This savory vegetable meatball recipe was great with some leftover Thanksgiving stuffing. Since your meatballs are full of vegetables, they pair well with any side you can think of!

These vegetable meatballs are delicious a substitute for regular meatballs. The fennel gravy is so yummy you’ll be scraping your plate with your fork to clean your plate.

Tips for this recipe:

• When pulsing the vegetables to make the meatball dough, don’t over blend your mixture. The meatballs will taste best with more chunks of vegetables still present.
• If you are not a huge fan of fennel seeds, add up to 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds rather than 1 1/2 teaspoons. This recipe has a strong fennel flavor so it’s okay to not be generous with the seeds the first time you make the recipe.

Recipe:

Norwegian Vegetarian Meatballs with Gravy

For the original recipe click here and here.

Ingredients:

Vegetarian Meatballs:

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups frozen mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, peas, green beans)

15 ounce can chickpeas

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup flour

Vegetarian Gravy:

1 small onion

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 teaspoons whole fennel seeds

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1/2 cup flour

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Drain and rinse chickpeas. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Sauté vegetables, chickpeas, garlic powder, smoked paprika, oregano, salt and pepper until warmed through and coated in spices (3 – 5 minutes).
3. Add vegetables and flour to food processor or blender. Pulse 20 times until chunky paste forms, scraping down the sides as necessary.
4. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Gently form vegetable dough into 2 teaspoon sized balls and place on baking sheets. Use a cookie scoop or spoons to form balls to not squish balls which would cause them to be dense.
5. Brush balls with olive oil.
6. Bake vegetable meatballs until lightly browned (30 minutes), rotating every 15 minutes to allow for an even bake. Allow to cool before adding to gravy (10 minutes).
7. Mince small onion. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and sauté onion until tender (3 minutes).
8. Add fennel, thyme, and cayenne and sauté until fragrant (1 minute). Add flour and stir frequently until medium brown (4 – 6 minutes).
9. Reduce heat to medium low. Add vegetable broth and stir until thickened. Slowly add milk and stir constantly. Stir in salt and continue to stir until thickened (5 minutes).
10. Remove gravy from heat and gently stir in cooled vegetable meatballs.

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