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I’m not a vegan or even a vegetarian, but we do eat a lot of plant-based meals in our house. We’ve been eating this way long enough that we’re at the point it’s pretty natural and easy. I know that for the everyday family, however, swapping meat for a vegan meal can be intimidating.
Today I want to encourage you to give it a try. Dedicate one night a week for a meatless meal and you’ll be doing your body a solid along with the environment and your wallet. Since it’s football season, why not take the #MeatlessMondayNight challenge and give a game day recipe a meatless spin?! I’ve got just the recipe for you. 
These Comfort No-Meat Balls are based (very loosely, obviously!) on Ree Drummond’s Comfort Meatballs. Meatballs are standard tailgating and game day fare, but you can get all of the comfort and taste without the beef. I swap out the meat in favor of a combination of lentils and black beans. Can we just talk about how much cheaper these alternatives are? If you’re buying high-quality ground beef, you’re paying $5.99/pound, minimum, so the 1 1/2 pounds of meat is going to cost you at least $9.00. How much will the lentils and beans cost you? About $1.38. Yeah, your budget is smiling already.
I even keep these no-meat balls dairy-free and gluten-free by using Silk Almondmilk and oats. And while these no-meat balls are perfect for game day, they also make a great meal. We’ve eaten them with rice and also on a bun for a no-meat ball slider! I hope you take the #MeatlessMondayNight challenge and start with these comforting no-meat balls!
Print
Comforting No-Meat Balls
- Total Time: 70 minutes
- Yield: 6 - 8 servings 1x
Ingredients
For the No-Meat Balls
1 cup dry lentils+water
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup Silk Almondmilk
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup flour (oat flour, whole wheat flour, or flour of your choice)
avocado oil or higher-heat oil of choice
for the sauce
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup tamari, soy sauce, or coconut aminos
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4–1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (to taste)
Instructions
Start by cooking your lentils. (Or you may use already cooked, canned lentils. You’ll need 2 1/2 cups cooked lentils.) Add your lentils and enough water to cover by a few inches to a sauce pan and bring to a rapid simmer. Reduce the heat, partially cover the pan, and gently simmer until the lentils are soft and the water is absorbed, about 20-30 minutes. Add more water during the cooking time if necessary.
Put the black beans in a medium bowl and partially mash them. Leave a few beans in tact for texture. Put the oats in a food processor and pulse a few times. Add the cooked lentils and pulse a few more times. Add the Silk Almondmilk, salt, ginger, garlic powder, and black pepper and pulse again. Do not over mix. Your mixture will look creamy oatmeal.
Add the lentil mixture to the black beans and stir well. Form the mixture into tablespoon size balls. Refrigerate the balls for 30 minutes or freeze them for 15 minutes to help them firm up.
Make the sauce. Mix all sauce ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Heat a thin layer of the oil (about 2-4 tablespoons) in a large skillet pan. Place the flour in a shallow bowl and dredge each ball in the flour and then place in the heated pan. Brown all sides of the ball, being careful as you move the no-meat balls from side to side.
Place the no-meat balls into a rectangular baking dish. Top with the sauce and bake in the oven until hot and bubbly, about 20-30 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes
This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Category: Appetiser
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Calories: 181
- Sugar: 17.5g
- Sodium: 477.9mg
- Fat: 1.5g
- Carbohydrates: 38g
- Protein: 6.1g
These looks delicious however 1/2 a cup of Maple Syrup seems like a lot of sugar to me. Do you think it would still be good with 1/4 cup?
I do think cutting back would be okay. The recipe is meant to be quite sweet, but totally understand not wanting to use that much sugar.
Would love to try this out but I dont have any lentils on hand. Can it be subbed with quinoa? Would it work?
I can’t say since I haven’t tested it. I want to say it would work, but I’m not sure it would hold together as well because of the texture of quinoa. Please do let me know if you try it!!
I made these actually as the recipe calls and I loved them. I wish I had browned them a little more though because the ones throughly browned were a bit crunchy which I liked.
Thanks for letting me know, Laura!
I’m really lazy…can I just stop after adding the lentil mixture to the black beans, taking that and throwing it all, unballed, into a minimally greased baking dish with the sauce on top and just baking it like a casserole? How much longer do you think I would have to bake it?
Do you think I should dust the dish with flour before putting the mixture in and some on top too but is that unnecessary if you don’t fry it? Lol
I think it’d work as a casserole. You probably wouldn’t have to bake it too much longer, actually. I don’t think you’d need to add any flour. Please let me know if you try it!
I tried just like that! I think it came out fairly good! But it was dense obviously because it’s supposed to be for meatballs. I realize I should have just made it more casserole-like by halving the oats so they would come out plumper and thus increasing the bean/lentil ratio.
I also wouldn’t bother with the processor, just use 3/4 oats to 1/4 oat flour, and maybe throw in a pepper or two for some vegetable.
Even like that, what I might try to do is shape it into ball shapes for fun before baking, I could have done it this time I realize now! I’m not sure if it would comply though with the changes I would make resulting in the higher liquid ratio. If I make it again like this I will report! 🙂
Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!
Can I skip the pan frying and go straight to the oven? We are WFPB so no oil. These seem simpler than most recipes I’ve found. I’m looking to bake in the oven then serve with spaghetti. Thanks!
Homemade balls AND homemade sauce?! You’re a gameday queen! You know I’m a huge fan of anything meatless and saucy so I’ll just stuff my face with these instead of watching the game. But really…
Game? What game? 😉