Savory mushroom balls are drenched in luscious dairy-free sauce to make these flavor-packed vegan Swedish meatballs. Serve them over pasta for a delicious and cozy dinner.
I never told you guys this, but a couple of years ago I spoke with a publisher about writing a cookbook exclusively dedicated to vegan meatballs. I mean, the meatball theme was their idea. I just wanted to write a cookbook. In fact, I really wanted to write a cookbook (it's an exciting prospect), so much that I almost took them up on the offer.
But in the end I just couldn't. All that rolling. And would you guys even be into a book just about vegan meatballs? And could I even come up with that many meatball recipes?
Well, in hindsight, I think the answer to at least that last question is a resounding "yes."
I'm not sure if I just had more meatball recipes in me than I thought, or if my discussions with those guys infected me with the meatball bug, but I've been rolling them out ever since. (<-- Yup. Pun intended.)
You all actually seem to respond really well to any recipe involving meatballs I post on this site, so I've got no plans of letting up.
It's time for some more vegan meatballs, Ikea style.
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Ingredients You'll Need
- Cremini mushrooms. These might also be labelled as "baby portobello" or "baby bella" mushrooms at your store. White button mushrooms can be substituted if needed.
- Panko breadcrumbs.
- Cannellini beans. Kidney beans could be substituted.
- Onion.
- Garlic.
- Vegan Worcestershire sauce. Most Worcestershire sauce is made with anchovies, so be careful when buying this. Annie's and Edward & Sons brands are both vegan. Or whip up some homemade vegan Worcestershire!
- Soy sauce. Or use tamari or liquid aminos instead.
- Black pepper.
- Nutmeg.
- Olive oil. Just about any neutral high-heat oil can be substituted for this.
- Flour. I've only tested the recipe with all-purpose wheat flour. Use another variety at your own risk.
- Vegetable broth.
- Coconut milk. The recipe calls for full-fat coconut milk. If you hate the taste of coconut (which will be mild) and would rather go with something cashew-based, try the sauce I used for my vegan mushroom stroganoff.
- Salt.
- Dried pasta. We're using dried pasta as our "noodles" for serving our meatballs, because it's basically the same thing without the eggs. Feel free to serve your vegan Swedish meatballs how you like though. Over mashed potatoes, rice, with veggies, or all by themselves are all options!
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!
Start by combining your meatball ingredients in a food processor: mushrooms, breadcrumbs, beans, garlic, onion, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, pepper and nutmeg. Pulse the machine until the ingredients are well mixed.
Be careful not to overblend the mixture or your meatballs will be mushy.
Tip: To save time on the day of serving, you can blend up the meatball mixture up to a day in advance, then just roll and bake when you're ready to serve.
Roll the mixture into balls and bake them in the oven until they're golden brown..
Make the sauce while the meatballs bake. Start by cooking the flour in some olive oil while whisking. This is called a roux, and it's the thickener for our sauce.
After a few minutes you can whisk in the broth, coconut milk, and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer the sauce until it thickens, then remove it from heat and season it with salt to taste.
Pour the sauce over the meatballs when they're done. Serve them over pasta (or potatoes or rice), with your choice of accompaniments, like some lingonberry jam.
Leftovers & Storage
Leftover vegan Swedish meatballs will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for about 3 days. The sauce may thicken over time. Thin it with some water during reheating if this happens.
Like this recipe? If so, please stop back and leave me a review and rating below if you try it! Also be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram, or subscribe to my newsletter for more recipes like this one!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, cleaned and roughly chopped
- 1 ¼ cups panko breadcrumbs
- 1 cup canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 small onion, roughly chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Olive oil, for brushing
For the Sauce
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups vegetable broth
- 1 (14 ounce) can full fat coconut milk
- 1 ½ tablespoons vegan Worcestershire sauce
- ¾ teaspoon salt, or to taste
For the Noodles
- 8 ounces dried pasta of choice (I used shells)
Instructions
Make the Meatballs
- Preheat the oven to 400° and lightly oil a baking sheet or large oven-safe skillet.
- Place the mushrooms, breadcrumbs, beans, onion, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, pepper and nutmeg into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients are finely chopped and well mixed.
- Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls (about 24 of them) and arrange them on the baking sheet or in the skillet. Bake for about 30 minutes, turning once halfway through, until lightly browned.
Make the Sauce
- While the meatballs bake, coat the bottom of a medium saucepan or skillet with olive oil and place it over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Bring to a simmer and continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture darkens a bit and begins to smell nutty, about 5 minutes.
- Whisk in the broth, coconut milk, and Worcestershire sauce. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a simmer. Allow to simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until the mixture thickens a bit. Remove from heat and allow the mixture so sit for at least 5 minutes — it will continue to thicken up. Season with salt to taste.
Make the Noodles
- While the meatballs bake and the sauce simmers, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to the package directions. Drain into a colander and toss with a bit of olive oil.
To Serve
- Divide the pasta among 4 plates or bowls. If the meatballs are in a skillet, pour the sauce over them, or if they're on a baking sheet, add them to the pot with the sauce. Divide the meatballs and sauce over the pasta. Serve.
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I always loved the flavor of Swedish meatballs, so I thought I’d try this one. I followed the recipe closely, except had to substitute green Northern beans for the cannellini beans. It made an interesting dinner, but not one I would repeat. The coconut was a little strong, and I don’t remember the traditional Swedish recipe including it. Thanks.
Bland, flavourless, the only flavour profile is Worcestshire. Would never make again not even in an attempt to better the recipe. There are so many other better vegan options with actual flavour.
The meatballs turned out very mushy but were delicious. Coconut milk was too overpowering for me. Next time I will dilute with almond milk
Awesome warming and nourishing meal.
Great flavors in both the balls and sauce that meld together beautifully.
Used the oats option and only had light coconut milk.
Yum!
Thanks for sharing
We loved the flavor, but my meatballs turned out dry and crumbly. Would you omit some breadcrumbs, process longer, or add more beans for a more moist texture?
BANGER
I come to your website fairly often (love your page on seitan marinades!) and this had to be one of my favs
had a similar issue where the meatballs were still a bit mushy inside after baking, I'll try more breadcrumbs next time.. because there will most definitely be a next time
Thank you!!
Hi, can I use normal (frozen) mushrooms for this recipe pls? Thanks
I haven't tried myself, but I don't see why not!
Can you give alternative ingredients to substitute for mushrooms?
Thank you
You might be able to get away with simply omitting them. You could also try working from one of my other meatball recipes: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/vegan-meatballs/ Just adjust the seasonings to suit this recipe.
My meatballs came out super mushy, but if I had added more breadcrumbs that might have fixed them. I did cook them longer, but they were still so soft and wet inside. The flavor of the meatballs was good and the sauce was tasty. To eat the dish I just mashed the meatballs down so they blended into the sauce and that wasn't too bad, but my husband couldn't take the mushy texture even then. I probably could have broken them into crumbles and fried them in a pan to make them more easy to swallow.
Made these for dinner tonight, cooked the meatballs an additional 20 min due to being mushy inside (I over processed them), but on point for flavor. also for the gravy I subbed a cashew cream for the coconut milk came out delicious! Defiantly making this again soon!!
They were a bit crumbly when I first started rolling them so I added more beans (I used garbanzos that I cooked the day prior) and they ended up rolling nicely into balls, and I omit the nutmeg because I didn't have any. The flavor was so wonderful and the sauce is too, thank you so much for the recipe!
These vegan meatballs turned out just great ! The only thing I changed is I sauteed the mushrooms in olive oil beforehand and then I oven backed the balls for 20 minutes.
How necessary is the Worcestershire in the sauce? I can't get it where I live. Can I substitute something?
It adds a lot of flavor, but you could leave it out if you need to. Or you could try making your own: https://www.marthastewart.com/258132/homemade-vegan-worcestershire-sauce
This sounds so delicious! Any idea how many calories a serving of meatballs would be without the noodles?
Thank you!! The noodles account for about 200 calories per serving, so with just the meatballs and sauce it would be around 440.
Just last night my son and I were talking about needing a vegetarian Swedish meatball recipe, so I am thrilled to find this! Swedish meatballs have been a family tradition at Christmas for us, so I was planning to start experimenting. I've never had the meatballs at Ikea, but I am wondering about adding allspice to the recipe. My Swedish grandmother always put that in hers, and I would love to get a similar taste. Will probably try tonight. Fingers crossed!
I never thought to add allspice, but I bet it would be great! I'd love to hear how it turns out if you try it. :) Enjoy!!
Do you think I could freeze these?
I haven't tried, but I don't see why not!
Hi! I hate mushrooms but really want to make these. Are they very mushroom-y tasting? :) Love the site! Thanks!
I didn't find them too mushroomy, but if you'd like you could try using one of my other meatball recipes with the sauce from this one. These would work well: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/vegan-salisbury-steak-meatballs-with-garlic-mashed-potatoes-mushroom-gravy/
This sounds delicious, but does anyone have any suggestions as to how to cut down on the calories?
You could try replacing some of the coconut milk another non-dairy milk like almond or soy.
Thank you for this recipe I added more nutmeg to the mixture.
my meatballs were mushy in the middle not sure if they needed more bread crumbs or to
cook longer. All in all I liked them my meat eating husband ate them he liked them as well
I'm glad you both enjoyed them! Usually if they come out mushy it means you blended the mixture a bit too much - try holding back a bit next time and make sure the mixture still has some texture to it. :)
I made these last night. Hubby is not vegan and didn't care for them. Mine didn't look as nice as these in the picture but overall I liked them. My daughter and I both thought they needed more cooking as ours turned out mushy and moist inside. I was thinking maybe use less beans next time. Also. I thought it would be extra tasty to saute the onions and mushrooms (in water or broth) first, just to give that additional depth of flavor. It may make the finished meatball less moist, too. My sauce did not thicken like the picture but it still tasted good. If you don't like coconut you won't like it though. I agree with another commentor on adding a little more nutmeg next time.
these look so comforting (and delicious)!
Made them and they were great. Awesome comfort food. Thanks for sharing
I'm so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks Audrey!!
Easy and delicious comfort food! Love the cashew chickpea options as well. 🙂
Thanks Ashley!
Turned out really tasty. Exceeded all my expectations honestly.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks Zoey!
Made this for dinner last night. Once again you ha e a winner recipe and it will definitely be a regular in our home. Alissa I don’t know of any other website with such consistently delicious family friendly recipes. Many thanks.
Thank you so much Kay! That's so nice of you to say, and I'm so glad you enjoyed this!!
That sounds good. Can I use oats instead bread crumbs?
I think so! You might just want to cut down on the amount by a few tablespoons.
Don't get panko breadcrumbs here in South Africa so I am assuming that as long as my breadcrumbs are quite stale and dry that would work?
I think that would be fine! I just use panko because it's the only vegan store-bought breadcrumbs I can find where I live (and I'm too lazy to make them myself). :) But I think just about any type of breadcrumbs would work.
This reminds me of my childhood. :) My mom would cook meatballs with Campbell's cream of chicken (ugh hahaha) in the slow cooker and we'd eat it over pasta or potatoes. Can't wait to make this!
Oh man! I grew up on SO MANY cream of chicken soup based recipes too! I hope you enjoy this!
I'd love to make this dish, but I don't eat anything coconut. What do you think about making the sauce with a plant-based milk instead and adding some cashew cream to make it creamy?
Thanks for your lovely recipes and inspiration!
-gloria
I think that's a great idea! I'd love to hear how it works out if you try it. :)
made them and loved them. I added more nutmeg to the sauce. These were as good as the ones I remember as child that mom made. I plan on making an Italian version as well. Thanks for bringing back a great dish now that I am a vegan
That is so awesome to hear!! Thank you so much Audrey!