Veggie Balls
Servings: 4 (makes 20 balls)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (120g) raw walnuts (see Notes)
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (37.5ml) filtered water
- 1 tablespoon (8g) flax meal (see Notes)
- 2/3 cup (76g) blanched almond flour (see Notes)
- 2 cups (170g/6oz) sliced cremini mushrooms (see Notes)
- 1/4 cup (37g) diced red onion (see Notes)
- 1/4 cup (12g) finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 2 tablespoons (8g) nutritional yeast
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (7.5g) Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon (16g) tomato paste
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5ml) balsamic vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons (12g) Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon (4g) garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon (6g) Celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) fresh lemon juice
- 1/8 teaspoon (0.25g) red pepper flakes
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for cooking
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add the walnuts, and cover with room temperature filtered water, Soak for 2 to 4 hours, and then drain. (Alternatively, quick-soak activated walnuts with boiling water for 10 minutes, and then drain. See the Notes.)
- Make the flax egg: In a small bowl, whisk the filtered water and flax meal together until well combined. Set aside for 5 minutes, and then whisk again. Allow this mixture to sit for at least 15 minutes until you have thick gel.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C), and line a baking sheet with a silicone sheet or parchment paper.
- Pat your drained walnuts dry to remove any excess moisture (or your mixture may be too wet). Then, place the walnuts into a food processor fitted with the s blade, and pulse until finely ground. (You do not want chunks of walnuts or your veggie balls will be crunchy.) Add the blanched almond flour, mushrooms, red onion, parsley, nutritional yeast, Italian seasoning, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, mustard, garlic powder, salt, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes.
- Add the flax egg, and process the mixture until it is well combined and the consistency of pâté. (You may have to stop your food processor, and scrape down the sides of the container and under the blades to ensure your mixture combines evenly.)
- Using a tablespoon measurer, scoop out the mixture, and with your hands, roll into 20 equal-sized balls. (The mixture will feel wet, but it will hold together when cooked.)
- Transfer the balls to the prepared baking sheet. Using a pastry brush, gently glaze each veggie ball with a tiny amount of olive oil. (Alternatively, spray them with cooking spray.)
- Bake for 15 minutes. Then, brush or spray again with oil. Bake for a further 15 minutes, until cooked through, slightly browned, and firm on the outside. Allow the balls to cool on the tray for 5 to 10 minutes before using.
- Serve out one portion (5 veggie balls), and transfer the remaining balls to a sealed container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
YIELD: Makes 20 Veggie Balls.
SERVING SIZE: 1 serving = 5 Veggie Balls.
WALNUTS: To support better digestion, long-soak your walnuts for 2 to 4 hours. But, seeing as the burgers will bake and the nuts will get toasted to remove some of the enzyme inhibitors, you could save time and quick-soak them. Do not skip the soaking and use dry walnuts in this recipe as you do need moistened walnuts to hold the mixture together.
FLAX MEAL: Use brown or golden flax meal.
BLANCHED ALMOND FLOUR: You will get a better result with blanched almond flour. But, you can substitute whole almond flour/meal.
CREMINI MUSHROOMS: Substitute with white button mushrooms or shiitake mushrooms.
RED ONION: Substitute with yellow onion.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Make the SK60® Veggie Balls with Marinara Sauce with other SK60® sauces or non-starchy vegetable sides.
PROTEIN BOOSTERS: Check the protein content of the core recipe, review your protein needs, then refer to the SK60® Protein Boosters cheat sheet for the appropriate portion size.
Plant Protein: Garnish with hemp seeds or serve with SK60® Cheese Sauce, Garlic Sauce, Aioli, Curry Sauce, Lemon Tahini Sauce, Mayo, Sour Cream, Ricotta, or Ranch Dressing. Or serve with SK60® Bread (1-slice serving)or Vegan Almond Crackers.
Animal Protein: Serve with grilled beef, chicken, turkey, fish, or cooked eggs.
FOOD COMBINING: Combines well with other protein fats (nuts and seeds), animal protein, leafy greens, non-starchy vegetables, sea vegetables, or any of the Magic Foods (that combine well with any foods). Does NOT combine well with fruit, quinoa (or other grains), or starchy vegetables. Refer to the SK60® Master Food Combining cheat sheet.
Nutrition
Calories: 266kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 20.8g | Saturated Fat: 1.5g | Sodium: 646mg | Potassium: 482mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 4g | Calcium: 55mg | Iron: 1mg
I was craving veggie balls … and then this recipe appeared!! Thank you, Tess for being ahead of my cravings!!!
I’m still working out the cooking times as I live at a high altitude and have a convection oven … adding time next time …
Yummy, and absolutely delicious.
These are so morish. My tip to you is pack the others away before you try one or they won’t make it to the freezer
Felt like falafel and thought these would be a great stand in! Made a butter lettuce salad with carrot, tomato, bell pepper and avocado. Topped with pine nuts, SK60 Parmesan and dressed with the lemon tahini sauce as a dressing. It worked!
Hi Tess, I do not have any balsamic vinegar, I thought I did, I have all the ingredients ready in the bowl, lesson learned to not start to prepare until I have prepped all ingredients!!!! what can I use instead or can I omit?
thank you
Melina, you really do need the balsamic vinegar to get the balance of flavors. If you leave it out, the veggie balls are not going to taste right.
Combined with the marinara sauce and WOW, fills the tummy and the merging of flavors is impeccable. Way to go!
Yum yum! Love these! One thing I like to do is double the recipe and make veggies balls plus veggie burgers. Exact same recipe but you can make “meat”balls for a meal and the burgers for another meal. They freeze well too. I reheat them in our toaster oven after defrosting. I should point out that I do not make a double batch by adding everything all together (Tess told us that). Instead, I have two bowls out and put the ingredients into each bowl separately. Still saves prep time ultimately, and leaves me with two different meals.
Would it be possible to use the leftover almond milk pulp (after it’s been dried in a low oven) in this recipe?
Yes, you could replace the blanched almond flour with dried almond milk pulp. Just know that almond pulp has some of the fat strained away, so it does not have the same properties as the whole blanched almond flour. So, the texture of your veggie balls will be different, and you may have to tweak the other quantities a little to get the consistency you like and get the ball to hold together and be moist inside after cooking. I have not tested this recipe using almond milk pulp.
Seriously one of my favorite things thus far! Combination of all the ingredients is amazing! So so good.
These veggie balls are absolutely fantastic! I have only a small food processor, so I processed the walnuts, then the mushrooms separately. I added them to a bowl, mixed in the almond flour, and balance of the dry ingredients. Then I whisked together the flax egg, lemon juice, mustard, tomato paste and vinegar, and added them to the rest. Better than any store-bought vegan meatballs, and much healthier.
Has anyone used a different flour? I would like to cook this for a family dinner, but my daughter is allergic to almonds.
I have not tested this, but it should work: Substitute the 2/3 almond flour for finely ground raw sunflower seeds. So, place raw sunflower seeds (dry) into a spice grinder or coffee grinder until you have 2/3 cup sunflower seed “flour”.
These are so yummy! I keep trying to make extra to freeze for emergency dinners, but they all get eaten by the family too quickly. We have used the ranch sauce, cheese sauce and curry sauce with them. All yummy.
This looks great! Wondering about a good substitute for tomato paste and balsamic. Both vinegar and tomatoes aren’t allowed in my eating right now. Thanks.
I’m sorry, but there is not an effective substitute for those two ingredients in this recipe. The umami note comes from the alchemy that is created with the tomato, balsamic vinegar, and mustard.
ok thanks
These are amazing and taste awesome with the marinara sauce. Do you think it’s okay to freeze these? Since they have the walnuts in them I wasn’t sure how the texture would be after defrosting.
Yes, you can freeze these Veggie Balls!
Can you substitute an egg for the flax egg?
I have not tested this recipe with an egg, but it should work to bind the mixture. Just use a small egg. Note that an egg will add a bit more moisture, so you may have to adjust the quantities of almond flour to get the texture you want.