You can make gluten-free vegetarian meatballs at home in just a few simple steps! Ready in 25 minutes, these veggie-stuffed meatballs combine cooked red quinoa and lentils, hemp seeds, and manchego or parmesan cheese to hold their shape nicely after baking.
I developed these gluten-free vegetarian meatballs for an event I hosted a few years ago where I was demonstrating how to use hemp hearts in various recipes. I served it up as a cute vegetarian meatball Christmas appetizer for those sad gluten free vegetarians who can never eat off the cater waiter’s trays.
But as I discovered when I returned to an empty fridge and subsequently thawed the dozen meatless meatballs in my freezer, these cuties taste even better over spaghetti for a weeknight dinner. (Hm.)
One of my favorite gluten-free weeknight dinner recipes is meatballs. So I wanted to share these gluten-free veggie meatballs as an alternative to my classic Italian gluten-free chicken meatballs and these 25-minute gluten-free beef meatballs (both site-wide favorites).
Ever since my SIBO diet days, returning to lentils as part of my diet has been a slow move. But veggie dinner recipes like these veggie meatballs make it a lot easier to gradually increase your consumption.
Lentils (especially canned) are one of the more easily digestible legumes, and since these meatless meatballs are also loaded with quinoa, very little of it ends up in the finished nugget.
And since they’re so small, you can start with just a few on your plate.
I get asked all the time what my current dietary rules are now that I don’t just focus on low FODMAP recipes and the answer is only gluten free. Otherwise, I try to eat a varied diet, especially whole grain products and legumes. Your gut is the biggest fan of fiber. It’s a total Belie(fi)ber.
These veggie meatballs are like little fiber piñatas that your gut bacteria can’t wait to break open and feast on. Not only are they packed with quinoa, lentils, shallots and herbs, but they also have a handful of hemp seeds instead of breadcrumbs!
The addition of fiber improves blood sugar levels, which can be an unfortunate downside to gluten-free vegetarian recipes that focus more on carbs as the main bulking agent.
How to serve and store these vegetarian meatballs
If you don’t want the extra carbs of serving these plant-based meatballs over pasta, you can simply use them as a main salad topper or drizzle them “naked” with marinara or one of those gluten-free sauces and condiments.
This recipe makes two dozen meatballs without the meat, so freeze a batch for those more desperate times without a fridge.
Can these quinoa meatballs be dairy-free and vegan?
If you want to make these vegetarian meatballs dairy-free too, you can easily omit the cheese. I love a little manchego for flavor but they bind perfectly with just the egg. You can probably swap out the egg for a flaxseed egg to make vegan quinoa meatballs, but I haven’t tried it personally, so proceed at your own risk! The mashed lentils help hold things together, but the quinoa requires a little extra glue.
More gluten-free meatball recipes:
Read on for this vegetarian quinoa meatballs recipe!
With health and hedonism,
Phoebe
Gluten-free vegetarian meatballs with lentils and quinoa
You can make gluten-free vegetarian meatballs at home in just a few simple steps! Ready in 25 minutes, these veggie-stuffed meatballs combine cooked red quinoa and lentils, hemp seeds, and manchego or parmesan cheese to hold their shape nicely after baking. You can easily make them dairy-free by leaving out the cheese.
portions 6
Ingredients
- 4 Big Eggs beaten
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sea-salt
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/3 Pound aged manchego cheese or parmesan cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1/2 Cup tightly packed parsley leaves
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1 large shallot
- 3 cups cooked lentils from 1 cup dry, see note
- 2 cups cooked quinoa from 1 cup dry, see note
- ¼ Cup hemp seeds
instructions
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
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In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, tomato paste, olive oil, salt, and paprika until well combined.
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In a food processor, pulse the manchego until fine crumbs form. Pour into the mixing bowl with the egg mixture.
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Place the parsley, garlic and shallot in the food processor and puree until finely chopped. Pour into the mixing bowl.
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Place the lentils in the food processor and blend into a coarse paste. Add to mixing bowl along with quinoa and hemp seeds. Fold the meatball mixture together until combined.
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Using clean hands, shape the quinoa and lentil mixture into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls (you can use a tablespoon for portioning) and place them on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, 1/2 inch (1.2 cm) apart. You should get 2 dozen mini meatballs.
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Bake for 25 minutes or until nicely browned. Serve with your favorite spaghetti and tomato sauce. Or even better, one of those gluten-free sauces!
Remarks
To cook the lentils, place 1 cup of dried lentils in a medium saucepan with a lid and cover with 2 inches of water. Add a bay leaf and two cloves of garlic (optional). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes until tender. Drain and rinse with cold water. Remove flavorings if used. To cook the quinoa, combine 1 cup of dried quinoa with 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan with a lid. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and cook until all liquid is absorbed, 17 minutes. Set aside to cool. Then fluff with a fork. If you don’t have a food processor, you can just grate the cheese and shred everything by hand.
Nourishment
Portion: 8thG
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