Vegan Swedish Meatballs

These vegan swedish meatballs are a twist on a comfort classic. Enjoy as your next family dinner or date night meal. 

Ingredients

  • Prep Time: 35 minutes
  • Cook Time: 60 minutes

  For the Meatballs

  • 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
  • 6 tbsp water
  • 2 C wild rice (cooked *)
  • 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 C white onion (finely diced)
  • 3/4 C white mushrooms (finely chopped)
  • 1/3 C plain applesauce
  • 3/4 C panko breadcrumbs
  • 2 tsp fresh garlic (finely chopped and divided )
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 C chopped parsley (*optional)

For the Gravy

  • 3 tbsp vegan butter (Earth Balance brand)
  • 1 tsp minced garlic (fresh)
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1.5 C vegetable broth
  • 1/2 C Vegan sour cream (tofutti brand)
  • salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions

  Make the Meatballs

  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees
  • Create 2 flax eggs* by combing the ground flaxseed and water into a small bowl. Whisk well and set aside at room temperature for at least 10 minutes, and up to one hour.
  • In a medium cooking pan, add olive oil and heat over medium heat. Once hot, add the mushrooms, onion, and 1 tsp garlic. Sautee until fragrant & when most of the liquid has been absorbed (3-5 minutes).
  • In a large bowl, combine the mushroom/onion mixture, with the flax egg, rice, applesauce, breadcrumbs, paprika, salt, and 1 tsp garlic.
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and roll the meatball mixture into small balls (about 1-2 tbsp per ball). Place each ball on the baking sheet, and put into the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Make the Gravy

  • In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onion powder, and flour. Let it sit for a minute or two (until it bubbles) and gently whisk together. 
  • Slowly, whisk in the broth until the sauce is smooth. 
  • Stir in the sour cream until well incorporated. If you want a thinner consistency, add more broth. Season to taste.
  • Top meatballs onto sauce and sprinkle with parsley! 

*The original recipe, which is adapted from pinchofyum, calls for 100% wild rice in a can. We used a wild rice blend. Use whatever you have or can find. We also made our rice a day in advance to cut down on the prep time.

I hope you all are faring well in this FRIGID weather. We went to Minnesota and Kansas over Christmas break, and it seems like we’ve brought the crap weather with us to Texas. SORRY YA’LL. Although I don’t like the cold, I LOVE eating “cold-weather” food. Soups, stews, chili, and [VEGAN] SWEDISH MEATBALLS.

We haven’t eaten these in forever, so when one of my favorite bloggers, pinchofyum, posted her recipe for it, we knew we had to recreate & vegan-ize it. I’d honestly forgotten all about Swedish meatballs. Eric and I ate them frequently when we first started dating. Eric prefers his with egg noodles, and me with mashed potatoes. You can serve yours with whatever you’d like.

Recently, we’ve been eating a lot of non-comfort foods, so it was so nice to fully indulge in this. If you’ve never had meatless meatballs, specifically vegan meatballs that don’t contain egg, don’t be alarmed by the final texture. Not having an egg in there makes it difficult for the ball to stay together. They fall apart easily once done, but DO YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT THAT? I sure don’t, because it’s literally going to end up in my stomach when it’s all said and done. Oh and having an egg doesn’t give it any flavor anyway. When’s the last time you had a meatball, or burger, or WHATEVER, and said to yourself, “wow that egg in there taste so good – it really makes the dish!” Never. You’ve never said that. You’ve never thought that. You don’t need the egg, I promise. The meatballs will still be delicious.

They’re a bit crispy on the outside, and tender on the inside- just how I like them.  In the original recipe, the meatballs are bound together with sour cream, greek yogurt, and eggs. We swapped the sour cream and greek yogurt for applesauce. We did this because there is already a hefty amount of sour cream in the sauce, and we just didn’t want to add more. Vegan or not, sour cream isn’t something we like to indulge in. We also swapped the eggs for 2 flax eggs. These swaps we made are what ultimately led to the different consistency – but like I mentioned earlier, it does not skimp on the flavor, and is still soooo delicious!

Give it a try and let us know what you think! Oh, and try to stay warm out there.

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