Italian-style meatloaf muffins made from...chickpeas! These single serving mini meatloaves are totally vegan, pretty darn easy to make, and packed with zesty Italian flavors. Whip up a batch tonight!
I get a lot of questions about variations on my recipes. "Can the be made gluten-free?" "Can this be substituted for that?" That kind of thing. And unfortunately, I can't always answer. I wish I could test out ever possible version of every recipe. There just aren't enough hours in the day for that, but I try to at least answer the questions I get again and again.
A bunch of people have asked if my vegan meatloaf recipe could be baked in muffin tins, and my answer has always been that I think it would work. Well finally, after over three years and making my meatloaf at least a dozen times, I decided to give it a go as muffins.
I didn't use the exact same ingredients as my meatloaf. That seemed like a bit of a cop-out, particularly considering the fact that I'd already turned my meatloaf into a veggie burger recipe. I stuck with chickpeas as the base, but I decided to switch up the seasonings. I went for Italian-style meatloaf muffins.
If you love the original meatloaf recipe and want your muffins to taste just it, just use the ingredients for that recipe and follow the baking instructions from this recipe. (But keep in mind that this recipe uses about half the volume of ingredients as the original loaf, so either cut it in half or you'll end up with ten to twelve muffins instead of five or six). Likewise, if you want an Italian-style loaf, double the batch size for this recipe, put it in a loaf pan, and bake it up according to my original meatloaf recipe.
Now, on to the process!
Making vegan meatloaf is a lot like making veggie burgers, and this one starts with chickpeas, like many of my veggie burger recipes do! Load your food processor bowl up with some chickpeas, panko breadcrumbs, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, carrots, celery, onions, garlic and herbs.
Pulse everything until finely chopped and well mixed. Don't overdo it! Keep some texture in the mixture.
Spoon the mixture into muffin tins. I ended up with 5 muffins, which kind of bugged me out a bit, simply because most recipes serve an even number of people. Which is pretty silly when you think about it! There are plenty of meals enjoyed together by an odd number of people every day.
Anyhow, feel free to make six smaller muffins if you prefer. The bake time might be a smidge less — just keep an eye on them!
Whip up a quick Italian-style tomato sauce while your meatloaf muffins bake. Or, if you're feeling lazy, use your favorite store-bought marinara sauce.
Take the muffins out of the oven when they're almost done and top them with the sauce. Then bake them for 5 to 10 minutes more, just to set the sauce.
Serve with your favorite side dishes for an incredibly comforting vegan dinner. I really like these muffins with some vegan mashed potatoes, gravy, vegan green bean casserole, and roasted Brussels sprouts!
FAQ & Tips for Making Vegan Meatloaf Muffins
- Don't overblend the meatloaf mixture in the food processor! This is so important, as overblending usually results in mushy muffins.
- These muffins are super freezer friendly. Just seal them up in a storage container or plastic bag, then thaw at room temperature. I like to reheat mine in the microwave, but the oven works too.
- Feel free to sauté your veggies before adding them to the food processor. Totally not necessary, and personally, I'm just too lazy to bother with it.
- If you know you won't be eating the whole batch, try just baking up as many muffins as you'll be eating. Save the leftover chickpea mixture and sauce, store them in sealed containers in the fridge or freezer. When you're ready, pop it out, thaw (if it was frozen), put it in tins, and bake it according to the recipe.
- Can these be made gluten-free? Try substituting gluten-free tamari for the soy sauce and using gluten-free panko breadcrumbs. Oat flour might work as well, but reduce the amount a bit, as it can suck up quite a bit of moisture and give you dry meatloaf muffins.
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📖 Recipe
Italian-Style Vegan Meatloaf Muffins
Ingredients
For the Vegan Meatloaf Muffins
- 1 (14 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1 medium celery stalk, diced
- 1 medium carrot, diced
- 1 small onion, roughly chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
For the Sauce
- 1 cup canned tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° and lightly oil five cups of a standard-size muffin tin.
- Place the chickpeas, panko, celery, carrot, onion, garlic, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, flaxseed, basil, oregano, thyme and black pepper into the bowl of a food processor.
- Pulse until the ingredients are finely chopped and well mixed.
- Divide the mixture among the oiled muffin cups, forming a dome at the top of each muffin.
- Bake the muffins for 25 minutes.
- While the muffins bake, stir all of the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl.
- After 25 minutes of baking, remove the muffins from the oven and cover the tops with a few spoonfuls of sauce. Reserve any excess sauce for serving.
- Return the muffins to the oven and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until the sauce is set and the muffins pull away from the sides of the tins slightly.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and allow them to cool for about 10 minutes.
- Gently run a knife along the edges of each muffin to loosen it from the tin before removing.
- If you have any leftover sauce, heat it up for a few minutes and serve it with the muffins.
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Why did it sink in the middle when I took it out of the oven?
I've never had that happen before! Make sure you're packing the mixture firmly into the muffin cups. My best guess is that there were some air pockets in there and the mixture caved in when it got hot.
Could you add cooked lentils and/quinoa to make a larger portion?
Lentils would definitely work! I think you could get away with adding a little bit of quinoa, but too much might cause them to fall apart.
Hello, I would like to make it into one big batch vs individual servings. How long would I cook it for? Thank you.
I would try adding 10 minutes to the first round of baking (step 6) and leave the second round of baking (step 8) as is. That's just a guess though - you'll definitely want to keep a close eye on it. It's done when the center starts to feel firm and the edges are slightly browned.
What can you use as a substitute for vinegar
You could try using lemon juice instead. It will change the flavor a bit though!
Do I have to put in the vinegar or is there a substitute
Another yummy recipe! We have your potato soup on heavy rotation in our house. I will make these again for sure. I’m glad I sautéd the veggies prior to adding them to the mixture because I think they would have been too crunchy for my liking. I mixed it all up by hand and it still turned out well.
Great recipe. Had a horrible time getting my 5 cup food processor to slice it all even in 2 batches. I made roast potatoes and roast brussel sprouts alongside it and somehow managed to fit all 3 dishes in the oven at the same time (potatoes went in earlier and started at a higher heat).
I don’t have a food processor 😩 can I use a vita mix? I really want to make these. Thanks
I think a vitamix would work! Just be careful not to overblend the mixture.
I made tonight and they would not cook in the moddle. Any idea why?
That's very odd! Usually these cook up very well since they're so small. It could be that there was too much liquid in the mix, which could happen if you didn't drain the chickpeas very well. My only other thought is that it could be an oven temperature issue - so you may want to check that with a thermometer!
Could u use chia sees instead of flax?
I think so, as long as they're ground up.
What does the flax seed do? Would it adversely affect the end product if I omitted it? It's the only ingredient I don't have on hand!
It helps with binding. I think they would still be fine without it though!
Can these be made ahead and frozen or made in an Instant Pot?
Thank you!
They can absolutely be made ahead and frozen! I'm not sure about making them in an Instant Pot though - I don't have one yet. :)
These look delicious! The sodium in the nutrition facts seems high for the ingredients. Am I missing something? Thank you!!!
Thanks Kimberly! Most of the sodium comes from the canned chickpeas and tomato products as well as the soy sauce. You could lower it by using low sodium varieties of each of those, or even cooking your own chickpeas from scratch!
Could you roll them up into smaller balls and bake on a cookie sheet? What would you recommend for baking time if so?
I don't see why not! I've used recipes with similar ingredients to make vegan meatballs and usually the bake time is about the same - I'd keep an eye on them though. :)
Alissa you have come up with another winner. I am 69 and have always been a good cook, but when my partner and I decided to change the way we eat I was totally lost. I don’t remember how I found you, but I am so grateful that you have enabled me to cook familiar dishes in a plant based way. There has not been one dish that hasn’t turned out exactly. Thank you my dear for making a steep learning curve easier to cope with.
That's all so wonderful to hear! I'm so glad you're enjoying the recipes!! Thanks so much Kay!
Just making these now even the cold mixture tastes delicious
Can’t wait for them to be cooked
Glad to hear it! Enjoy!!
These absolutely hit the spot for me, I'd been hungry for a meatless loaf. The taste was just right, they held together, they sliced the next day for sandwiches. Just what I was looking for, thank you! To those who don't like nutritional yeast, I didn't taste it at all, the flavors meld together very nicely. Of course you could just leave it out.
Yay!! I'm so glad you enjoyed them! I'm definitely making sandwiches with the leftovers from my next batch. :)
Made this tonight. Made a larger batch than the recipe and it was delicious!
Glad you enjoyed it!
These look easy and yummy! I will definitely try making them. :)
Enjoy!
HI,
Can you omit the nutritional yeast? we don't care for their taste, at all
Absolutely!
Is nutritional yeast the same as the dry yeast pkg i see at the grocery store. i looked at several different places and all i could find was fleischmanns' dry yeast. if not the same, where can i purchase nutritional yeast?
It's actually something completely different. It's a yeast product that adds cheesy flavor. My store has it in the natural foods section and I've also included an Amazon link in the recipe. Look for Now or Bob's Red Mill brands - those are my favorites!
Hi y the yeast flakes..JOANN
Can I use regular bread crumbs instead of Panko? I know the difference but I'm not sure what difference it would make in this recipe.
Panko are usually the only vegan ones I can find, so those are my go-to. But regular will work too! :)