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Smoky Spanish-Style Vegan Meatballs

by Ben, So Vegan August 5, 2020November 22, 2021
August 5, 2020November 22, 2021
Smokey Spanish Style Vegan Meatballs Recipe

These delightful vegan meatballs take inspiration from the famous Spanish tapas dish ‘Albondigas’.

  • You can make this gluten-free using tamari instead of soy sauce and skipping the crusty bread at the end.
  • We used passata because we love the smooth consistency, but you can substitute this for tinned tomatoes.
  • These vegan meatballs go perfectly with crusty bread, but we’ve also served them with grains like buckwheat and quinoa.
  • It’s important to avoid over-processing the meatball mixture because they’ll turn into a ‘mushy’ texture. Simply pulse until you can roll the mixture together into your hands and it doesn’t fall apart.
  • You’ll also want to leave the meatballs to rest after they’ve come out of the oven. They’ll become firm and it’ll help prevent them falling apart in the pan.

Spanish-Style Vegan Meatballs ✌️ Our new cookbook ONE POT VEGAN is out now 👉 sovegan.co/onepv

Posted by So Vegan on Wednesday, 5 August 2020

Smokey Spanish Style Vegan Meatballs Recipe

Smokey Spanish-Style Vegan Meatballs

Serves: 4 people Prep Time: 10 minutes
Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

  • 2 x 400g tin of black beans, drained + rinsed
  • 2 garlic clove, peeled
  • 50g / 1.8oz rolled oats
  • 80g / 2.8oz walnuts
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce (or tamari for gluten-free)
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
  • salt + pepper
  • olive oil

For the sauce:

  • olive oil
  • 1 onion, peeled + diced
  • 2 garlic clove
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • salt + pepper
  • 800g / 28.2oz passata
  • 1 tsp granulated sugar

Optional toppings:

  • fresh parsley
  • crusty bread

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 356°F fan-assisted. For the meatballs, first add the beans and garlic to a food processor, along with the oats, walnuts, soy sauce, pinches of salt and pepper, cayenne pepper, smoked paprika and oregano. Pulse a dozen or so times until the mixture is combined, but avoid turning it into a mulch.
  2. Roll the mixture into 16 evenly-sized balls and transfer them to a tray. Brush each ball with olive oil, bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then remove the balls and leave them to rest on the side.
  3. Meanwhile add 2 tbsp of olive oil to a large pan on a medium heat. Then add the onion and fry for 5 minutes. Add the garlic to the pan, along with the smoked paprika and pinches of salt and pepper. Fry for 2 minutes. Next add the passata and granulated sugar. Stir, bring the sauce to a gentle boil, then lower the heat and simmer with the lid on for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will be ready when it has thickened slightly and the sauce is no longer bitter. If necessary, cook the sauce for an extra 5-10 minutes with the lid off.
  4. When the sauce is ready, add the meatballs, turn the heat down and gently stir them into the sauce. Serve with chopped fresh parsley and freshly ground black pepper, alongside some crusty bread.

Notes

Nutritional information per serving: Calories 385kcal / Protein 12.2g / Fat 22.8g / Sat Fat 3g / Carbs 30.7g / Sugar 11.6g / Fibre 9.8g

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50 Comments
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50 Comments

Tiffany August 5, 2020 - 8:20 pm

These look sooo good!! Can’t wait to make these!! Is there another substitute for the walnuts? We have nut allergies in our household.

Reply
Roxy, So Vegan August 5, 2020 - 9:34 pm

Thanks Tiffany! So the walnuts are really important for texture, so the best substitute that isn’t another nut is probably seeds i.e. sunflower seeds. However we haven’t tested this so we can’t be 100% certain it will work. Hope that helps!

Reply
Tom January 8, 2021 - 11:29 pm

Hi Roxy & Ben, I’ve been vegetarian for 35 yrs & the last few have been vegan, as I’ve increasingly become aware of dairy exploitation of animals. Thankfully I’ve hated eggs since childhood!
At any rate, I was wondering how much trouble these “meatballs” are to make without a food processor. I may be inheriting one in the not too distant future, but never broke down & bought one for myself. Should I just wait until Aug or so to attempt these, or are they easy enough to mix by hand? Also, I have pecan trees (organically cultivated, of course) & pecans are a bit softer than walnuts, so possibly that would facilitate hand mixing…? I do have a blender tho!
Thanks for any input, as my spouse loves meatballs in tomato sauce, & I refuse to cook animals!

Reply
Xena January 10, 2022 - 1:46 am

I have the same question on food processor use as Tom

Reply
Anonymous January 11, 2022 - 11:49 pm

I made these today without a food processor. I started it off in a liquidiser but it was too dry to make much difference. I did add a splash of water but ended up taking the mixture out and pestle and mortaring it. The albondigas were a bit chunky (but nice) and delicious.

Reply
Roxy, So Vegan May 31, 2022 - 5:48 pm

Hey Tom! Yes you can definitely make these without a processor. You’ll need to chop the nuts as small as possible, then mash the beans using a potato masher. The texture will be more chunky but they should still stay together (we’ve made burgers like this plenty of times) 🙂

Reply
Pammy January 2, 2022 - 3:11 pm

Came to ask the same question as Tiffany, I’ll try with sunflower seeds. My vegan son has tree nut allergies, but this recipe looks delicious.

Reply
Tummybird August 15, 2020 - 8:02 pm

Just made these – turned out really well, I loved the walnuts and oats as texture plus great to have whole foods rather than processed

Reply
Ben, So Vegan August 16, 2020 - 2:50 pm

Thank you!

Reply
Ana September 7, 2020 - 9:32 am

These meatballs were SO delicious, I used ground almonds instead of walnuts as I had lots of that at home and wanted to use it up and it came out really well. Next time I think I will put them in the oven for a little bit longer, or maybe turn the heat up, just to give them a little bit more of a firm bite as I don’t think I cooked them in the oven for long enough so mine were quite soft, but the flavour was amazing!!

Reply
Ben, So Vegan September 7, 2020 - 11:32 am

Thank you so much Ana 🙂

Reply
Susan September 9, 2020 - 10:27 pm

Thank you for the recipe, I enjoyed these tasty vegan meatballs. However my daughter found them too spicy so I’ll be reducing the amount of cayenne pepper next time.

Reply
Ben, So Vegan January 2, 2021 - 4:40 pm

Thanks Susan. Absolutely, you can adjust the spice level to your liking 🙂

Reply
Lisa September 26, 2020 - 7:36 pm

Another seriously amazing dish. Had them with sourdough to mop up all that lovely sauce. So tasty

Reply
Ben, So Vegan January 2, 2021 - 4:39 pm

Thanks Lisa!

Reply
Sandy longwell May 20, 2021 - 1:03 am

What’s Passata

Reply
Loretta December 1, 2020 - 11:27 am

Can you freeze meatballs

Reply
Ben, So Vegan January 2, 2021 - 4:40 pm

Yes definitely!

Reply
Jacqui Foote December 11, 2020 - 3:59 pm

First vegan meal for the family. Excellent will be doing it again. Only downside was the meatballs broke up in the sauce and were a bit soft even though I followed the recipe. Any advice would be very welcome.Jacqui

Reply
Ben, So Vegan January 2, 2021 - 4:44 pm

Hey Elaine. The meatballs should be nice and firm out of the oven and they should hold their shape well. They’ll become a little softer in the sauce, but we quite like that. Maybe try processing them a little less so the texture isn’t as soft? Hope that helps 🙂

Reply
Simon May 8, 2021 - 1:15 pm

Hey, they tasted great, but came out of the processor to “pasty” and couldn’t mold them with my hands as they were sticking and had to use my hands. Did I process them too much or didn’t drain the canned beans well enough?

Reply
Elaine December 20, 2020 - 6:21 pm

These were very tasty but I left them sitting in the tomato sauce for 5 or 10 mins and they broke up as I tried to serve them. If I made them again I think I would take the meatballs out of the oven, serve them up and pour the sauce over them.

Reply
Ben, So Vegan January 2, 2021 - 4:42 pm

Hey Elaine. Ah yes, the longer you leave the meatballs in the sauce, the softer they’ll become. But they should still hold their shape. Likewise, you can also pour over the sauce instead like you suggest. Glad you still found them tasty 🙂

Reply
Gabrielle December 30, 2020 - 5:47 pm

Hi, can you post any nutritional info for these recipes? Thanks for the recipe! For more binding I might try some vegan egg or vital wheat gluten.

Reply
Ben, So Vegan January 2, 2021 - 4:37 pm

Hey Grabrielle. Yes we’re planning to update all of our recipes with nutritional information soon. Sorry for the delay.

Reply
Kirsten January 3, 2021 - 8:02 am

So I am having my last lie in before term starts, day 3 of veganuary, see this recipe & am literally about to get up and make them for our meal, later. How exciting to be on such a learning curve! Walnuts and oats – amazing!

Reply
Anita Atkinson January 3, 2021 - 8:27 am

Hi. Do you think this would work ok with other beans? I have kidney beans but not black beans at the moment.

Reply
Sandy January 3, 2021 - 7:23 pm

I have made this with kidney beans and it was lovely.

Reply
Frances Lewer January 3, 2021 - 9:59 am

Hi. I love the idea of meatballs but I cannot eat oats or wheat and my husband has a nut allergy. What can I substitute for both items? Gluten free please. I do hope I can still cook them as they look fabulous.

Reply
Vicki January 17, 2021 - 11:31 am

Rice flour might work to bind them and perhaps something like quinoa to give the texture/ bite you’d get from the walnuts. Not sure if they would hold together but I’d imagine you’d get broadly similar flavours to the original.

Reply
Felicia Howell January 3, 2021 - 1:52 pm

They look so good, but I am seeing that many of the foods have nuts in them and I am allergic. What can I substitute the nuts with?

Reply
T Flew January 4, 2021 - 12:50 am

Hi. Can you provide the salt content per portion please. I know soy sauce contains a lot so wondering what the nutritional value is.
Thank you

Reply
Chez August 21, 2022 - 5:42 pm

I also would like this. Am on a lo salt diet and this seems to be the only thing missing. Would love to make but need salt content first!!

Reply
Kath January 4, 2021 - 7:54 pm

Do you know the calorie content please

Reply
Ben, So Vegan May 24, 2021 - 1:49 pm

Hey Kath we’ve updated this below the recipe thanks!

Reply
Lisa January 5, 2021 - 2:11 pm

Hello, I am going to give this recipe a try. Can you freeze the meatballs and cook at a later date? Thanks

Reply
Ben, So Vegan May 24, 2021 - 1:47 pm

Yes definitely!

Reply
Sheri January 6, 2021 - 2:36 am

Would these work as burgers?

Reply
Ben, So Vegan May 24, 2021 - 1:47 pm

Possibly but we haven’t tested this sorry!

Reply
Prezzzie January 12, 2021 - 12:44 am

I’m an athlete and keen to have a break down of the recipe eg: protein, carbs, fat etc… is this possible?

Reply
Ben, So Vegan May 24, 2021 - 1:50 pm

We’ve updated this below the recipe thanks!

Reply
Sue February 14, 2021 - 12:34 pm

These were so easy and tasty, thanks so much for this delicious recipe. I think I will go and make them again right now.

Reply
Ben, So Vegan May 24, 2021 - 1:47 pm

Thanks Sue!

Reply
Paula March 7, 2021 - 4:30 pm

Can the cooked meatballs be frozen?

Reply
Ben, So Vegan May 24, 2021 - 1:46 pm

Yes definitely!

Reply
Janice May 24, 2021 - 6:26 am

I am going to freeze them without the sauce, to have on hand for vegan guests, add sauce later should that work

Reply
Ben, So Vegan May 24, 2021 - 1:47 pm

Yes definitely. Just be sure to defrost them fully before cooking them in the oven 🙂

Reply
Andreia May 31, 2021 - 12:42 pm

Really delicious

Reply
KB January 3, 2022 - 7:04 pm

Very nice for my first day of Veganuary 2022

Reply
Bilkisu October 18, 2022 - 5:32 am

Masha Allah so delicious

Reply

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