Smoky tofu meatballs are served atop tender cabbage and sauerkraut in a to-die-for creamy (but totally dairy-free!) mustard sauce to make this scrumptious vegan comfort food meal!
First, a disclaimer: this dish is in no way authentic. I've never had a German meatball in my life, though I'm pretty sure they're not made with tofu. I'm not sure if creamy mustard sauce is really a thing in Germany. Or serving meatballs with cabbage.
So where did this meal come from? Basically I wanted to share something German-inspired for Oktoberfest. Even though it's not something I normally celebrate and I'm not a beer drinker, I really like the idea of enjoying some cozy comfort food as we go into fall.
So I browsed German and German-inspired dishes for inspiration, and I did indeed get inspired, by this this German meatball recipe, and this kielbasa skillet.
I decided to make a big mish-mosh vegan dish that incorporated elements of both recipes, and this is what I came up with!
How to Make Vegan German Meatballs
You can actually make vegan meatballs out of all kinds of things, but today I'm using tofu. I really like the texture tofu gives my meatballs, and it has a nice neutral flavor for soaking up all the seasonings we'll be using. I adapted my German meatballs from this Asian-inspired tofu meatball recipe.
First off, you'll need to blend your meatball ingredients in a food processor. Start with some oats and sunflower seeds. These are our dry ingredients that will help give structure to our meatballs.
Once they're blended you can add everything else to the food processor: tofu, some onions and garlic, as well as a handful of spices and seasonings. Pulse the food processor until everything is mixed, being careful not to overblend.
Now preheat your oven and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll your tofu mixture into balls that are about 1-inch in diameter. I like to brush mine with a bit of oil to help them brown.
Bake the meatballs for about 25 minutes, flipping them about halfway through.
How to Make Cabbage with Mustard Sauce
While the meatballs bake you can make your cabbage. Start by heating up some vegan butter in a skillet. Once the butter is hot, add an onion and cook it for a few minutes until it starts to brown.
Next, add some chopped cabbage. Cook the cabbage for a few minutes until it starts to soften up. Garlic goes in next — just cook that for about a minute, until it starts to smell wonderful.
Sprinkle a bit of flour into the skillet. This is going to help thicken up the sauce. Stir everything well to coat the cabbage with flour and then continue cooking and stirring for a couple of minutes.
Coconut milk goes in next. Kind of weird, right? Not really! Coconut milk is the base for our sauce. It acts like heavy cream in this recipe, and the other seasonings will help to disguise the coconut flavor.
You'll also add some vegetable broth and whole grain mustard at this point. Let everything simmer for a bit until the sauce has thickened up and the cabbage is as tender as you like it.
Sauerkraut goes in last.
Tip: naturally fermented sauerkraut is full of probiotics! If you want the full benefit of these probiotics, take your cabbage off of the burner and let it cool down a bit before adding the sauerkraut — this prevents the heat from killing them.
Give the cabbage a taste-test and season it with salt and pepper.
Serve the meatballs over the cabbage and top everything with a sprinkling of chives. Enjoy!
Tips & German Meatballs & Cabbage FAQ
- Make ahead option: you can mix the ingredients for the meatballs up to 2 days in advance. Store the mixture in a sealed container in the fridge, then when you're ready, roll and bake the meatballs.
- Once prepared, the cabbage and meatballs will keep in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.
- Is there a substitute for the oats? Panko breadcrumbs might work, though I haven't tested the recipe with them. If you try this option, add them to the food processor with the tofu instead of blending them with the sunflower seeds.
- Can this recipe be made gluten-free? Possibly! Use a gluten-free tamari instead of the soy sauce and make sure your Worcestershire sauce and oats are gluten-free. You'll also need to replace the flour used in the sauce. Arrowroot or a slurry made with cornstarch and cold water would probably be your best bet, but I haven't tried either option.
- Can you taste the coconut milk? I couldn't taste it, but if you're super sensitive/hate the taste of coconut, you may want to try subbing another non-dairy milk. Use one that's unflavored and unsweetened. Cashew milk would be a good choice!
- Where can I find vegan butter? Lots of regular supermarkets carry vegan butter near the regular butter or in the natural foods section. Look for brands like Earth Balance and Miyoko's. If you can't find it at your regular supermarket, try a place like Whole Foods.
- Where can I find vegan Worcestershire sauce? I usually need to make a trip to Whole Foods for this. Look for brands like Annie's and Edward & Sons. If you can't find it in stores, it's available online.
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📖 Recipe
Vegan German Meatballs & Cabbage with Creamy Mustard Sauce
Ingredients
For the Tofu Meatballs
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ½ cup roasted sunflower seeds
- 7 ounces firm or extra firm tofu, drained
- 1 small onion, roughly chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- ½ teaspoon dried marjoram
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon canola oil, or oil of choice
For the Cabbage
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 cups chopped green cabbage
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 cup full-fat coconut milk
- ½ cup vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
- ¼ cup sauerkraut
- Salt and pepper, to taste
For Serving
- Chopped fresh chives
Instructions
To Make the Meatballs
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the oats and sunflower seeds into the bowl of a food processor fitted with an s-blade, then blend them to a powder.
- Break the tofu into a few large chunks and add it to the food processor, along with the onion, garlic, soy sauce, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, liquid smoke, sweet paprika, smoked paprika, and marjoram.
- Pulse the food processor until the ingredients are finely chopped and well mixed. Do not overblend the mixture.
- Taste-test the mixture and season it with salt and pepper to taste. Adjust any other seasonings to your liking.
- Roll the tofu mixture into 1-inch balls (you should get about 20 of them) and arrange them on the baking sheet and brush them with olive oil.
- Bake the meatballs for about 25 minutes, flipping halfway through. They are finished baking when they're lightly browned.
To Make the Cabbage
- While the meatballs bake, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the onion and cook it for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it's soft and just beginning to brown.
- Add the cabbage to the skillet. Continue cooking and stirring for about 5 minutes more, until the cabbage begins to soften up.
- Clear a spot near the center of the skillet and add the garlic. Cook it for about 1 minute, until very fragrant, then stir the garlic into the cabbage mixture.
- Sprinkle the flour into the skillet and stir to coat the cabbage with the flour. Continue cooking and stirring the cabbage for about 2 minutes.
- Add the coconut milk and broth, a bit at a time, stirring well between each addition. Then stir in the mustard.
- Bring the liquid up to a simmer and cook everything for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens and the cabbage is tender. Stir the mixture occasionally as it simmers.
- Stir in the sauerkraut and remove the skillet from the heat.
- Tastes-test the cabbage and season it with salt and pepper to taste.
- Divide the cabbage onto plates and top it with the meatballs. Sprinkle with chives and serve.
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Nutrition
This recipe looks great and I look forward to making it.
You don't mention pressing the tofu first. Is it not necessary here?
Thanks! No pressing is needed. Just drain it. Enjoy!
I made this in full using avocado oil and dijon mustard. Unsurprisingly, with two competing elements here and the hands-on assembly process needed to make and shape the meatballs, this was not a quick meal to make, probably around an hour and fifteen minutes of time in the kitchen for me.
But, boy, oh, boy, was it worth it! Everything here turned out insanely delicious. Sautéed cabbage may not sound all that appealing, but, believe me, this will be the creamiest, most flavorful cabbage you'll ever have in your life. The meatballs were also just unreal, so well seasoned and bursting with flavor. 25 minutes in the oven was absolutely perfect, so the texture was spot on as well.
Overall, what a divine meal! I am happy to declare this as one of my new favorite recipes!
I made just the meatballs, served with mashed potatoes and Minimalist Baker's mushroom gravy. THESE ARE AMAZING. My family and our omni dinner guest loved them.
Yay! Glad they were a hit!
So I made this today, it was very good with leftovers, because we are only 2 people also the little balls I did not use all , so I thought I could use them in the Swedish noodle dish with a white sauce. . Although there is nothing German in this recipe, it was so good. This will be a very good dish for the. Winter months because cabbage is easy to get at the market. Thank you so much. Kerstin
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I think these would be excellent in a Swedish noodle dish! Thanks Kerstin!
I’m rating only the meatballs since I simply used them with steamed cabbage. Your cabbage recipe sounds very good but I’m. Currently on a very restricted eating plan and it would have been too indulgent for me st this time.
I think next time I will make the ball mixture up a few hours early so they are more manageable to roll but the taste was superb in my opinion. I ate about half of them!
Thanks
Yay! I'm glad you liked them!
This was so good, Alissa! Next time I'm going to double the cabbage part because it was that delicious (as were the neatballs—I somehow ended up with 35). Thanks for the recipe!
I'm so happy to hear that! Thanks so much Erin!
I'm intrigued by this recipe, but i hate sauerkraut. Do you think it could be omitted without significantly affecting the flavor?
You could probably get away with leaving it out if you add something else sour to the cabbage, like a bit of vinegar or lemon juice - this will help balance the flavors and mask the coconut taste. You'll also probably need to use extra salt, since sauerkraut is super salty!
Alissa, these meatball looks so delicious.
Thank you!!
What am I supposed to do with the olive oil at the end of the meatball ingredient list?
It's used to brush the meatballs - thanks for catching that! I just updated the recipe!
Looks very appealing! Could you suggest a replacement for the sauerkraut? (I don't like it much, and don't want to waste the rest of the jar...) thanks very much
Thank you! You could leave it out and add a little extra salt and something else sour to balance the flavors - some lemon juice or vinegar. Enjoy!
This looks great! Would love to see more Oktoberfest recipes :)
Thank you! I'm working on one and if all goes well will publish it this week!