These Vegan Cauliflower Meatballs are perfect for an easy dinner and packed full of healthy ingredients…
The Best Vegan Spaghetti & Meatballs
Perfect for a date night or family dinner, this is The Best Vegan Spaghetti & Meatballs you will ever have. Delicious and savory!
Today we are taking a classic recipe and making it even more delicious – because it is vegan-ized! This is one of those recipes that will fool all of your non-vegan friends. Trust me, it tastes like the real deal!
How to make The Best Vegan Meatballs
These vegan meatballs are baked instead of fried and cooked up in a super simple (and delicious) sauce. To get them started, combine vegan beef & vegan sausage in a bowl. I used Beyond Meat for this recipe, and have not tried it with any other combo.
Next add bread crumbs, oregano, tomato paste, garlic, salt, pepper and our vegan binder – aquafaba. If you have never heard of aquafaba, it is just the liquid in a can of chickpeas. It has a similar texture to eggs, which makes it the perfect swap for these meatballs.
Roll the “meat” mixture into 10 balls, and place in a greased baking sheet. Let them cook for 15 minutes and in the meantime, prepare the sauce.
How to make the The Best Vegan Spaghetti & Meatball Sauce
The sauce for this recipe is super easy – rather than cook it on the stove, you are just going to combine the ingredients in a bowl and then cover the meatballs in it. The oven will do the work to get it hot, bubbly and cooked through.
Grab some canned tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, oregano, garlic, olive oil, salt & pepper. Give it all a quick stir, and that’s it! Once the meatballs come out of the oven, pour the sauce over them and cover with foil. Put them back in the oven for another 25 minutes.
They final step to make The Best Vegan Spaghetti & Meatballs
Now, we could have just added the sauce and called it a day. But if these are going to be the BEST meatballs, then we need to finish them with something extra special.
If you’ve made my Ultimate Vegan Lasagna recipe, then you’ve already seen this trick. You are going to combine vegan cream cheese and non-dairy half & half in a bowl. It is going to make a soupy looking mixture, but once baked, is a dupe for mozzarella cheese. I know it sounds weird, but it works!
Take the meatballs out of the oven, remove the foil, and drizzle the cheesy mixture on top with some fresh basil. Place the meatballs back in the oven one last time, and let everything get hot and bubbly.
How to serve The Best Vegan Spaghetti & Meatballs
Remove the meatballs from the oven and serve them over a hot plate of spaghetti noodles. Add some more fresh basil and dig in!
You could also forego the pasta and just grab a loaf of toasty bread to eat these with. Either way, they will be beyond tasty!
The Best Vegan Spaghetti & Meatballs
Ingredients
FOR THE MEATBALLS
- olive oil to grease the baking dish
- 8 oz Beyond Meat Italian Sausage
- 8 oz Beyond Meat Ground Beef
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs
- 3 tbsp aquafaba*
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic diced
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
FOR THE SAUCE
- 1 28-ounce can petite diced tomatoes
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 cloves garlic diced
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
FOR THE CHEESE SAUCE
- 4 tbsp vegan cream cheese
- 3 tbsp non-dairy half & half can be subbed for non-dairy milk
- 2 tbsp fresh basil chopped
FOR SERVING
- 3/4 lb spaghetti
Instructions
- Grease a baking dish with olive oil and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the sausage and beef. Use a fork to mash the vegan meat together. Add the rest of the meatball ingredients and stir to combine.
- Form the mixture into 10 meatballs and place in the greased baking dish. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.
- While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the sauce. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- Remove the meatballs from the oven and pour the sauce over them. Cover with foil and bake for an additional 25 minutes.
- Combine the cream cheese and half & half in a bowl and stir to combine. Remove the meatballs from the oven and pour the cream cheese mixture over them. Top with fresh basil and bake in the oven for 10 more minutes.
- While the meatballs are finishing, prepare the spaghetti according to the package instructions.
- To serve, plate the spaghetti and top with meatballs, sauce and more fresh basil.
Video
Notes
This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on one and make a purchase I will receive a small percentage of the sale. Please know I would never link a product unless I have personally used it and loved it!
Made this last night. Had our meat eating German friend over. He ate over half of it! Definitely a winner. Thanks for the amazing recipes!
Your blog is the first place I turn for recipes!
Thank you 🎉 And so glad it was a hit with everyone!