Learn how to make Easy Vegan Mushroom Meatballs right in your own kitchen! Tender, hearty and packed with flavour, these gluten free meatless meatballs are perfect for pastas, sandwiches, casseroles and more!
I can’t believe this is the first vegan meatless meatball recipe on the blog considering how many different kinds of vegan meatballs I used to make back when I was in university! They’re perfect for meal prep and was a great way to switch up proteins in my pasta meals. I especially enjoyed them in the winter time when I was craving some serious comfort food.
I’ve made chickpea meatballs, tofu meatballs, lentil meatballs and these mushroom meatballs- and I was juggling which one I wanted to share first but my heart just said mushroom meatballs pleaseeeeee. They’re tender, juicy, moist and packed with so much flavour. Ah, I’m craving these as I’m typing right now!
Ingredients in Meatless Meatballs
The base of these Vegan Meatballs are made with mushrooms which is one of my favourite ingredients to replace meat with in terms of texture and flavour. Typically, meatballs use breadcrumbs but I opted to use a combination of gluten free oats and walnuts which helps absorb the liquids and create texture.
These vegan meatballs are packed with flavour thanks to the onions, garlic, vegan Worcester sauce (or soy sauce/tamari), nutritional yeast, parsley, oregano, thyme, red pepper fakes, salt and pepper. Because there are a lot of flavours going on here, if you don’t have one or two of the ingredients it’s not a huge deal and you can still make this recipe.
And don’t worry about these meatballs crumbling apart because we have the trusty flax egg holding everything together.
How to Make Vegan Mushroom Meatballs
If you’ve ever made meatballs with actual meat before, it’s a little bit more tricky. You run into the problems of them coming out dry or even being under cooked *danger!!*. Thankfully these vegan meatballs are easy to make and even if they’re a little undercooked, they’re still tasty and edible. Let me give you a run down:
- Fry the garlic, onion and mushrooms until softened over medium heat.
- Add in the vegan Worcester sauce, dry herbs, salt and pepper, and cook the mushrooms down until the pan is as dry as possible without burning. You basically want most of the moisture cooked off.
- Add the oats and walnuts into a food processor and pulse blend to make a course meal (kind of like bread crumb consistency). And then transfer that into a bowl.
- Blend the mushroom mixture until just combined but NOT into a paste! You should still be able to see bits of mushrooms and onions.
- Add the mushroom mixture, nutritional yeast and flax egg into the same bowl with the oats and walnuts. Mix well until combined. The mixture will be wet but rollable. If it’s TOO wet, add in some more ground oats, 1 tbsp at a time.
- Divide the mixture into 10-12 portions (around 38-42g each), roll them into balls and place on a baking tray. Bake for 20-22 minutes, rotating the tray half way.
You can also pan fry or air fry these mushroom meatballs! Check out the notes in the recipe card.
How to Serve Meatless Mushroom Meatballs
Heat marinara sauce (or sauce of choice) in a sauce pan over medium high heat. Place the mushroom meatballs in the sauce and stir them around to cover it with the sauce. Let it gently simmer for 3-5 minutes.
Go traditional and serve it with pasta! Or get fancy and make vegan baked ziti, vegan meatballs subs, put them into bagels (my fav is avocado + marinara + vegan cheese + mushroom meatballs *YUM*), add them to soups and more!
Tips & Tricks to Making Vegan Mushroom Meatballs
- Cook off the Mushroom Until Dry: Mushrooms release a lot of moisture, so be sure to cook them until the pan goes dry.
- Mixture too Wet: Depending on how much you cook off the moisture, you may need to add more oats. I like to grind up some extra oats just incase but you can also use oat four or whole oats. The mixture should be moist, but still rollable.
- Finish Cooking Meatballs in Sauce: This step adds more flavour and helps finish cooking the mushroom meatballs.
How to Store Meatless Mushroom Meatballs
- In the Refrigerator: Keep separate from the sauce. Once fully cooled after baking, place in an air tight container and store in the fridge for 3-4 days.
- In the Freezer: After baked and fully cooled, place them into air tight reusable container/bag and freeze for up to 1 month. To re-heat, place them into simmering sauce until cooked through.
Helpful Equipment to Make This Recipe
- Food Processor: for the oats, walnuts and mushroom mixture.
- Baking Tray: to bake the mushroom meatballs.
If you’re craving some serious comfort food, this is for you- I hope you try and love them as much as I do! They’re seriously so tasty and are the perfect meatless meatballs for any dish that calls for meatballs!
Craving More Pasta? Try these recipes!
- Vegan Pesto Ricotta Stuffed Shells
- 3 Week Night Pasta Meals (in Under 15 Minutes)
- Mushroom Pasta with Soy Butter Garlic Sauce
If you recreate this Vegan Mushroom Meatballs recipe let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment and rating below or by tagging me on Instagram @Okonomikitchen, I love seeing all of your tasty recreations!
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Vegan Mushroom Meatballs
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 meatballs 1x
Description
Learn how to make Easy Vegan Mushroom Meatballs right in your own kitchen! Tender, hearty and packed with flavour, these gluten free meatless meatballs are perfect for pastas, sandwiches, casseroles and more!
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ground flax seeds + 2.5 tbsp warm water
- 1 8 oz package of crimini mushrooms, sliced (225g // button or chestnut mushrooms can be used as well)
- 1 medium onion, diced (115g)
- 3–4 garlic cloves, minced (9g)
- 1 tbsp vegan Worcester sauce (15g)
- 1.5 tbsp nutritional yeast (12g)
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2/3 cup + 2 tbsp gluten free rolled oats (72g)
- 1/2 cup roasted walnuts (62g)
Instructions
Meatballs:
- Into a small bowl whisk together ground flax seed and water. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
- Over medium high heat, add the onion and garlic into a large pan and fry for 1 minute. Add in the mushrooms and fry until mushrooms have softened. Add in the vegan Worcester sauce, dried parsley, oregeno, thyme, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper and continue to cook until most of the moisture has evaporated. Turn off the heat and set aside. Pre-heat oven to 350 F (180 C)
- Add the oats and walnuts into a food processor and blend until a course meal forms. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Add the cooked mushroom mixture into the food processor and blend until combined. Do not over blend, you should still be able to see bits of mushrooms and onions.
- Into the large bowl with oats and walnuts, add in the mushroom mixture, nutritional yeast and flax egg. Use a spoon and mix until combined. If the mixture looks too loose or wet, add in some more oats.
- Divide the mixture into 10-12 portions (around 38-42g each), roll them into balls and place on a baking tray. Bake for 20-22 minutes, rotating the tray half way.
To Serve:
- Cook pasta according to instructions. Heat marinara sauce over medium heat in a saucepan.
- Place meatballs into the marinara sauce and let it lightly simmer for 3-5 minutes while the pasta cooks.
- Plate pasta, top with meatballs and top with remaining marinara. Garnish with vegan parmesan, pepper and herbs of choice.
Notes
- To Pan Fry: add oil to large frying pan. Place mushroom meatballs into the frying pan and cook on medium until browned and heated through.
- To Air Fry: spray air fryer basket with a little oil. Place the meatballs into the air fryer basket and air fry at 400 F for 10-12 minutes, or until cooked. Shake the basket half way to make sure they’re evenly cooked.
- Nutritional Information Disclaimer: Nutrition information is a rough estimate calculated on an online tool (Cronometer).
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Entree
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: vegan, gluten free
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 meatball
- Calories: 74
- Sugar: 1g
- Sodium: 218mg
- Fat: 4.1g
- Saturated Fat: 0.4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 3.5g
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 7.7g
- Fiber: 1.7g
- Protein: 2.9g
- Cholesterol: 0
SAVE IT FOR LATER! ↓
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Excited to be making these! I did, however, use the recipe calculator on this page to double the recipe…and it did not calculate the gram conversions correctly for some of the ingredients (i.e. oatmeal, nutritional yeast, walnuts). I am glad that I doubled checked.
I made one batched to see if we like them. The vegan mushroom meatballs were delicious. I made more to freeze. Thank you for the recipe.
Just made this recipe but without any oil. I just cooked the mushrooms and onions etc in a little water. It still worked beautifully. Very impressed and will make double quantity and freeze next time
I followed the recipe as per the instructions. They were very moist and had to add more oats to them but I would have had to add a tremendous amount of oats to get them to the point where I could roll them by hand so they were still a little mushy in the middle after cooking them for a longer period of time on higher heat. The flavor was okay overall but they just broke apart when trying to plate them or stir them in the sauce unfortunately.