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Hearty, savory vegetable meatballs made with lentils, mushrooms, and walnuts, simmered in a rich, homemade marinara sauce. A delicious and satisfying plant-based take on an Italian-American favorite, perfect for a comforting dinner.
Prepare the lentils and flax egg
Sauté the vegetable base
Create the meatball mixture
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Hearty, savory vegetable meatballs made with lentils, mushrooms, and walnuts, simmered in a rich, homemade marinara sauce. A delicious and satisfying plant-based take on an Italian-American favorite, perfect for a comforting dinner.
This italian_american recipe takes 120 minutes to prepare and yields 4 servings. At 326.57 calories per serving with 13.65g of protein, it's a moderately challenging recipe perfect for dinner or lunch.
Form and bake the meatballs
Make the fresh marinara sauce
Combine and serve
To make this nut-free, replace the walnuts with an equal amount of sunflower seeds or simply omit them.
For an extra protein boost, add 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast to the meatball mixture. This will also add a cheesy, savory flavor.
To save time, you can use a 28-ounce can of high-quality crushed tomatoes instead of making the sauce from scratch.
Finely chop the vegetables for the meatballs to make the texture smoother. Serve with a fun pasta shape like rotini or bow ties.
Lentils and walnuts provide a substantial amount of protein, which is essential for muscle repair, immune function, and overall body maintenance.
With lentils, oats, and vegetables, this dish is an excellent source of fiber, promoting digestive health, stable blood sugar levels, and a feeling of fullness.
Walnuts and olive oil contribute monounsaturated and omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to support cardiovascular health by reducing bad cholesterol levels.
Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that helps protect cells from damage. Garlic, onions, and herbs also add to the antioxidant content.
Yes, these vegetable meatballs are very healthy. They are packed with fiber from lentils and oats, vitamins from vegetables, and healthy fats from walnuts. They are a great plant-based source of protein and are much lower in saturated fat than traditional meatballs.
One serving of 4 vegetable meatballs with marinara sauce contains approximately 300-350 calories, not including pasta. The calories come from the lentils, walnuts, oats, and olive oil.
Absolutely. You can mash the cooked lentils with a potato masher or a fork and finely chop all the sautéed vegetables. Combine everything in a large bowl and mix well with your hands.
The combination of the flax egg and rolled oats acts as a binder. Chilling the mixture before rolling and baking them (instead of frying) are key steps to ensure they hold their shape perfectly.
They are incredibly versatile! Serve them over zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash for a low-carb option, in a sub sandwich, or with creamy polenta or mashed potatoes.
