Vegan Italian Meatballs (Seitan)

Are you ready to try the meatiest vegan meatballs you've ever come across? Juicy, tender, flavourful, perfect for enjoying as an appetizer with a dipping sauce and even better for topping pasta. These vegan Italian seitan meatballs have quickly become a go-to recipe in my house!

Not only are these super easy to prepare (just 10 minutes prep time), but once they are steamed they can be stored in the fridge for 5 days or they can even be frozen for another time. Perfect for making ahead of time or for meal prep.

The secret to getting the meatiest texture is to use vital wheat gluten. Vital wheat gluten is a flour made from the protein in wheat, and it's what gives bread its bouncy stretchy texture, and what makes pizza dough so awesome. Using it in combination with lentils, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, and various spices makes these seitan meatballs so meaty and flavourful it's pretty astounding.

For those of you who love counting macros, one serving (5 meatballs) contains a whopping 39 grams of protein!! Or 8 grams of protein per meatball.

Unfortunately, vital wheat gluten is a very special ingredient and there is no substitution for it. So if you are gluten-free this isn't the recipe for you. You could try my beanball recipe found in my cookbook Fuss-Free Vegan which has a gluten-free option.

To make vegan Italian Seitan Meatballs:

Add the sun-dried tomatoes and walnuts to a food processor and pulse until you reach a paste-like texture.

Add all the remaining ingredients to the food processor and pulse, stopping to scrape the sides as needed until combined into a crumbly dough.

Pinch off some of the dough and roll into a vegan meatball about the size of a golf ball and set aside on a plate or dish. Repeat until all the dough is used up and you have made about 20 meatballs.

Add several inches of water to a large pot with a steamer basket and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the meatballs to the steamer basket, cover and steam for 25 minutes, gently turning the meatballs halfway through. The meatballs will expand a bit when they steam.

Once the steaming is done, you can either prepare them right away (see below), or allow them to cool completely and store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze for later.

Steaming the seitan is what gives it the perfect texture. Once they are steamed you can basically treat them as if they were raw meatballs and pan-fry them before serving.

To do this add 1 tablespoon of oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the meatballs and fry a couple of minutes per side, turning as needed until they are golden all over and heated through.

Serve with dipping sauce, add to a tomato sauce, top on pasta, or enjoy them any way you please.

I love making pasta with tomato sauce from my cookbook Fuss-Free Vegan, adding the seitan meatballs on top, and garnishing with Parmegan. And I've also served them as a little appetizer with a few sauces for dipping. Let's just say that anyway I prepare these vegan Italian seitan meatballs, they have disappeared immediately.

Bon appetegan!

Sam Turnbull.

4.96 from 125 votes

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Vegan Italian Seitan Meatballs

Juicy, tender, flavourful, perfect for enjoying as an appetizer with a dipping sauce and even better for topping on pasta. Easy to make and can be prepared ahead of time or frozen for later.

By: Sam Turnbull

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 30 minutes mins

Total: 40 minutes mins

Servings: 4 (makes about 20 meatballs)

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Ingredients

 

½1x2x

• ▢ ⅓ cup sun-dried tomatoes, (the kind in oil)
• ▢ ½ cup walnuts
• ▢ 1 ¼ cup vital wheat gluten, (there is no substitution for this)
• ▢ 1 cup cooked lentils, (I used canned)
• ▢ 6 tablespoons water
• ▢ 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• ▢ 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• ▢ 1 tablespoon dried basil
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ▢ ½ teaspoon black pepper

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

 

OnOff

To prepare the vegan meatballs:

• Add the sun-dried tomatoes and walnuts to a food processor and pulse until you reach a paste-like texture. Add all the remaining ingredients to the food processor and pulse, stopping to scrape the sides as needed until combined into a crumbly dough.
  
• Pinch off some of the dough and roll into a vegan meatball about the size of a golf ball and set aside on a plate or dish. Repeat until all the dough is used up and you have made about 20 meatballs.
  
• Fill a large pot with several inches of water and place a steamer basket inside. Bring the water to a boil, then add the meatballs to the steamer basket. Cover and steam for 25 minutes, gently turning the meatballs halfway through, or until their internal temperature reaches at least 160°F (71°C) when tested with an instant-read thermometer. If the temperature goes higher, that's perfectly fine—you can't really oversteam seitan.

  The meatballs will expand a bit when they steam. Once the steaming is done, you can either prepare them right away (see below), or allow them to cool completely and store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze for later.
  

To serve:

• Steaming the seitan is what gives it the perfect texture. Once they are steamed you can basically treat them as if they were raw meatballs and pan-fry them before serving.

  To do this add 1 tablespoon of oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add the meatballs and fry a couple of minutes per side, turning as needed until they are golden all over and heated through. Serve with dipping sauce, add to a tomato sauce, or enjoy them any way you please.

  * Learn my secret tricks to making perfect seitan in my free masterclass. Click here to learn more and register.
  

Notes

Vital wheat gluten is essential to this recipe, and there is no substitute. Therefore this recipe cannot be made gluten-free. For a vegan gluten-free meatball recipe try my bean ball recipe in Fuss-Free Vegan which has a gluten-free option.

Steaming tips: you need to steam the vegan meatballs before using them. I recommend getting a steamer pot if you plan to make seitan often, or you can use a DIY method if you do not have a steamer.

Cleaning tips: vital wheat gluten is very sticky and can destroy dish brushes and cloths. So what I like to do is save old clothes, sheets, or towels that are too shabby to donate, and cut them into rags. I use these rags to clean up after preparing a seitan recipe and discard the rag once finished.

To make vegan meatballs oil-free: sub the sun-dried tomatoes in oil, for the air-packed sun-dried tomatoes. Note that the walnut/ sun-dried tomato mixture will be more like a fine crumble in texture instead of a paste. Then simply fry them without oil in a non-stick pan, adding a little water or broth if needed. Note: I tried baking the vegan meatballs but this just made them dry and hard so I do not recommend this.

To substitute walnuts: I love walnuts for their flavour in this recipe but you could substitute them for any nut or seed such as pecans, cashews, pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds.

Nutrition

Serving: 1(¼ of the recipe, about 5 meatballs) | Calories: 343kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 39g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 540mg | Potassium: 728mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 80IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 112mg | Iron: 6mg

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Cuisine: Italian-Inspired

Course: Appetizer, Main Course

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