These vegan cocktail meatballs are made from a smoky-spiced white bean mixture and simmered in a zippy sweet-and-sour sauce with pineapple chunks. They’re ridiculously delicious and totally addictive. Perfect for parties!
It’s been a long time since I’ve had a conventional meatball, but I can confidently say that vegan meatballs are far superior. Traditional meatballs are always made from meat, but vegan meatballs can be made from all kinds of ingredients. You've got a ton of bean options, like my vegan lentil meatballs, vegan chickpea meatballs, and vegan black bean meatballs. You’ve also got tofu meatballs and tempeh meatballs. And, of course, all the amazing sauces that usually go with traditional meatballs can also dress up vegan meatballs, which means endless room to play.
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For today’s recipe, I was inspired by the zippy sweet-and-sour sauce in my sweet and sour tofu. I paired it with a smoky, seasoned white bean base to make a killer batch of vegan cocktail meatballs that are tender, flavorful, and pretty easy to make, too. It’s a simple combination, but the result is absolutely delicious. They're perfect for parties, snacking, or anytime you’re craving something fun and flavorful.
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Cannellini beans. These are the base for our vegan meatballs, but you could replace them with black beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, or any similar variety of beans.
- Panko breadcrumbs.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Soy sauce. Liquid aminos or tamari could be substituted, if needed.
- Spices. You'll need smoked paprika, ground ginger, and black pepper.
- Oil. Whatever neutral oil you normally like to cook with is fine. You just need a little bit for brushing or spraying the beanballs.
- Water.
- Brown sugar. Use organic brown sugar, since conventional brown sugar is often processed using animal bone char.
- Rice vinegar. Most grocery stores will have this in the international aisle.
- Tomato paste.
- Pineapple.
- Cornstarch.
How They're Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Step 1: Get ready. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Step 2: Load the food processor. Fit the bowl with an s-blade and place all of the ingredients for the meatballs inside: beans, panko breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, soy sauce, and spices.
Step 3: Blend. Just pulse the machine. You want everything to be finely chopped and nicely mixed, but still a bit on the chunky side. No mushy meatballs!
Steps 4 and 5: Roll and bake. Shape the bean mixture into about 16 balls, 1 ½ inches each, using about 1 ½ tablespoons of the mixture per ball. Lightly brush or spray them with oil, then pop them into the oven for about 30 minutes.
Step 6: Make the sauce. Stir the water, brown sugar, soy sauce, rice vinegar, tomato paste, ginger, and pineapple together in a saucepan. Heat it up and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.
Step 7: Thicken the sauce. Stir some cold water and cornstarch together, then add it to the sauce. Stir it in and bring it back up to a simmer. Shortly after it starts simmering again it will thicken up. It's done!
Step 8: Sauce the meatballs. Pour the sauce over the balls and gently stir until they're nicely coated. They're ready! Serve them right away, while they're hot.
Step 9: Serve. You can serve your vegan cocktail meatballs just as they are, or if you want to get fancy, plate them up and skewer each one with a chunk of pineapple on top.
Variations
- Make it into burgers. Most vegan meatball recipes can be turned into burgers, and this is no exception. Shape the bean mixture into patties and either bake them for 30 minutes, turning halfway through, or pan-fry them over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side.
- As a main dish. Pair your meatballs up with rice or another grain, and optionally add some veggies.
- Add some heat. Spice up the beanballs and/or sauce by adding some cayenne pepper or hot sauce, such as sriracha.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yep! Replace the panko breadcrumbs with ¾ cup of oat flour (which can be made by grinding rolled oats in a food processor). You'll also need to swap out the soy sauce with gluten-free tamari.
Yep! Just add it during the last 3 minutes of simmering the sauce instead of letting it cook the whole time.
You probably didn't get the sauce to a full simmer. Adding the cornstarch slurry will cool down the sauce. It needs to heat back up to a simmer before it will thicken.
Leftover vegan cocktail meatballs will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 to 4 days, or in the freezer for about three months.
More Vegan Appetizers
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Cocktail Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 1 (15 ounce/425 gram) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 small onion, roughly chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- Oil, for brushing or spraying
For the Sauce
- ½ cup water
- â…“ cup organic brown sugar
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 ½ cups diced fresh pineapple
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- To make the meatballs, place the beans, panko breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, soy sauce, paprika, ginger, and black pepper into the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade.
- Pulse the machine until the ingredients are finely chopped and well-mixed, but the mixture still has some texture to it.
- Roll the mixture into balls, using about 1 ½ tablespoons per ball and making them about 1 ½ inches in diameter. You should get around 16. Place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet or in an oven-safe nonstick skillet. Lightly brush or spray them with oil.
- Bake the meatballs until they're lightly browned, turning them about halfway through, about 30 minutes total.
- While the meatballs bake, combine ½ cup of water with the brown sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, tomato paste, ginger, and pineapple in a small saucepan. Place it over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat a bit and let it simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir the cold water and cornstarch together in a small bowl or container, then add it to the mixture in the saucepan. Bring it back up to a simmer and let it cook briefly, just until the liquid thickens.
- When the meatballs come out of the oven, pour the sauce over them immediately.
- Serve the meatballs as they are, or, once everything is cool enough to handle, skewer each one with a piece of pineapple on top.
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Thanks, Alissa! These meatballs will be my new potluck party dish. Can't wait to make them!