Hearty and satisfying vegan meatloaf. This deliciously simple comfort food is richly flavored and glazed with a sweet and spicy tomato sauce.
I can hardly even believe how good this vegan meatloaf is!
Even before it’s cooked it’s so damn good. Don’t taste the mix before you cook it, you guys! You’ll just want to eat it just like that, and you can too.
It’s all vegan and ‘pre-cooked’ so nothing bad would even happen if you did, but patience…it gets even better when cooked.
How to make vegan meatloaf
The vegan meatloaf itself is based on chickpeas. This is mixed with onion, garlic, some homemade breadcrumbs – and when I say ‘homemade’, I mean I put some sliced bread in the blender and made breadcrumbs 
– some sweet chili sauce, dijon mustard, soy sauce, ground flaxseed meal, nutritional yeast, tomato paste and cayenne pepper.
You sauté the onions and garlic in some olive oil, then you mash up the chickpeas with a fork, the object being to keep it quite chunky but not too chunky, add in all the other ingredients and mix into a thick batter. Then you place it into a parchment lined loaf pan and smooth it down.
Bake it for 30 minutes covered with foil and while it’s baking you mix up a delicious tomato glaze of tomato paste, brown sugar, maple syrup, garlic powder and paprika and spread that out on top! Bake for another 15 minutes (uncovered) and voilá!
The crucial part is actually using parchment paper to line your loaf pan but not just to line it, but to actually have the parchment paper so that you can lift the entire vegan meatloaf out of the pan with the parchment paper.
This is because the meatloaf isn’t super firm when it comes out of the oven, and the glaze on top is still quite wet, so you can’t be tipping it over onto your wire cooling rack the way you would a loaf of home baked bread!
So that is really crucial.
The texture is really perfect almost right away, you just need to let it cool for around 10 minutes after coming out of the oven, and then you just lift it right out with the parchment paper onto a wire cooling rack, let it cool around another 10 minutes and then serve.
How to serve your vegan meatloaf
This would be wonderful served with some vegan mashed potatoes or even just alongside a simple salad.
It doesn’t need gravy because it’s not at all dry, but if you do want to serve with gravy, well that would be awesome too. Especially if you’ve got some vegan mashed potatoes on the side.
We have a wonderful vegan gravy recipe and a vegan mushroom gravy recipe, either of those would be great. If you want to serve this with gravy you could forego the tomato glaze, but it’s so good I don’t recommend missing out on the tomato topping.
I really hope you will love this vegan meatloaf, it is:
- Hearty
- Satisfying
- Simple
- Comfort Food
- Soooo Delicious!
Leftovers are amazing! So you will love love love having leftovers of this!
This is totally divine served completely cold, it is not a requirement in the slightest that it be reheated (though you can go ahead if you want!), so this is ideal for lunches the next day.
More vegan dinners!
- Vegan Bolognese
- Vegan Black Bean Burgers
- Vegan Steak
- Marinated Tofu
- Firm and Grillable Vegan Burger
- Vegan Chili
What do you think of this vegan meatloaf? Let us know in the comments! And please rate the recipe too! Thanks so much!
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Vegan Meatloaf
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 10
Description
Hearty and satisfying vegan meatloaf. This deliciously simple comfort food is richly flavored and glazed with a sweet and spicy tomato sauce.
Ingredients
For the Vegan Meatloaf:
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 tsp Crushed Garlic
- 1 Small Onion (100g / finely chopped)
- 2 15oz (425g) Cans Chickpeas
- 4 Slices Brown or Whole Wheat Bread (~160g) processed into breadcrumbs*
- 2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
- 2 Tbsp Sweet Chili Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 2 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed Meal
- 2 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 3 Tbsp Tomato Paste
- 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
For the Tomato Glaze:
- 1/4 cup (56g) Tomato Paste
- 1 Tbsp Brown Sugar
- 1/2 Tbsp Maple Syrup
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1/4 tsp Paprika
For Serving:
- Fresh Basil (Optional)
Instructions
- Add the chopped onion and crushed garlic to a frying pan with the olive oil and sauté until the onions are softened.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray and line it with parchment paper so that the meatloaf can be easily lifted out. Set aside.
- Drain the chickpeas and add to a mixing bowl. Mash with a fork until roughly mashed.
- Make your breadcrumbs by breaking up the 4 slices of bread and placing into a blender and pulse blending until it makes breadcrumbs.*
- Add the breadcrumbs, soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, dijon mustard, flaxseed meal, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, tomato paste and cayenne pepper to the mixing bowl. Add in the cooked onions and garlic. Mix very well into a thick batter. Make sure everything is evenly mixed (it’s a very thick mix). Transfer this into the parchment lined loaf pan and smooth down with the back of a spoon.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- While the meatloaf is baking, mix the tomato paste, brown sugar, maple syrup, garlic powder, salt and paprika in a bowl and stir together.
- When the meatloaf has baked for 30 minutes, remove it from the oven and remove the foil. Spread on the tomato glaze evenly and return it to the oven, (no foil, uncovered) to bake for a further 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from the loaf pan by lifting the meatloaf out with the parchment paper.
- Slice and serve with fresh basil.
Notes
*I used 4 slices of a regular pre-sliced thick cut sandwich bread for the breadcrumbs. It makes around 2 cups of breadcrumbs. Please note that if you use a store-bought version of breadcrumbs instead that you will then need less than 2 cups. This recipe was designed around the use of homemade breadcrumbs, so using store-bought breadcrumbs can result in a consistency that is too dry. If you are subbing a store-bought variety, add them in slowly and don’t use as much as 2 cups. I have not tested this recipe with a store-bought version so can’t be sure of the measure that will work best. It will be most accurate if you make your own breadcrumbs for this recipe.
*The tomato glaze is so good that we sometimes double it and use all of it for a thicker tomato glaze topping! If you like it as much as we do, you might want to do the same.
*This recipe was recently slightly updated and improved.
*Recipe inspired by Connoisseurus Veg and Simple Vegan Blog.
- Category: Entree, Dinner, Savory
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Vegan
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Slice (of 10)
- Calories: 164
- Sugar: 7.9g
- Sodium: 504mg
- Fat: 3.9g
- Saturated Fat: 0.4g
- Carbohydrates: 25.8g
- Fiber: 5.3g
- Protein: 6.6g
Keywords: vegan meatloaf
I’m thinking of making this recipe into small meatloaf ‘muffin’ portion sizes. I’m hoping it’s a great idea for meal prep and make ahead freezer meals. Any idea what the cooking time would be for them?
Looking forward to giving it a try 😁
Hi Dawn, that sounds like a great idea! I’m not sure of baking times but I would guess about 30 minutes.
Hi, can this be frozen? I am guessing it can at step five, sub storing the mixture in the freezer. Thanks
Hi Alan, it’s definitely freezer friendly once baked. It can be frozen up to 3 months. However, I haven’t tried freezing it before baking, but I am guessing it should also be fine to do that! Either thaw in fridge before baking or bake directly from frozen, allowing extra time to account for it being frozen.
This is my second time making this meat loaf. I love it and so does my daughter. 🤩🤩🤩
★★★★★
Yay! Thanks Deb!
Any substitute suggestions for Sweet Chili Sauce? Is it possible to omit?
★★★★★
Hi Viola, yes you can omit it, or replace it with tomato sauce/ketchup or barbecue sauce or really any kind of sweet sauce. 🙂
I made this loaf tonight. It wasn’t as pretty as yours, but it was delicious. I can’t wait until tomorrow. I’m looking forward to a cold “meatloaf” sandwich with lots of vegan mayo. I used a 1.5 cups of store bought bread crumbs, a couple of drops of water, and chili garlic sauce (with the rooster on the jar) instead of sweet chili sauce and it was perfect. The sauce added to the top at the end, I could’ve eaten it with a spoon! Thanks for a great recipe. I will be adding it to my rotation.
★★★★★
Awesome Laurie! Thanks so much for sharing and the fantastic review. xo
Are you supposed to mix the flax with water so it can work as a flax “egg” binder?
Hi Melissa, no, we don’t do that in this recipe, we just use the ground flaxseed as is. All the best! 🙂
I made this as directed and it had good flavor but on the dry side. If I make it again I will use half the amount of bread crumbs. I even added an extra ounce of water to the soy sauce measure cuz it seemed dry before I put it in the oven. But thank-you for your recipes, I have printed many of them. ?
★★★★
Hi Jan, so glad it had good flavor but I am concerned about it being dry. Did you also use homemade breadcrumbs or store-bought? I am wondering if this could be the differentiating factor, I wouldn’t have thought it would make a difference but maybe I’m wrong. Thanks very much! 🙂
Hi back, yes I used half Panko and half regular ( store bought). That’s a good point, they would be much drier then homemade…..I will make my own next time. Thanks for your feedback, I am a new vegan and on a learning curve when cooking.
Thanks Jan! I will update the recipe, I thought they would be interchangeable but now I think I was wrong about that, thanks so much for letting me know! 🙂
Hi
I’ve just made the meatloaf but the mixture was a pile of breadcrumbs even though I followed the recipe exactly. Any idea what went wrong? I’ve made many other recipes by you and all have been absolutely brilliant.
Many thanks
Hi Helen, I’m not sure what you mean, do you mean it wouldn’t mix properly before it went into the oven? I would just add a bit more liquid, even just a spoonful of water to make it mix, the mix is supposed to be fairly dry as you can see in the video, but it definitely is supposed to mix.
The glaze is delicious! I agree that you need to make a double batch for the glaze on this recipe!
★★★★★
Hahaha yes the glaze is so tasty! So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for posting Stacey. 🙂
I would love to make this recipe- it looks so good- but we are doing Bright Line eating, so we can’t have the bread crumbs. What do you think would be a good, non-bread option to replace them with?
Thank you!
Lisa
Hi Lisa, I’m thinking maybe rolled oats could work (I would add them to a blender or food processor to process them down to small pieces similar to breadcrumbs) or you could try cooked rice, or cooked quinoa or cooked couscous. Alternatively you could try something like walnuts, I mean that would change it totally but it could be very good! Crush them first and for all of these use in the same quantity as the breadcrumbs. I haven’t tried any of these options so am just guessing on what might work. If you find something that works great please let us know, I’m sure it would be helpful to others as well. 🙂
Thank you so much. I like all of those suggestions. I’ll ket you know how it turns out. ?
I made this recently and shared it with my non vegan co workers. Everyone LOVED it. I made mashed potatoes with it and some nutritional yeast gravy. It was so good. Can’t wait to make it again.
★★★★★
Awesome to hear that Sheila! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Can you use small red beans instead of chickpeas
I have no idea, it would be an experiment to try that! 🙂
Thank you for this delicious recepie. We loved it .
★★★★★
I’ve made this several times now and each time it gets better. Along with the Tbs. Sweet Chili Sauce in the tomato topping I also add just a Tbs or so to the chickpea mixture also. Even my non-vegan friends enjoy it. Thanks Allison for so many wonderful recipes. I’ll be commenting on others that I’ve made too.
So glad you like the recipe, and so glad even your non-vegan friends have enjoyed it! Thanks for posting Bob! 🙂
So delicious – especially the glaze on top. Already thinking about what else I can use that on. Next time, I might try adding another tablespoon or two of breadcrumbs, just to see if it helps firm it up a bit. So true – it was absolutely fabulous cold the next day, too!
I wasn’t sure about how much onion to use. Ended up using a fairly large one (maybe one cup, chopped?) and it was not too much at all.
★★★★★
So glad you liked it Linda! Definitely tweak it to your preference! Thanks for posting! 🙂
This is sooo good. Great texture and flavor. Added some sundried tomatoes and sage just because I love both ?
★★★★★
Smart! Love those additions! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
Made this loaf for dinner tonight and it was great! Added some chopped walnuts for texture. Thank you so much for all the recipes! They always work out so well!!
Chopped walnuts is a great idea for this! Love it! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
A hearty, delicious meal!
★★★★★
Amazing and non vegans love it too!!! I’m so thrilled to have discovered Lovingitvegan! My life is so much happier partly because I get to cook with my boyfriend in trying these exciting recipes!