially if combined with something like the Lightlife burger crumbles used in the one recipe, or finely diced mushrooms that have been sautéed with onions until their liquid has been reduced (in the latter case, I would also add breadcrumbs to the "meatball" mixture).

A word of warning about Worcestershire sauce - you need to buy a specifically vegetarian one, since it typically contains fish oil. However, it's a good thing to have on hand for flavoring not only "meat" balls, but also burgers, "meat"loaf, etc.

 

[beancounter]

Most of the veggie meetballs I've tasted were awful.

I'd say go with falafel!

 

[madjock2010]

Thanks for your help folks. It's the only meal I have missed since I became vege.

 

[BronwynMendoza]

Quorn do amazing meatballs and so quick and easy to make! I miss Quorn, why do they have to use egg in everything 'huff'

 

[Mischief]

Madjock, in which country do you live? Trader Joe's used to have a house brand meatball that my sister loved. I think they no longer carry it, but there may be other ready made veg meatballs available.

 

[madjock2010]

I'm in the UK. I will have a look for the Quorn ones.

 

[KLS52]

Not sure if this is available to you but I love these products and they have meatballs.
Our Products - Wildwood

 

[PTree15]

I veganize this recipe Macaroni with Eggplant Meatballs
by using EnerG egg replacer for the eggs and nutritional yeast flakes for the cheese (I use about a quarter-cup of the flakes). Also, if making this vegan, be sure your breadcrumbs are vegan. Lately, I've been using Matzo meal, and it seems to work fine as a breadcrumbs replacement. Another tip, I would not simmer these with the sauce for more than a few minutes, as they could fall apart. These also work great in a sub-type "meatball" sandwich with sauteed onions and peppers and spaghetti sauce.

 

[flyingsnail]

If I were making "meatballs" that I wanted to stick together through simmering in spaghetti sauce, I personally would use some vital wheat gluten as a binder. That would give you a meatball that wouldn't fall apart if simmered in sauce for a while, and it would also give you a "meatier" texture, especially if combined with something like the Lightlife burger crumbles used in the one recipe, or finely diced mushrooms that have been sautéed with onions until their liquid has been reduced (in the latter case, I would also add breadcrumbs to the "meatball" mixture).

You can use textured soy protein as well and it results in a better result nutritionally, that is, you get a high quality protein out of the dish instead of a dish with fairly low quality protein.

 

[madjock2010]

Thanks for the advice folks. Tried falafels' tonight, but they all broke up. So just a really thick pasta sauce, tasted good though.

Gonna try Quorn meatballs next time.

Failing that I will try and make my own.

 

[silva]

I know this is old but falafels in spaghetti sauce sounds so terrible to me-and I love falafel!
I really love Trader Joes meatless meatballs. Spaghetti with them is a real treat! I try and make it late so i don't eat it until the next day when the pasta sucks up the sauce!

 

[Mischief]

The Ikea meatless meatballs are good also.

 

[Andy_T]

The Ikea meatballs are not like meatballs at all, they are veggie balls and taste like veggies.

I quite like them, as they are not like meatballs, but if you expect them to be meatball-y, then I am afraid you might get disappointed.

I have never in my life had spaghetti with meatballs, I just had regular pasta ascuitta with minced meat when I was not a vegan or vegetarian yet, and to get close to that effect I typically use textured soy granulate.

 

[KLS52]

I never liked "meaty" meatballs. My cousin's grandmother made the best ones. She always used more bread than meat, it seemed. We called them grandma's bread balls. I keep thinking I can do something similar with tofu in place of the egg, Italian bread, seasonings, vegan parm ...fry them up and simmer in sauce...

 

[Poppy]

Gardein's meatballs are spiced nicely to go in Italian dishes. They are a little larger than most of the other brands here in the US. I bake them in the oven before I add them to pasta or else they can be a little mushy.

Nate's meatballs are pretty famous and really good - the mushroom flavor is excellent? But, I haven't seen them as often as I used to, so maybe they've lost market share to Gardein, Quorn, etc.

 

[shyvas]

I make veggie soya balls with soya mince. I make them in exactly the same way as the classic meat ball recipe.

I'm actually making a soya & mushroom loaf for tonight's dinner using minced soya.