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Super flavorful Vegan Swedish Meatballs that are also gluten-free, oil-free and nut-free.
Vegan Swedish Meatballs
Ultimate comfort food, at your service. But this comfort food is also healthy, so it's a total guilt-free win.
I HAD to make a vegan recipe for Swedish meatballs - the gravy alone is just so good. The meatballs are made from lentils, mushrooms, oat flour, soy sauce, and more seasoning. For the accompanying gravy, we'll achieve that luscious gravy using a combination of coconut milk and soy (or almond) milk.
How to Make the Swedish Meatballs
There are three main components to the meatballs: the lentils, the mushrooms, and the oats.
First, sauté onion and garlic. Then add lentils and water to the pot to cook until tender. In the meantime, sauté the mushrooms in a separate pan.
To make oat flour, I prefer using the food processor. Just add in some rolled oats and process until a rough powder forms. It will not be as fine as all-purpose flour. Once you have your oat flour, add in the lentils, mushrooms, and remaining seasoning (parsley, allspice, nutmeg, pepper, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.) There are vegan Worcestershire sauce brands out there. Annie's is one brand, which I have found at Whole Foods and Earth Fare. The Kroger brand is also vegan if you have one near you.
I like to blend the mixture until all of the ingredients are incorporated together, but still some whole lentils and little chunks of mushrooms visible.
Perfectly Luscious Vegan Gravy
Yes, you can totally achieve creamy and rich gravy without using butter or oil. The "secret" is canned coconut milk - you can use full-fat, but I used light coconut milk for this recipe. To dull down the coconut flavor, we'll thin it out with some almond milk or soy milk. The seasonings for the gravy include dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper.
After you bring the gravy to simmer, remove it from the heat and whisk in a cornstarch slurry. Making a cornstarch slurry is as simple as mixing cornstarch with water. You can also use arrowroot powder.
I love serving these vegan Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes. Sometimes I make just the gravy to go over potatoes. Yum!
Vegan Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 3 tablespoon water
- ½ yellow onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- ½ cup dry lentils green or brown
- 1.5 cup water
- 1.5 cup mushrooms roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoon water
- ¾ cup rolled oats
- 2 teaspoon dried parsley
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2-3 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce make sure its vegan
Gravy
- 1 cup unsweetened, plain soy or almond milk
- 1 can (13.5oz) low-fat/light coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- pepper to taste
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch or arrowroot powder
- 2 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
Meatballs
- In a medium-sized pot, sauté the onion in 3 tablespoon water until translucent on medium heat (add more water if necessary). Add in garlic and sauté for additional 2-3 minutes.
- Add in lentils and 1.5 cup water. Bring to a boil then let simmer for 15-20 minutes (until liquid is absorbed and lentils are tender.)
- In a separate skillet, sauté mushrooms in 3 tablespoon water on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- Blend oats in a food processor (or a blender) to create oat flour.
- To the food processor, add in the mushrooms, lentils, parsley, allspice, nutmeg, pepper, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce.
- Process until everything is combined. Don't process until it's total mush - some texture from the lentils and mushrooms should still be there.
- Add more soy sauce (or salt) and pepper if needed.
- Let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes. It will become thicker and easy to roll.
- Pre-heat oven to 425F degrees.
- Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Roll into meatballs and place onto baking sheet. Spray with some cooking oil if desired. Bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping halfway.
Gravy
- In a medium-sized pot, add in all gravy ingredients EXCEPT for the cornstarch and water.
- Bring to a simmer on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and water to create a cornstarch slurry. Whisk the cornstarch mixture into the gravy.
- Return the pot to the burner and bring to a simmer again. The sauce should be nice and thick. If it's too thin, add a little more cornstarch slurry.
- Pour the gravy over the meatballs. Eat as is, or serve with pasta or mashed potatoes.
