Description
Easy vegetarian meatballs made with white beans, whole grains, egg, Italian herbs and garlic in a bath of marinara sauce.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 15-ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup cooked quinoa and/or brown rice
- ¼ cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
- 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan + more for serving
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons low sodium tomato paste
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 24-ounce jar lower sodium marinara
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Fit a baking sheet with a wire rack and coat with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the beans, quinoa or brown rice, parsley, Parmesan, egg, olive oil, tomato paste, garlic, onion, oregano, salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes until a paste forms.
- Form into 2-inch round balls and line on the wire rack about an inch apart. Optional: coat each ‘meat’ball with cooking spray.
- Bake 22-28 minutes or until the meatballs are golden brown and firm.
- Warm the marinara sauce in a skillet. Transfer the ‘meat’balls to the marinara and bring to a simmer. Serve ‘meat’balls and marinara with grated Parmesan on top.
Notes
Cooking Tip: To make the meatballs vegan, try Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer or a flax ‘egg’. To make a flax egg, mix together 1 tablespoons ground flax seed with 2 tablespoons water and let sit in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. This replaces 1 egg.
Serving Tip: Serve with a green salad with vinaigrette dressing.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4 meatballs + 3/4 cup sauce
- Calories: 311
- Sugar: 1g
- Sodium: 581mg
- Fat: 16g
- Saturated Fat: 3g
- Unsaturated Fat: 13g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 28g
- Fiber: 7g
- Protein: 11g
- Cholesterol: 50mg
Keywords: vegetarian, plant-based, vegan, meatballs, beans