These chickpea meatballs are seriously delicious! They are loaded with flavor and so easy to make. Serve them plain or with marinara sauce for a satisfying meal.
Chickpeas are awesome. They’re so versatile too. I mean we’ve made vegan tuna from chickpeas. Need I even say more. That’s how versatile these little guys are.
So it’s no surprise really that they also work wonderfully in some vegan meatballs. These chickpea meatballs are SO tasty.
You definitely can’t have just one. This is a ‘must eat them all’ sort of scenario. They’re delicious served on their own or smothered in marinara sauce and served with spaghetti for a fabulous vegan spaghetti and meatballs dinner.
You can bake them or you can fry them (we baked them). Either way they’re amazing.
And if you love making your own homemade meatballs then check out our recipe for vegan meatballs made with seitan.
Ingredients You’ll Need:
Ingredient Notes
- Chickpeas – we use canned chickpeas in this recipe for the sake of simplicity. If you have cooked chickpeas on hand then you can use 1 and ½ cups.
- Nutritional yeast – this gives these meatballs a slightly cheesy flavor which we found delicious! But if you’re not a fan of nutritional yeast you can leave it out.
- Breadcrumbs – you can use any brand of vegan breadcrumbs or panko breadcrumbs.
How To Make Chickpea Meatballs
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Add canned chickpeas to the food processor along with chopped onion, crushed garlic, nutritional yeast, soy sauce and tomato paste. Process until smooth.
- Add smoked paprika, coriander powder and cumin and process.
- Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and add breadcrumbs and fresh chopped parsley and mix in. Use your hands to form it into a dough.
- Scoop roughly tablespoon sized amounts of dough, roll them into balls and place evenly onto a parchment lined baking tray.
- Place the tray into the freezer for 15 minutes so that the balls can firm up.
- Remove the tray from the freezer and lightly brush each ball with olive oil.
- Place into the oven and bake at 350°F for 20 minutes, turning the balls over once at the 10 minute mark.
Recipe Tips
Let the balls firm up in the freezer. The reason we place the tray into the freezer before baking is so that the balls will hold their shape really well when baking or frying.
Bake them or fry them. You can either bake or fry these meatballs. Of course baking is a low oil option since we just lightly brush them with olive oil prior to baking. If you’d prefer to fry them then heat up two tablespoons of oil in the frying pan until hot and then fry as many meatballs as comfortably fit into the pan. Fry for a few minutes, turning regularly until golden and crispy all over. Repeat with the next batch.
Make them oil-free. If you’d like these meatballs to be oil-free then baking would be the best option, you can simply omit brushing them with olive oil. They are slightly drier of course but once served with a sauce that won’t matter.
Recipe FAQ
These chickpea meatballs can be made ahead of time. Make them up to the point that they would go into the freezer to firm up for 15 minutes. And then instead of baking them, move them to the fridge for up to 48 hours before baking.
Keep them stored in a covered container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days. They can be reheated in the microwave.
Baked meatballs can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and then reheat in the microwave or frying pan.
More Vegan Chickpea Recipes
- Vegan Falafel
- Vegan Chickpea Burgers
- Vegan Chicken Salad
- Vegan Meatloaf
- Vegan Chickpea Salad
- Vegan Chickpea Curry
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Chickpea Meatballs
Ingredients
- 15 ounce Can Chickpeas (1 can) Drained
- ½ Small Red Onion Finely Chopped
- 4 Cloves Garlic Crushed
- 2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast Flakes
- 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
- 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
- ½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- ½ teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1 teaspoon Cumin
- 1 cup Breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup Chopped Parsley
- Olive Oil For Brushing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Add canned chickpeas to the food processor along with chopped onion, crushed garlic, nutritional yeast, soy sauce and tomato paste. Process until smooth.
- Add smoked paprika, coriander powder and cumin and process.
- Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl and add breadcrumbs and fresh chopped parsley and mix in. Use your hands to form it into a dough.
- Scoop roughly tablespoon sized amounts of dough, roll them into balls and place evenly onto a parchment lined baking tray.
- Place the tray into the freezer for 15 minutes so that the balls can firm up.
- Remove the tray from the freezer and lightly brush each ball with olive oil.
- Place into the oven and bake for 20 minutes, turning the balls over once at the 10 minute mark.
Notes
- Chickpeas – if you happen to have cooked chickpeas on hand (not canned) then you can use 1 and ½ cups.
- Bake them or fry them. You can either bake or fry these meatballs. If you’d prefer to fry them then heat up two tablespoons of oil in the frying pan until hot and then fry as many meatballs as comfortably fit into the pan. Fry for a few minutes, turning regularly until golden and crispy all over. Repeat with the next batch.
- Make them oil-free. If you’d like these meatballs to be oil-free then baking would be the best option, you can simply omit brushing them with olive oil. They are slightly drier of course but once served with a sauce that won’t matter.
- Make Ahead: These chickpea meatballs can be made ahead of time. Make them up to the point that they would go into the freezer to firm up for 15 minutes. And then instead of baking them, move them to the fridge for up to 48 hours before baking.
- Storing and Freezing: Keep them stored in a covered container in the fridge and enjoy within 3-4 days. They can be reheated in the microwave. Baked meatballs can be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and then reheat in the microwave or frying pan.
- Prep time – includes the 15 minutes firming up in the freezer.
I cooked these form Sunday dinner, inside was very disappointed 😞. The flavor was great but the the inside was so mushy. And after I put them in the sauce they sucked up all the liquid and everything became very gross. Definitely will be looking for another recipe for vegan meatballs.
And yes I followed the recipe exactly.
I made these today. I used half the amount of smoked paprika. I find it can be overpowering & even at half the amount, it was! With all that garlic, onion, spices & all the other flavors like soy sauce & nutritional yeast you’d think they’d have more flavor but all i taste is the smoked paprika. But they were easy to make & i didn’t need to freeze them before baking.
This is by far the best chickpea recipe I have made. Thank you.
did alter it slightly. I used oatmeal instead of breadcrumbs and I added an egg.
Thanks for sharing and your great review Rosemary.
I didn’t have parsley so I added fresh basil and fresh oregano. I left out the cumin and paprika and added Italian seasonings. I also didn’t put them in the freezer and they held together perfectly. Absolutely delicious!! It is a fun recipe to play around with.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Eileen.
These look great, I’m excited to try them! I’m hoping to make for a potluck event. I was thinking of baking them per the recipe, and then just keeping warm in sauce in the crockpot for a couple hours. Do you think they’d hold up that long in the sauce?
Yes, they should hold up Kelly.
Yum, yum, yummy! These are amazing, I put them in a pan for a moment to get them crispy, and they’re perfect!
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Elizabeth!
so good! I was worried about how they were going to hold up in the oven so I baked mine at 375 for 25 minutes, flipped and let them bake an additional 10. super simple and delicious – i am already thinking of all of the flavor combinations that could be used here!
That’s awesome Devon! Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review!
Made these tonight and they were absolutely delicious!!! easy to make really enjoyable to make them and I’ve shared them with my Italian plant-based friends just amazing and super healthy! thank you so much!
Happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Kate! Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review!
I added some liquid smoke -just because I had it but otherwise followed the recipe as written and they came out delicious! I used them to make meatball subs and both my meat eating husband and my little picky eater both enjoyed.
Nice! Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review Amanda!
one of the best recipes I ever tasted, thank you for sharing.
Wow that’s awesome! Thanks so much for your great review!
Very delicious and have made them several times now, I cut the amount of breadcrumbs in half and bake them. They are tender and yet hold together very well. I always double the batch and freeze them. I serve them warmed up with roasted red pepper pasta sauce.
Awesome Carol! Thanks so much for sharing and for your great review!