It may sound crazy, but these ricotta stuffed meatballs meatballs are 100% vegan! We try to limit our consumption of processed plant based meats but they are totally okay to have in moderation. (Just remember, it’s still better than real red meat!) The realistic plant based meat replacements we can find today allow us to recreate some of our favourite dishes without compromising flavour, texture and so on. It’s so fun to both recreate classics and come up with fun twists on them – such as this recipe!
We stuffed our meatballs with a creamy tofu ricotta and added even more flavour with some fresh basil pesto. These meatballs are not hard to make, the most time consuming part is actually forming them and stuffing them. There’s lots of options for how to eat them as well! You can serve them over some pasta or even in a meatball sub! If you didn’t already know, we’re huge pasta fans. That’s why we had to try these served over pasta! We hope you have as much fun with these vegan ricotta stuffed meatballs as we did. Be sure to tag us in your recreations – enjoy!
Make sure you check out our latest recipe if you missed it – homemade crunchy granola squares!
PESTO RICOTTA STUFFED MEATBALLS
Course: DinnerCuisine: Italian, VeganDifficulty: Medium4
servings20
minutes40
minutesIngredients
- For Tofu Ricotta
300g extra firm tofu
Juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper
- For Meatballs
2-3 links of beyond meat Italian sausage
1 pack beyond meat veggie ground
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper
1/4 cup vegan egg replacement or 1 tbsp flax egg
2 tbsp vegan mozzarella
1 jar of favourite tomato sauce
2 tbsp cooking oil
- For Basil Pesto
1 tsp pine nuts
1/4 packed fresh basil leaves
Juice from 1 lemon
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
Directions
- In a blender or food processor, add all tofu ricotta ingredients and pulse until a ricotta texture is achieved. Set aside.
- Rinse food processor or blender and add all pesto ingredients. Pulse until smooth. if using a mortar and pestle chop all ingredients and then grind to a paste. Add finished pesto into the tofu ricotta and mix. Preheat a large deep skillet over medium low heat and add cooking oil to the pan.
- In a mixing bowl combine vegan sausage, veggie ground, egg replacement, fennel seeds, garlic powder, breadcrumbs and salt and pepper. Use your hands to get everything combined. Once again use your hands to shape out two small burger patty shapes. Scoop some ricotta into the centre and place the other patty on top. Use fingers to seal edges and repeat until veggie meat is used up.
- Place meatballs in preheated, oiled pan and cook for 5 minutes each side. You just want to cook them enough that when we simmer them in sauce they will stay intact. Pour tomato sauce over meatballs and continue to simmer for 15-20. minutes on low heat. Stir occasionally to make sure they each cook evenly!
- Remove meatballs from pan, serve over pasta and top with vegan mozzarella shreds and a sprinkle of fresh basil.
