Vegan Greek-style meatballs made with a base of roasted mushrooms, walnuts, puy lentils and pearl barley, flavoured with herbs and spices like oregano, cumin and cinnamon. A little meaty with an umami mushroom flavour and incredibly delicious!
I served mine up with some tzatziki, Greek salad and flatbread, as delicious bowl, but they are also great as part of a Meze selection with some lemon potatoes, tzatziki or hummus. Whilst you can get vegan meatballs at supermarkets these days, sometimes you just want homemade food or something that's full of whole food ingredients for an extra hit of nutrients and flavour.
The meatballs are made using a food processor and then oven baked. Start by blending your mushrooms and seasonings, then spread out on a tray and bake to remove the water from the mushrooms, then blitz up with the rest of the ingredients, roll into balls and bake for 25 minutes. The hands-on time on this recipe is actually pretty quick, with just a little patience required for the baking, which will allow you to prep your accompaniments.
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Vegan Greek Mushroom Meatballs | Yield: 20 meatballs | Prep time: 15-20 mins, Cook time: 50 mins | Total time: 1 hour 10
You'll need
- Food processor
- Spatula
- Measuring cups & spoons
- Baking tray + greaseproof paper (I used reusable)
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Olive oil spray / olive oil + brush
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup walnuts
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 red onion
- 600g chestnut mushrooms
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- Zest 1 lemon
- 10g fresh parsley with stalks
- 10g fresh mint leaves
- 1 cup cooked (and cooled) puy lentils
- 1 cup cooked (and cooled) pearl barley
- 1/3 cup plain flour
Serving suggestion:
- Greek salad (I used tomatoes, cucumber, green pepppers, kalamata olives, red onion dressed with dried & fresh oregano, red wine vinegar, olive oil & minced garlic, for a Cretian-style salad)
- Tzatziki
- Greek-style pita bread
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°C fan and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Add the walnuts, garlic and onion to the food processor and blitz until mostly smooth. Then add in the mushrooms and blitz until in mostly smooth and even-sized pieces, you may need to do this in batches. Then blitz in the oregano, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper and salt.
- Spread out on a large baking tray in an even layer and bake for 25 minutes.
- Then add the lemon zest, fresh parsley and mint, cooked puy lentils and pearl barley to the food processor and blitz together to combine. Once cooked, add in the mushroom mixture and blitz again. Finally, add in the flour and blitz until the mixture comes together as a dough and the flour is fully incorporated.
- Using damp hands, roll out the mixture into 20 even-sized balls and spread out evenly on a line baking tray. Having wet hands will give them a smooth exterior and stop them sticking to your hands.
- Spray or brush with a little olive oil and bake for 20-25 mins at 200°C fan. Flip over half way through and spray with a little more oil, then serve up with your choice of accompaniments and enjoy!
Cassidy xx
