Vegan Walnut ‘Meatballs’

So I want to start by saying I am really excited about this recipe! I discovered what an amazing meat alternative walnuts are after working to develop a walnut taco meat recipe a few years ago. The toasty walnuts mixed with a tomato puree not only tastes delicious but is super satisfying and a great starting point for a meat substitute. So with this basic base I decided to try to create a delicious vegan meatball. This recipe has a pretty long list of ingredients, as I was trying to find the right balance of taste and texture, but most of them just go right into a food processor to blend together, so it couldn’t be easier to make.

The base for this recipe is toasted walnuts and sundried tomatoes. The tomatoes that come in a pouch, not packed in oil, have a wonderfully sweet taste and chewy texture and when they are blended they create a nice paste to help the balls come together. While most of the other ingredients are pretty basic and make sense for a meatball substitute (like onion, garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes) there are a few other slightly less traditional ones. To help enhance the flavor I add nutritional yeast, vegan worcestershire sauce and soy sauce. Nutritional yeast has a slightly nutty, cheesy flavor and an added benefit of being packed with healthy things like B12 (though this is usually added) and fiber.The combination of worcestershire sauce and soy sauce help create a more ‘meaty’ flavor. For texture, I add cooked farro. Farro is one of my favorite grains because of its chewy texture. In this recipe I add a half cup of farro into the food processor and a half of a cup stirred in after so some of the grains remain full. 

I also add vital wheat gluten to the mixture after everything else has been combined. According to Bob’s Red Mill (which is the brand I usually buy) Vital wheat gluten is “made from the protein found in the endosperm of the wheat berry, containing 75% to 80% protein. When combined with water it becomes highly elastic and has a taffy-like texture.” This elastic texture acts as the binder for the meatballs. Mixing in the wheat gluten and a little water after all the other ingredients allows the mixture to really come together so the balls can be formed. 

After the ‘meatballs’ have been formed, I like to refrigerate them for about an hour before cooking. That extra rest time really helps the balls stay together and keep their shape. I have also cooked them directly after forming and they still taste great and hold together fairly well, just tend to crumble a bit more easily. When I am ready to cook them, I heat a little oil in a pan and add the balls. They need to be roasted pretty frequently as I like to try to get them browned on all sides. Then I add them to a big pot of sauce that is on low heat and let them hang out in there for a little bit for the flavor to develop even further. I included my recipe for a simple and delicious red sauce below but you could just as easily heat up your favorite jarred sauce and use that instead. The amount of time I let the balls chill in the sauce generally varies on how hungry I am, but I would say between 15 minutes up to a half an hour would be good. Too long and they may start to break down and you would have yourself a pot of ‘meat’ sauce instead!

These are perfect to eat over a big pile or spaghetti (or zoodles) or on a grinder roll. You could also enjoy with a fork right out of the pan if that's what you prefer!

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Vegan Walnut Meatballs

Yield: 12 'meatballs'

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 45 Min

Ingredients

For the 'Meatballs'

• 2 cups walnuts
• 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil)
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped (about half a medium onion)
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (adjust to taste preference)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cooked farro
• 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten flour
• 1/4 cup water
• oil for cooking

For the Sauce

• 4 cloves garlic
• 15 - 20 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon of salt (adjust to your reference)
• pinch of red pepper flakes 
• olive oil for cooking

Instructions

1. SAUCE: Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a large sauce pot. Add garlic and cook for a minute until its fragrant. Add the halved cherry tomatoes and cook for a few more minutes. Pour in the can of crushed tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, salt, oregano and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine and turn heat down to low and allow sauce to simmer and cook for at least a half an hour.
2. TOAST: Start by toasting the walnuts in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring frequently so they don't burn, remove from heat when they are starting to brown and smell toasted.
3. BLEND: Add walnuts, sundried tomatoes, garlic, onion, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, oregano, red pepper flakes and salt in food processor. Turn on so all ingredients become very well combined and become like a thick paste, you may need to stop and scrape down the sides a few times. Add a half cup of the cooked farro and pulse a few times just to incorporate into the mixture.
4. MIX: Pour this mixture into a bowl and mix in the other half cup of cooked farro. Then add the vital wheat gluten flour and water, use your hands to thoroughly combine mixture.
5. SHAPE: Form mixture into 12 balls (should be about 1.5+ inch, in size), make sure to pack the mixture into shape. Side note: if you have time, refrigerating the balls for an hour or so before cooking will help them hold together better. However you can cook them directly after shaping they may just be a bit more crumbly.
6. COOK: Heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the balls to hot pan and cook rotating every minute or so to brown on all sides. Once the balls are browned, move them into pot of sauce on low heat to hang out in the sauce for a little before serving.
7. SERVE: Enjoy the sauce and meatballs on your favorite pasta or serve on a grinder roll... or eat straight out of the pot!

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