Vegetarian Meatballs Recipe (2024)

Either I'm starving or these meatballs are amazing! (Or both.) I made substitutions based on the ingredients I had on hand. I used cooked quinoa instead of bulgur, crushed Saltines instead of breadcrumbs, and feta instead of ricotta. I didn't bother with the marinara I'm not a huge tomato person but these were absolutely amazing right out of oven (after cooling). I found it easier to roll all meatballs into balls first then rub in the breadcrumbs with my hands. Would definitely make again!

Violife makes a great vegan Parmesan. I used Bob’s red mill egg replacer and some “ricotta (tofu+ soaked cashews blitzed in a food processor w/ garlic powder, salt and lemon juice)” I had leftover from making lasagna.

Rennet is a byproduct of veal production, and therefore not vegetarian even in the most liberal interpretation. I happen to be a carnivore, but it's rude to assume vegetarians don't understand their own dietary restrictions.

Seems like there’s confusion over vegetarian and vegan. Vegetarian, if ovo/lacto can eat animal products, specifically dairy and eggs. Vegans eat no animal products of any kind.

I'm not a fan of mushrooms, so I replaced them and the bulgar with about a 1/2 cup of cooked wild rice. I found that the balls required closer to 25-30 minutes of cooking time. These were extremely tasty! Kind of like an Italian falafel.

Excellent recipe and appears adaptable to use what you have on hand. I made them slightly bigger (about 2"), which yielded 16 meatballs that baked for 32 minutes until they were golden. Added a healthy amount of roasted garlic, a pearl onion, and a few extra cremini mushrooms to the mixture. Did not have bulgur, so substituted couscous instead. Served on a roll with some homemade marinara for vegetarian meatball subs!

It is passover week so I swapped out the breadcrumbs for matzoh meal instead - used mixed mushrooms (had a bunch of different ones), served with polenta, marinara and broccoli!

These sound delicious, but technically Parmesan isn’t vegetarian bc most Parmesan is made with rennet.

Great recipe. I use leftover rice, which is always in my fridge, in place of the bulgur and it works out fine. Can add small amounts of other vegetables, too (onion, bell peppers, shallots.) It's a forgiving recipe. More of a crabcake/fritter experience than a "meatball," but still delicious.

Too much of the chickpea flavor came through for me. I’ll stick with Chef John’ss Italian meatballs on Allrecipes which is “meatless” via use of mushrooms.

To those who are saying that Parm is made with rennet - this is not always true. For example BelGioioso is a wonderful parm that does not have rennet. There are others as well - the interwebs can help with that.

that would be vegan, nowadays anyway!

These take a little work, but they are worth it! I was out of bulgur, so I used farro. (I made a full batch and we had Melissa Clark's roasted broccoli farro bowls with lemon tahini the next night.) The cooked meatballs were sturdy enough to be simmered in marinara sauce. They also freeze well.

These meatballs are yummy and I will make them again. I didn't have fennel, so subbed 3/4 tsp anise seed; flavoring worked out well. Also subbed cooked quinoa for the bulgur. The wet mixture was a little challenging for me to handle, just felt a bit crumbly. I ended up adding a second egg to help bind it all together. I only added 1 tbsp of olive oil to the coating and just lightly covered the meatballs before baking. 20 minutes at 375 was good for me.

These meatballs are yummy and I will make them again. I didn't have fennel, so subbed 3/4 tsp anise seed; flavoring worked out well. Also subbed cooked quinoa for the bulgur. The wet mixture was a little challenging for me to handle, just felt a bit crumbly. I ended up adding a second egg to help bind it all together. I only added 1 tbsp of olive oil to the coating and just lightly covered the meatballs before baking. 20 minutes at 375 was good for me.

For all the work, found them a bit bland.

Tasty but totally fell apart when after roasting them put them in marinara. It was like a veg Bolognese.

Most vegetarians know about microbial rennet, but I still think it’s unfortunate that so many “vegetarian” recipes include hard cheeses without mentioning the rennet thing. People who are trying to cook for vegetarian friends or visitors probably have no idea and are going to assume that a NYT recipe literally titled “vegetarian” can be made as-is and will be suitable. Would we be this dismissive about marshmallows? Vegetarian ones exist but it’s not the default or assumed unless mentioned.

I used a heavier dose of farro rather than bulgar, and puréed a roast red pepper sauce to go with it. Delicious.

To those who are saying that Parm is made with rennet - this is not always true. For example BelGioioso is a wonderful parm that does not have rennet. There are others as well - the interwebs can help with that.

How is this a vegetarian recipe if you’re using Parmesan? Isn’t there rennet in Parmesan?

Believe it or not, you can get Parmesan cheese with microbial or vegetable rennet (usually these are grated varieties, unfortunately, but it should still work in this recipe).

Less allspice and nutmegBrown flour with butter to get goo colorOnly makes enough gravy to glaze meatballs

Great recipe. I use leftover rice, which is always in my fridge, in place of the bulgur and it works out fine. Can add small amounts of other vegetables, too (onion, bell peppers, shallots.) It's a forgiving recipe. More of a crabcake/fritter experience than a "meatball," but still delicious.

These are absolutely delish!I am a vegetarian, my husband is not. He gave them a HUGE thumbs up. They took me longer than 50 minutes to make (I wish I had doubled the recipe). I also cooked them longer than written above... probably closer to 25 minutes.

These are really tasty! I didn’t have ricotta so I subbed with tofu and used couscous in place of bulgur. I also made them slightly larger than the recipe called for so the yield was 18. Despite all the changes these held together really well. They take a bit of time to make but I think I’ll make them again

I followed the recipe EXACTLY. This was a disaster...they crumbled and forget turning them halfway through. They tasted good....we ended up scrambling them up as a kind of melange. Forget the "balls" part.....

I made these for my 15 year old veggie daughter who doesn't like mushrooms (which is just as well, since we didn't have any in the house!). I subbed the mushrooms with about 1/4cup red bell pepper. I cooked them in the air fryer and they were delightful.