Vegan Spaghetti and Meatballs
This vegan spaghetti with meatballs dish is packed with hearty, savory flavors, featuring tender plant-based meatballs and a rich tomato sauce. It's a delicious, satisfying meal that’s 100% vegan and perfect for a comforting dinner.
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 307kcal
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 2 cups cooked bulgur
- 1.5 cups whole wheat bread crumbs (equals 2-3 slices of bread)
- 1.5 cups rolled oats
- 1 15 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes (with juice drained and reserved)
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 sticks celery diced
- 3/4 cup carrot diced
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
- 1/2 green pepper diced
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- sea salt to your taste
Pasta & Marinara
- 12 ozs pasta
- 3 cups marinara sauce
Instructions
Meatball Instructions
- Line a large baking pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350. Parchment paper makes clean up so much easier with this recipe.
- Cook bulgur according to package directions. It cooks on the stovetop or in a rice cooker in about 15-minutes.
- Dice all veggies--onion, garlic, celery, bell pepper, and walnuts.
- Mix all ingredients in a very large bowl. You can use a spoon, but I prefer to use my hands to thoroughly blend ingredients.
- Form into balls and place on a baking sheet. If the mixture seems too wet, add a few more oats. If it seems too dry, add a little bit of the juice drained from tomatoes or water. These should hold together to form balls pretty well.
- Bake at 350°F for approximately 25-30 minutes.
- To make these meatballs even firmer, cook a day ahead and refrigerate. When they are reheated, the texture is very firm and the flavors have had time to marry and are fabulous.
- Cooking Pasta
- While this is cooking, put a large pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. Cook your spaghetti noodles according to the package directions. Usually, pasta takes about 15-minutes to cook on the stovetop.
- Once the pasta has finished cooking, drain and rinse under cool water to remove the starchy residue and stop the cooking process.
Assembly Instructions
- Lastly, place the meatballs on a plate with the pasta and top with your favorite marinara sauce. Homemade options linked above in the article above.
Video
Notes
Tips & Suggestions:
I have included step-by-step photos and directions above to ensure your first attempt will be successful.
- Pasta- I recommend using whole-grain pasta to keep this dish completely healthy.
- Overcooking- Don't overcook the pasta, or it will become mushy. Rinsing it under cool water helps to stop the cooking process quickly and keep the noodles from sticking together.
- Make firmer- The vegan meatballs firm up even more after refrigerating them.
- Make them gluten-free- Subbed the bulgur with buckwheat groats, quinoa, and brown rice for gluten-free options. Just be mindful to use gluten-free breadcrumbs and oats, as well as tamari in place of the soy sauce for the whole recipe.
- Marinara options- A classic marinara or tomato-based sauce works best for vegan spaghetti and meatballs. If you would like to make your own, we have a great oil-free marinara sauce recipe on this website. For store-bought options, the Aldi discount grocery store has an organic oil-free marinara brand called Simply Nature. Another great oil-free marinara is the DeLallo Fat-Free Brand. It can be ordered on Amazon and delivered straight to your door. I actually love this particular brand.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 307kcal | Carbohydrates: 88g | Protein: 10.2g | Fat: 6g | Fiber: 12g | Sugar: 12g