Vegan Meatballs (Beanballs) + Marinara Sauce (OF, GF)
Vegan Meatballs with black beans, chickpeas, and vegan marinara sauce. Frugal 30 minute dinner recipe for a plant based diet that is also oil free and gluten free.
Today I would like to share a very healthy and frugal dinner meal for a whole food plant based diet. There is no oil added to the meal and you can leave out the salt. This recipe is also great for weight loss as it is high in protein, fiber, and filling. It will fuel and restore your body with important vitamins and minerals and it is great if you are on a budget.
The recipe includes mostly beans, chickpeas, oats, and seasoning, which is super easy to get and very frugal. On top of that 1 serving (2.5 large meatballs) equal 435 calories, 73.92g carbs, 6.65g fat, 22.54g protein, 148g calcium, 136g magnesium, 3.5g zinc.
And this meal was very filling. You can use just the vegan meatballs to top a salad, or you can use the easy marinara recipe below to make it for a vegan marinara sub. I like to add a lot of vegetables on my sub as well. If you want to use the vegan meatballs over spaghetti, I suggest adding more tomato sauce and seasoning to the recipe.
Prepare the Vegan Meatballs
Mix the milled flax seed with the water and let sit. This makes the egg substitute and you will see it turn into a similar (egg) consistency after 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 450F. Mix the oats in the food processor and set aside. Add the drained and washed chickpeas + black beans into a food processor and blend. Slowly add some water but only enough to mix a paste. Add the herbs and onion to the blender.
Now move the paste into a mixing bowl and add the flaxseed-egg and start adding 1/2 cup ground oats. If the mix is very sticky add more ground oats and stir until you are able to form the balls. Form either 10 large balls, or 15-20 smaller ones. Move into the oven for 15-25 minutes. Smaller beanballs probably need only 10-20 minutes.
In the meantime add the pressed garlic, tomato sauce, italian herbs, salt and pepper into a large pot and heat up. Then add the meatballs and stir gently to coat.
You can add this to a sub or over spaghetti (get gluten free if you need to). The meatballs (without the sauce) also make nice toppings for a salad. 
21 Day Fix
One serving, or 1/4th of the recipe equals: 1 red, 1 green, 1/2 yellow, 1/4 orange. You can make 1 cup of zoodles (1 green) with the bean balls. Make sure to use tomato sauce without salt or sugar added.
Vegan Meatballs (Beanballs) + Marinara Sauce (OF, GF)
Vegan Meatballs with black beans, chickpeas, vegan marinara sauce. Frugal dinner recipe for a plant based diet that is also oil free and gluten free.
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas
- 1 can black beans
- 1 cup oats
- 1/4 onion
- 2 t italian herbs
- 2T flaxseed
- 7T water
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1t italian herbs
- 4 cans tomato sauce (8 oz)
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Mix the flax seed with the water and let sit. This makes the egg substitute and you will see it turn into a similar consistency after 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 450F.
- Mix the oats in the food processor and set aside.
- Add the drained and washed chickpeas + black beans into a food processor and blend. Slowly add some water but only enough to get it into a paste. Add the herbs and onion to the blender.
- Now move the paste into a mixing bowl and add the flaxseed egg and start with 1/2 cup ground oats. If the mix is very sticky add more ground oats and stir until you are able to form the balls.
- Form either 10 large balls, or 15-20 smaller ones. Move into the oven for 15-25 minutes. Smaller balls probably need only 10-20 minutes.
- In the meantime add the pressed garlic, tomato sauce, italian herbs, salt and pepper into a large pot and heat up. Then add the meatballs and stir gently to coat.
- You can add this to a sub or over spaghetti. The meatballs (without the sauce) also make nice toppings for a salad.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 3 ballsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 247
