Cheesy Vegan Meatball Sub Recipe

How to make a meatball sandwich even more awesome? Add a layer of ooey-gooey melted cheese! But you don’t need meat or dairy for this. The entire sandwich is plant-based, and for that, we’re making the meatballs and cheese sauce from scratch. I know you’ll love these Cheesy Vegan Meatball Subs!

This is the ultimate cheesy vegan meatball sub, featuring:

home made Vegan Meatballs (TVP = made with textured vegetable protein, also known as soy granules)
flavored Tomato sauce
from scratch cheese sauce (It’s nut-free and you don’t need a blender for this)
and a baguette or sandwich bread

This meatball sandwich should be messy. Messy, well, actually. Just don’t wear white, okay?

Homemade Vegan Cheese Sauce

The cheese sauce is amazing:

no nuts
No blender required
Only a container is made by combining the ingredients
Can be made in 5 minutes

Give it a try! It’s perfect for lasagna, pizza, even as a dip!

How to Make a Cheesy Vegan Meatball Sub

As always, you’ll find the full recipe with measurements in the recipe box below, but I’d like to give you an overview of the main ingredients and basic steps first.

Key ingredients and possible replacements

I know this is a long list, but don’t worry. I’m including all the ingredients if you want to make everything from scratch like I did. But you can always take shortcuts and substitute some items for store-bought products (like meatballs or cheese).

Also, you can make a whole batch of my TVP meatballs, freeze them, and when you want to make this sandwich, you just thaw them and heat them in the pan.

You will need:

Vegan Meatballs (sub with store-bought vegan meatballs)
- I granule/dvt
- yellow onion
- cloves of garlic
- Fresh parsley
- piece of bread
- Spices: Sweet paprika, smoked paprika, dried thyme, dried oregano, salt, soy sauce, liquid smoke – don’t worry if you’re missing an item or two, you can play around with the spices.
- Tomato sauce
Vegetarian Cheese Sauce (If you don’t want to make your own cheese sauce, sub with store-bought vegan melted cheese slices)
- Vegan butter or coconut oil
- All-purpose flour – makes the cheese stretchy
- Spices – I used salt, paprika powder, curry powder, pepper and garlic powder (but feel free to experiment with different spices!).
- Nutritional yeast flakes – adds cheesy flavor!
- the water
Sandwich bread or a baguette
fresh mint

basic steps

Vegan Meatballs

Pan-hydrated soy beans — Step 1: To rehydrate the soybeans, add them to a pan. Add water and spices (soy sauce, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, salt, liquid smoke, thyme). Mix well. Cook it on medium to low flame till it absorbs all the liquid. Then transfer it to a container.

Onions, garlic and parsley in a pan — Step 2: Cook the minced onion and garlic until translucent. Add chopped parsley. Then add to the bowl with the soy beans.

Soya beans, onion, garlic, parsley, breadcrumbs in bowl — Step 3: Add bread crumbs.

TVP is shaping meatballs — Step 4: Allow it to cool slightly until it is cool enough to handle. Then shape into meatballs. For evenly sized meatballs, use an ice cream scoop.

TVP meatballs before baking — Step 5: Add the meatballs to a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Spray them with oil. Bake them at 400°F/200°C for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and slightly crispy on the outside.

TVP meatballs after baking — Step 5: Add the meatballs to a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Spray them with oil. Bake them at 400°F/200°C for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and slightly crispy on the outside.

Vegan Meatballs in Pan — Step 6: Toast the meatballs in a pan with a little oil until hot and crispy, then reduce the heat, add the tomato sauce, a pinch of salt and dried oregano.

Vegan Meatballs in Tomato Sauce — Step 6: Toast the meatballs in a pan with a little oil until hot and crispy, then reduce the heat, add the tomato sauce, a pinch of salt and dried oregano.

Vegan cheese sauce

Vegan butter and spices — Step 1: Melt vegan butter or coconut oil in a bowl. Add spices. sparkling

Butter and spices in a bowl — Step 1: Melt vegan butter or coconut oil in a bowl. Add spices. sparkling

Flour and seasoned butter in a bowl — Step 2: Add the flour. sparkling

Stirring the flour into the spiced butter — Step 2: Add the flour. sparkling

Adding nutritional yeast to spiced butter — Step 3: Add the nutritional yeast. sparkling

Stir the nutritional yeast into the seasoned butter — Step 3: Add the nutritional yeast. sparkling

Add water to make vegan cheese sauce — Step 4: Add water. Blend until smooth and creamy.

A jar of vegan cheese sauce — Step 4: Add water. Blend until smooth and creamy.

Tip: If you don’t use the sauce immediately, it will thicken quite a bit. Add a little more water and stir again. Then as good as new!

Assemble the sandwich

Drizzling vegan cheese on the meatball sub — Step 1: Slice the bread. Add saucy vegan meatballs, drizzle with vegan cheese and sprinkle with chopped basil. Enjoy!

More vegetarian sandwiches

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I hope you enjoy these Cheesy Vegan Meatball Subs as much as I do! Let me know if you try one of them!

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Cheers, Bianca

Cheesy Vegan Meatball Sub

Bianca Hawn | Elephantastic Vegan

How to make a meatball sandwich even more awesome? Add the cheese! But you don’t need meat or dairy for this. The entire sandwich is plant-based, and for that, we’re making the meatballs and cheese sauce from scratch.

Q. Time 20 minutes

cooking time 40 minutes

total time 1 hours

course Main course, snacks

cuisine American, vegan

serving 2 people

calories 938 kcal

Ingredients for Vegan Meatballs (makes 12 meatballs – you can freeze the rest!).

Ingredients for Vegan Cheese Sauce

Instructions for the Meatballs

To rehydrate the soybeans, add them to a pan. Add water and spices (soy sauce, smoked paprika, sweet paprika, salt, liquid smoke, thyme). Mix well. Cook it on medium to low flame till it absorbs all the liquid. Then transfer it to a container.I’m using a very fine grain so it only takes about a minute until the liquid soaks in, if your grain is larger it may take a little longer.
In a pan with olive oil over medium to high heat, cook the chopped onion and minced garlic until translucent and slightly browned. Then add chopped parsley. Give it a quick mix. Then add to the bowl with the soy beans.
Add soybeans and onion-garlic-parsley, breadcrumbs.
Let it cool slightly until it is cool enough to handle. Then shape into meatballs. For evenly sized meatballs, use an ice cream scoop.
Add the meatballs to a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Spray them with oil.
Bake them at 400°F/200°C for 12-15 minutes until golden brown and slightly crispy on the outside.
Toast the meatballs in a pan with a little oil until hot and crispy, then reduce the heat, add the tomato sauce, a pinch of salt and dried oregano.

Instructions for the cheese sauce

Heat coconut oil or butter in a small pot over low heat.
Add salt, curry powder, garlic powder, pepper and paprika powder. sparkling
Add flour. sparkling
Add nutritional yeast, beat again until sticky.
Add water and stir on low heat for a few minutes until it thickens. If the cheese becomes too thick you can add a little more water and whisk again. Set aside.

Additional instructions

Add the saucy meatballs to the baguette (I used 4 meatballs for 1 sandwich for 1 person), drizzle with the cheesy sauce and sprinkle with fresh basil. Enjoy!

Calories: 938kcalSugars: 129gProtein: 28gFat: 35gSaturated Fat: 15gSodium: 2674mgPotassium: 888mgFiber: 16gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 290IUVitamin C: 5.9mgCalcium: 223mgIron: 9.8mg

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