I cut this recipe from Vegetarian Times magazine about 10 years ago (am I really this old?!) and it sat untried in my recipe binder until I finally got around to “veganizing” it this year. I’ve since made it a few times because it’s just so delicious and I can freeze half the batch, which is a great way to punch-up plain pasta when I’m in a rush. The trick to this is to use Arborio (risotto) rice, which makes everything “gluey” and stick together. I’m sure that there are more protein-rich versions out there, but these are worthy of the carbs and good if you’re looking to avoid soy. If you’re in a hurry, you can use store-bought pasta sauce, but I have to say that this one is really lovely, and doesn’t take that much time at all.
- 4 (28-oz.) cans whole peeled Italian-style tomatoes, drained
- 2 tsp. olive oil
- 2 small onions
- 8 medium garlic cloves, minced
- ¾ tsp. dried oregano
- ⅛ tsp. dried chili flakes
- ¼ tsp Italian seasoning
- ½ tsp. sugar
- salt, to taste
- 2⅔ cups vegetable broth
- ¾ cup uncooked Arborio rice
- 1 lb. cremini or baby bella mushrooms (should make 2 cups when finely chopped)
- 4 tsp. olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 vegan egg (Ener-G egg replacer works great)
- 1 cup dried bread crumbs
- ⅓ cup almond/nutritional yeast mix (half nutritional yeast, half finely milled almonds)
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1 tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
- In a large bowl, blend the tomatoes with a blender or hand-blender.
- In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add onions and garlic, and cook until softened but not browned, 2-3 mins. Add oregano, chili, and Italian seasoning, and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Stir-in the crushed tomatoes and sugar, and bring to a simmer. Add salt to taste and reduce heat to low, partially cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
- In a large saucepan, bring broth to a simmer over high heat. Add rice, reduce heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender and mixture is creamy, 18 to 20 minutes. Stir almost constantly during las 5 minutes of cooking. Transfer to large bowl.
- In food processor, pulse mushrooms in batches until finely chopped.
- In large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, 2-3 mins. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring, until tender and most of the liquid has evaporated, 3-5 mins. Add to bowl with rice; let cool.
- Preheat oven to 400F. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Add vegan egg, breadcrumbs, almond/nutritional yeast mix, parsley, salt and pepper to cooled rice mixture and mix well. Form mixture into about 24 oval-shaped nuggets, each about 2 by 1.5 inches.
- In clean large nonstick skillet, heat remaining 2 tsp olive oil over medium high heat; tilt to coat bottom. Add half the nuggets and cook until browned on one side, about 2 mins. Turn nuggets over onto prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining nuggets.
- Bake until nuggets are browned and firm, 15-20 mins.
- If you haven’t already done so, boil your pasta while the balls are baking.
- Put 3-5 balls on each bowl of pasta with sauce, serve hot.
Updates
August 29, 2011 – I had some leftover “neat” balls in the freezer and they came in handy for a quick dinner tonight. I used whole wheat pasta, half a jar of store-bought pasta sauce, and sprinkled half a bag of baby spinach into the pasta before topping with the neat balls, which I had defrosted and quickly reheated on the stove. Yum!
The “neat” balls looks soooooooooooo good.
Thanks for your comment… and for your comment-advice! :)
What can is use in place of the mushrooms?
Hmm… Not sure, this is really a mushroom recipe. May want to google “bean balls” or tofu-based balls if you’re not into mushrooms :)
The “Neat” Balls sound delicious, I’m definitely going try this one!
Thanks for your comment. Let me know when you make them. I love them so much!
You had me at spaghetti… I can’t wait to try the mushroom neat balls too! Delicious!
A fellow carb-lover, I see? I love you already! These “neat” balls are so delish… I can’t believe the recipe sat there for 10 years, untouched!
Hi, do these hold together ok? I’d love to fry then cook in sauce to get all that lovely sauce flavour in – but a lot of vegan meatballs fall apart – any thoughts on this?!
Hi Victoria – They’re pretty dense so I think they’d hold-up… but there’s only one way to know for sure… try it and let me know how it works out for ya! :)
I don’t know how I ran across your site, but I’m glad I did. I made these today. I really enjoyed them! I have been a vegetarian since March, and I am trying to go vegan, but I’m terrible at it. I don’t like most vegetables. I didn’t do it for my health, I did it because of animal welfare. Most of the recipes I’ve tried I haven’t cared for, but this one was great. I’ll be making it again for sure.
You mentioned adding onions in the neat balls, but not as to how much onion.
Someone asked if they hold up. They do, but definitely not like a meatball.
Hi Jenn, Thanks for the kind words and feedback. I’m glad to hear that you’ve found a recipe that you like – that makes the transition to vegetarianism so much easier!
Thanks for the tip about the onion. It’s one medium onion, so I’ll fix the recipe.
I’m going to try these out! I have been craving sweet and sour “meatballs”, and I wonder how these would turn out if they were fried and then went into the slow cooker in a sauce to simmer for a few hours on low?
I’m not sure – maybe just test out a couple to see that they don’t fall apart? Keep me posted!
These were amazing! I tried a few of them for about an hour in the slow cooker and they were a bit mushy already. So I just made sweet and sour sauce, added it too cooked rice, and put the plain neat balls on top. Yum!!
Yum, that sounds amazing and reminds me of the sweet and sour meatballs that my mom used to make when I was little. Will try that – thanks for sharing!
I made the “neatballs” this evening. It’s a little bit time consuming but well worth the effort. Instead of vegetable broth to cook the rice I used water seasoned with smoked paprika, and italian seasoning. I loved the flavor of these. I have a carnivore in the house and he loved them as well. Thank you very much for posting this recipe. These were very enjoyable.
I’m so glad you liked them – they’re definitely a bit of work but I think they’re worth it. I like your modifications and I love hearing that the carnivores loved them too! Thanks for the feedback!
Loved these!! Really easy to make and tastes great :) Looking forward to trying many more of your recipes!
Thanks Mel! Let me know what else you try ;)
Is the vegan egg necessary? I´m not sure where to find it. And same for the almond/nutritional yeast mix? Are they both necessary?
The vegan egg holds everything together. You can get EnerG egg replacer at any good health food store. It’s just potato starch that you add water to to make a liquid “egg” substance. As fr the almond/nutritional yeast, that’s what gives it a nutty/cheesy flavor…
Found your site for the first time today and made these… time consuming but worth it. I increased quantities to make 3 dozen, added some quorn mince to the mix plus additional herbs. Definately would add that you need to make all your balls before you start frying them off. Just chilling them off in half dozens per bag before sticking them in the freezer …will likely make these again! Thanks.
Glad you liked them!
Thanks a mil for this incredible recipe, Angela. I followed the recipe only loosely (I roasted the mushrooms and used white rather than cremini or baby bella; I added a little white truffle oil; I used brown rather than regular, white, arborio rice; and tried the neat balls with and without the almond meal). Also, instead of the tomato sauce, I tried pesto and sauteed chopped vegetables and threw the whole thing over pasta. No matter how you cut it, the neat balls are incredible – great flavor and texture. And just as delicious frozen and reheated.
So glad you liked them. I love the addition of truffle oil. Must try that next time!
omigosh, these ‘neatballs’ are awesome. i found this recipe at the last minute after realizing i didn’t have all of the necessary ingredients to make a mushroom stroganoff, and i had to use those mushrooms that had been hanging out in my fridge for awhile. i skipped the browning step and just popped the balls in the oven, as i figured i’d already dirtied enough dishes for one day! my boyfriend and i smothered them in soy cheese and devoured them. this recipe made about 20 decent-sized meatballs (and lasted about 5 meals).
So glad you liked them! I need to make them again soon!
I made these last night – AMAZING!! I didn’t have any fresh parsley, so I spiced them with garlic, oregano, basil & red pepper. They reminded me of stuffing! I served them with tomato sauce, but I think they would be great for a sandwich with spinach and cranberry sauce (Kind of like a toasted thanksgiving sub, without the turkey)! Thank you for sharing this recipe – it is going in my regular rotation!
I forgot to add that I didn’t add the nuts. I just subbed with equal amount of nutritional yeast. Perhaps that’s why mine had more of a stuffing taste to me. Still tasted great!
Hi Kate! Thanks for taking a chance on this somewhat labor-intensive recipe. I love them too and definitely think they’re worth it, especially if you can freeze part of the batch and enjoy them later. Your substitutions sound great, I’ll especially keep that in mind if I don’t have parsley on hand (which I often don’t).
Having these tonite, they are becoming a weekly fave.
I decided to make just the neat balls and put them on a bed of mashed potato , with a side of brocolli and corn.
A comfort meal on a cool night :)
Hi Sheree – Yum! That sounds really yummy. I bet they would be great with vegan gravy on top as well. Thanks for sharing this idea :)
Theses were awesome!!!!
I made them into burgers instead of neatballs and used flaxseed instead of the enerG vegan egg. I think I’m going to try puréed mushrooms in my next batch of vegan sausages because I don’t like beans. Thanks sooo much Vegangela!!!!
Oh those are all great ideas! Glad you liked the recipe, thanks for taking the time to comment :)
Just made these for dinner and they were wonderful! I didn’t use the nutritional yeast and they still tasted great. How have you found is the best way to freeze them (baggies, Tupperware, aluminum foil)? Or does it not matter? I just didn’t want them to get nasty freezer burn.
Sorry for the delay! I always just stick them in a freezer bag… Hope that helps!
YUM! Made the meatballs on Sunday and made the sauce quick today – it was delicious! I cannot wait to try my vegan meatball subs tomorrow with these!
I was a part time vegan and as of 12/30/12 I am a full-time vegan. The bf and I are meatball junkies so I will def be keeping a supply of these in the freezer.
THANK YOU!!!
Vegan meatball sub?! That’s an awesome idea! Must try that! Glad to hear you liked the recipe :)
I am making this recipe as I type and I’m somewhat confused about how much mushrooms to use. I bought 1 pound, but not even halfway through them I already have 2 cups. I’m not sure whether to use the whole pound or just the two cups. Will report back after I taste them! :)
I used the two cups of finely chopped mushrooms and they turned out great. As other commenters mentioned, I don’t feel it is necessary to both brown and bake the balls. They could be popped in the oven and rotated periodically. They do taste like rice and not really meatballs, but they are very tasty. Will make again. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Hi Michelle – I’m glad you liked them! I’ll try just baking them next time. Easier and healthier is fine by me! Thanks for taking the time to comment :)
Great recipe!!! These are really tasty and easy to make. Now… I have no desire to buy the frozen ready made. I browned them in a pan then baked in the oven on parchment paper. Next time I will just bake them as I am trying to cut down on the oils.
Thanks for sharing!!! :-)
Hi Diane – Glad you liked them and found them easy to make. Thanks for taking the time to comment!
I made the neat balls and my family thought they were very tasty. My first ever fake meat dish. I added more spices to the balls though.
Awesome, glad to hear that they were a hit with your family – thanks for taking the time to write :)