Easy Vegan Meatballs Using Chickpeas
Homemade vegan meatballs made with chickpeas are insanely flavorful – even meat-eaters will love them! This is an updated recipe from 2015 – it’s by far one of my most popular meatless recipes here on Karissa’s Vegan Kitchen. Because they are seriously delicious. If you’re on an oil-free diet, these easy meatballs will be a great addition to your meal plan.
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It is no surprise to people that know me, or regularly follow my blog – but I LOVE chickpeas. Chickpea recipes are totally my jam.
I’ve shared with you my tasty Turmeric Chickpea Salad Sandwich recipe and Healthy Vegan Gyro Salad with Chickpeas. Adding chickpeas to salads adds such a delicious element and texture. I’m sure it’s pretty obvious that I have these little round balls of goodness on hand at all times.
So, when I decided to make a healthy vegan meatball, I instantly turned to chickpeas. I have added them to meatloaf (in my pre-vegan days) to bulk it up when I did not have bread crumbs and it turned out amazing, so why not?!
These veggie meatballs are SO incredibly delicious, vegan and meat-eater approved, and pretty easy to make. Pair ’em with marinara sauce & your favorite pasta (mine is penne!) and you have a tasty vegan spaghetti & meatballs recipe that your family will LOVE.
Ingredients
- Chickpeas
- Ground flax seed
- Water
- Breadcrumbs
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Dried parsley
- Marjoram
- Salt
- Basil
- Black pepper
How to Make Vegan Meatballs
If you are using canned chickpeas, just go ahead and give them a whirl in the blender or a food processor. They don’t need to be totally smooth – a little chunkiness is great because it will give your meatless meatballs some texture and won’t be total mush when you bake them up.
Dried chickpeas require to be soaked in water beforehand (about 4 hours, or overnight) and then boiled. You will need to boil them until they are cracking open and beginning to shed their skin. This will ensure they are super soft which will make for the most cohesive meatballs. Boiling them might take an hour or so.
Personally, I like to peel off some of the skins to give the meatballs an even smoother texture before blending. Just pinch the bean and the skin will slide right off. This is totally optional (and time-consuming), though. I typically just take the skins off until I don’t feel like it anymore. #lazy
For a vegan “egg”, flax seed eggs work perfectly in this recipe to bind these vegan meatballs together. A flax seed egg is simply made by mixing water & ground flax. It gels up similar to egg texture and works great in many recipes as a binder! I use them to help breading stick to cauliflower and also in baked oatmeal!
After all of the ingredients come together, roll your meatballs up (I use a tablespoon measuring spoon to make them all the same size). If they crack when you try to roll them, add oil or chickpea juice (AKA aquafaba). If they are too sticky, add some more breadcrumbs.
Then, simply bake them in the oven and add them your favorite spaghetti dish or make vegan meatball subs!
FAQ
What’s the texture of these meatballs suppose to be like? They are crunchy on the outside and softer in the middle.
Can I substitute something for breadcrumbs? You can try to substitute breadcrumbs for oats, corn flakes…one reader has even tried tostadas! I’m not sure of the exact measurements for these since I haven’t tested them.
Can I freeze them? Yes! If frozen, pop them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until warmed through.
Will this recipe work for veggie burgers instead of meatballs? Yup! A few people in the comments have made these into burgers and loved them.
What can I substitute for flax seed? Reserved liquid from a can of chickpeas (aka, aquafaba) will work. You’ll need 4-6 tablespoons.
So isn’t this just like…falafel? No, not really. If I had a penny for every time I heard this (usually on Facebook…oh Facebook!), my student loan debt would be gone. 😉 The common factor is chickpeas, but falafel is made differently. Traditional falafel is not made with cooked chickpeas, it’s made with soaked chickpeas. It’s also fried, made with different seasonings, and is not made with breadcrumbs. Chickpeas smushed together doesn’t always = falafel. These chickpeas smushed together = AWESOME vegan meatballs. Glad that’s out of the way ❤
If you make these tasty chickpea meatballs – tag me in a photo on Instagram @karissasvegankitchen. I’d love to see your creations!
Easy Vegan Meatball Recipe with Chickpeas
Ingredients
- 2 cups chickpeas – reserve chickpea liquid if using canned
- 2.5 tablespoons ground flax seed
- 6 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1 teaspoon marjoram
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon basil
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- If you’re using dried chickpeas, soak for 4 hours. Boil them until they are splitting, about 45 minutes to an hour. Skip to Step 2 if using canned chickpeas!
- Drain the chickpeas & pinch the skin off as many as you have the patience for. Blend chickpeas in a blender until broken down.
- Make your flax seed “eggs” – mix 2.5 tablespoons of ground flax seed with 6 tablespoons of water. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.
- Mix together the chickpeas and flax seed eggs.
- Mix in the remaining ingredients. If the mixture is too sticky, add more breadcrumbs half a tablespoon at a time. If too dry, add a little chickpea liquid or oil. You want a consistency that will be easy to roll into balls without sticking to your hands or cracking.
- Taste it – does it need something? Add more of your favorite seasonings if you want! The perk of veggie meatballs is that you can taste test before cooking!
- Form the chickpea mixture into meatballs and place onto a greased or parchment-lined baking dish.
- In a 450 degree oven, bake the chickpea meatballs for 20-25 minutes, turning over halfway through. They will be golden and crispy on the outside when done!
Video
Notes
[nutrifox id=”23398″]
Do you think you could freeze the mixture in ball form and then thaw them to bake later? Thinking about taking them to a family function but would not have time the day of to prep them. Thanks
Yes!
Hi there these look amazing! Can I make them with lentils instead?
I haven’t tried them with lentils, but it should work! You may need to adjust the ingredient amounts if they are too wet or too dry.
Delicious! Even better than a meat meatball. Made exactly per the recipe. Will definitely be making again.
I used ground almonds for a gluten free option. Cooked in oil and then added to a sauce as I wanted them a little on the soft side and they turned out well, with gluten free gnocchi..Wondered if they could be steamed, might give it a try.
They are delicious, a little mushy on the inside and they flattened out. Don’t know what I did wrong. Didn’t use the flax seed.
Did you use the water, but not the flax seed? That might create a mixture that is too liquidy as the flax soaks up the water to create “flax eggs”. If you don’t have or can’t have flax, chia seed is a good substitute.
I’m very excited to try this. So many “meat” recipes use the vital wheat gluten as the base of the recipe and I dont want to eat alot of that product…so totally excited to use chickpea. Thank you so much!
I’m a lazy person and I’m wondering if it’s okay to just blend everything in the blender instead of blending only the chickpeas and mixing in the rest of the ingredients later?
That should be fine!
So good! I made these by substituting the breadcrumbs with 1/2 cup oats and it worked well. I also added more seasoning and cooked over stovetop (my oven was broken). They were a little dry, but I think I just cooked them too long. Overall really good taste and pretty similar meatball texture! Definitely would make again.
I have these in the oven right now. I tasted them before I put them in. Was good so I added nothing. I’ll let you know how they turn out.
these look delicious! Can I substitute oats for the breadcrumbs?
Yes! Someone else used oats instead of breadcrumbs and said they turned out good. I’d start with 1/4 cup since they soak up a lot of moisture to be safe, and then add more if the mixture is too sticky.
Can I make the mix the night before, put them in the fridge, and then cook them the next day?
Yes!
I made these once loved them so had to make a triple batch the next day to freeze! Brilliant recipe and low in fat and calories!!! I will add mine to soups and stews or eat them as a snack!
Wow! If I can make these, ANYONE CAN! I followed the ingredients EXCEPT for the flax egg. I doubled the recipe (got 36 meatballs) and used a 3.9 oz. snack cup of unsweetened applesauce. Texture was excellent. Hardly anything on my hand after forming meatballs.
Now I have two requests to make more for Sabbath lunch. (Yes, I shared the recipe, nevertheless they still want me to do it!! But, what are friends for! :-))
By the way, I used a chopper to break down my chickpeas. I was worried that the VitaMix was going to give me hummus.
Thank you! Much appreciation for a tasty and simple recipe.
Oh I am SO GLAD you enjoyed! Thanks for commenting.
Very tasty 🙂
Hey Karissa! I love following your recipes. A couple of quick questions about these meatballs. First – are they a firm texture? Second – I would like to use them with a gravy over rice (beef tips with rice) – would these work for that? Should I change the seasonings?
What kind of blender do you have?! This did not work at all in my blender! My blender couldn’t handle a mixture this thick. Next time I’ll use a food processor. I was trying to save time and have less pieces to wash, but total fail for me ☹️
They look delicious though.
Oh yikes. I have made this with two different blenders. However, after blending the chickpeas down you can put them in a bowl and mix in the remaining ingredients.
Hi! This is the first recipe I found that did not include oats! I can’t believe I stood there for like 10 minutes peeling the beans! Lol! I didn’t have bread crumbs and we are wheat and gluten free so I used tortilla chips and ground them up and it worked beautifully! These are delicious! Thank you!
These meatballs were delicious! I made them for me and my husband, being that I am newly vegan but he’s still vegetarian! I see a lot more recipes here that I look forward to trying…..I put the meatballs in a fantastic rich tomato sauce . Yum!!!!
I picked this recipe because it looked easy and I had all the ingredients; plus no oil. I love them. Exceeded my expectations. Thank you! Surprisingly authentic. How do I not eat the whole batch?
Wonderful recipe. Looks really mouth watering. I am definitely gonna try it soon.
When you ask for 1 tsp marjoram and 1/2 tsp basil, I assume you’re talking about dried marjoram and basil rather than ground. I have to admit that I find it annoying when recipes don’t make that clear. Anyway, I’m anxious to try these.
Yep. I’ve never seen/used ground marjoram or basil so I suppose I wasn’t aware to specify. This is why I like to shoot process photos and make recipe videos – so readers can see the products I’m using if they are confused.
Is it 2 T of ground flaxseed or 2.5 T? In the ingredient list you say 2.5, but in the directions you say 2.
Sorry – it’s 2.5
Okay, I just found the question answered above.
It looks good enough to try and I am looking forward to them.
Hope you enjoy!
Since you are using chickpeas, can you just use aquafaba for the “egg” or does the flaxseed add something else?
I personally like to add flaxseeds for the nutritional factor (they are part of Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen recommendations https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/flax-seeds/) but either will work! 🙂
I loved these! I made a few adjustments. I am not vegan, so I used eggs (per your recommendation, 2 of them). I did not have bread crumbs so I instead used oats and a 1/2 piece of bread, which I pulsed together in my food processor. I didn’t feel like there was enough dry product with 1/2 cup, so I upped it to 3/4 cup and that did the trick. The texture came out PERFECT. I haven’t eaten meat in over a decade so take it with a grain of salt, but the texture reminded me of the meatballs I ate as a child – only maybe better?? I love that I didn’t have to fry these (or use any oil) to get a crispy outside and still keep a moist inside. I could cut into these with a knife down the center, and they would stay in two solid pieces- no crumbly mess! I also added cumin, as I really love the flavor it gives (personal preference)! I then served them over zoodles, but could easily eat these by themselves with a little bit of spaghetti sauce. I will definitely make these again!! Thank you for sharing!
Glad you could make them work for you!!