These vegan tofu meatballs are moist and soft but they holds together like meatballs and don’t go crumbly. Moreover, they are easy to make, healthy and so delicious! I made tomato sauce for pasta dinner and left the meatballs in the sauce but they didn’t break apart at all. If fact, they even tasted nicer with the sauce around them . 
I have tried many different vegan meatballs recipes in the past and they often came out delicious but with a bit dry, crumbly and falafel like texture. Unlike the other vegan meatballs recipe which I have cooked a number of times, these vegan tofu meatballs are softer, more moist and the texture looks like real meatballs. However, the other meatballs recipe is also easy, healthy and taste great as well☺
To make these vegan tofu meatballs you need:
- Tofu
- Mushrooms
- onion
- garlic
- bread crumbs
- dry mixed herbs
- flaxseeds
- salt & black pepper
It’s very easy to make with simple steps
- Place the tofu on a plate with another plate on top. Put a weight such as a can of beans on top of the plate and let it sit for an hour. Water comes out of the tofu during this process so the tofu get firmer!
- In the food processor, put the onion, mushrooms and garlic and pulse until finely chopped.
- Cook the onion and mushroom mixture in a frying pan until most of the moisture is evaporated.
- In a mixing bowl, mix the cooked onion and mushroom mixture, firmed tofu and the rest of the ingredients together with your hand until combined.
- Form the mixture into balls (it will make 15 to 20 balls)and place them on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden.
In this recipe, it’s important to use firm tofu as it helps the meatballs to hold together and adds a good texture.
If you mixture is too soft to form the balls add more bread crumbs ☺
You can serve the meatballs in tomato sauce with pasta, curry sauce or Chinese style sauce with rice. They are also nice without sauce as well. I had the leftovers next day with some melted vegan cheese on top that was so yummy!
Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days.
Vegan Tofu Meatballs
Ingredients
- 250 g firm tofu
- 130 g button mushrooms roughly chopped
- 1 small onion roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp oil for cooking the vegetables
- 50 g bread crumbs
- 1/2 tsp dry mixed herbs
- 2 tbsp ground flaxseeds
- 3/4 tsp salt adjust amount to suit your liking
- 1/4 tsp black pepper adjust amount to suit your liking
Instructions
- Get the tofu out of the package, wash and drain. Place it on a plate with another plate (with a flat bottom) on top. Put a weight such as a can of beans or a bag or rice and let it sit for one hour to get the moisture out of the tofu. *This will make the tofu firmer and give a nice texture to the meatball.
- When the Tofu is ready, preheat the oven to 210°C (gas mark8). Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper.
- In a food processor, put the onion, mushrooms and the garlic and pulse until everything is finely chopped.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the finely chopped onion, mushrooms and garlic until most of the liquid is evaporated.
- Transfer the cooked vegetables to a medium size mixing bowl and add in the firm tofu and the rest of the ingredients. Mix them all together with your hand until well combined. Tofu doesn't have to be mashed completely, little bits of the tofu add a good texture in this.
- Form the mixture into balls about 2-3cm diameter. You should be able to make 15 to 20 meatballs. Place them on the prepared baking tray and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Don't forget to turn over halfway through the cooking.
- Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes on the baking tray before serving or adding to your dish.