I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to repeatedly convince people that these are not real meatballs. It’s not that we were trying to recreate the taste and feel of meatballs when we came up with the recipe, we were more looking for a way to include more beans and variety with our Italian dishes.
The result is delicious! These Meat(less) Balls can be served along zucchini noodles, bean pasta (lentil, black bean, mung bean, etc), or whole wheat pasta. They can also be made into sandwiches, smothered with a rich red marinara sauce. However you choose to serve them, we predict that you will enjoy them throughly!
Irresistible Italian Meat(less) Balls
Author: Anthony Masiello
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ground flax seed
- 5 tbsp water
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 1 cup cooked or canned chick peas drained and rinsed
- 1 cup oat flour
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 4 tbsp Braggs liquid aminos or low sodium soy sauce
- 1 medium onion chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the ground flax seed and water in a small bowl and set aside.
- Place the walnuts in a food processor and process into tiny bits. Pour the walnuts into a large bowl and set aside.
- Then, process the garbanzo beans and brown rice with the food processor until a course mash forms.
- Add the mash to the walnuts and then add the oat flour, garlic, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, liquid aminos, onion and the flax seed water mixture.
- Mash the mixture together with your hands until everything is mixed well and will stick together.
- Form the mixture into 12 meatballs and place on the pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the meatballs are a slight golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and they are ready to eat!
You can serve these with a red lentil, chickpea, or other bean based or whole grain pasta, or to step up the nutritional value you could use spiral cut zucchini, or spaghetti squash. Anyway way you server these, I assure you that everyone is going to enjoy them!
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