Maple Garlic 'Meat'balls

These honey garlic meatballs are sweet, salty and always a hit! Vegan baked 'meatballs' are coated in a homemade maple sv garlic sauce.

They're easy to make, and they're ready in about 35 minutes! The meatballs are also very freezer friendly so this big batch can be split up if you want to freeze half and serve half for dinner tonight!

If you know me you know I love prepping portions of my meals beforehand so that dinner time is a breeze (especially with newborn twins and a toddler !) . For easy prep, I always make the sauce the night before. Then, reheat it on the stove on low medium heat. Sometimes you need to add a splash of water again the following day and whisk to smooth out while heating.

Meatballs are perfect as a party appetizer or casual weeknight dinner. And if you don't love maple garlic sauce, you can skip the maple garlic sauce and use the meatballs with tomato sauce for spaghetti 🍝 night !

These 'meat'balls are made with a combination of Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) and finely ground mushrooms.

Textured vegetable protein is essentially just dehydrated soy grains. It's a wonderful ingredient for substituting ground beef. You simply rehydrate it with water or vegetable stock. Most grocery stores and health food stores sell it now as well as Bulk Barn in Canada. I highly recommend getting it from Bulk barn as it's so cheap!

The added mushrooms in this recipe are for additional texture and flavour. Even if you're not a fan of mushrooms I truly think you'll still enjoy them in this recipe.

Tips for making the best vegan meatballs

• Use a cookie scoop to make them evenly sized.

• To serve them as an appetizer, roll them smaller and serve them with a tiny fork or toothpick.

• After you've ground everything into the food processor and added to the bowl, use your hands to mix the ingredients, it helps incorporate everything evenly.

• Time the baking of the balls so you can simply add them into your sauce straight from the oven !

If I'm not having these for an appetizer, I love to serve them on top of buttery noodles or rice, with a side of green veggies or a salad!