Delicious little meatless zucchini “meatballs” that somehow fool your taste buds into believing you’re eating meat. How can a vegetarian meatball fool your taste buds into believing you’re eating meat? The secret is literally in the sauce. (In this case, a zesty garden tomato sauce.)
(Note: the healthy tasty zucchini “meatball” recipe is adapted from SkinnyTaste, but the sauce is my own creation.)
With all the zucchini recipes I’ve made over the years, I was beginning to suspect that there just isn’t one single more NEW thing I can make with zucchini. I’ve had zucchini baked eggs, zucchini bread, zucchini cake, zucchini “crab cakes”, zummus (zucchini hummus), zucchini noodles (love my zoodles!), zucchini stroganoff, zucchini pizza, zucchini pizza crust, zucchini tots … oh man, the list just goes on and on and on! So just when I was kind of actually convinced I couldn’t possibly find another way to enjoy zucchini, I totally surprised myself and did! I have to say I was really intrigued with these meatless zucchini “meatballs” I’d seen floating around the internet. I wondered how they would taste. Would they taste like meat? So I made them. And I ate one plain, with no sauce. And it tasted … like a zucchini tot. It was really good, but nothing new and it certainly DIDN’T taste like meat. My taste buds grumbled, slightly disappointed.
But wait! That was without sauce. What would it taste like with a good sauce? Something inside of me just didn’t want to open a jar of my son’s favorite pasta sauce just to give my veggie meatballs a sauce bath. So I stuck my zucchini meatballs in a container in the fridge until I had the time and courage to make a good sauce, one for MY taste buds, something with a little zip. When I finally gathered the gumption to make the sauce, I looked around at a bunch of tomato sauce recipes online, but none of them really called to me. I decided I was on my own on this one. I pulled out some of the garden goodies I had in my fridge and got to work.
Luckily, as I was grabbing ingredients, I looked in the freezer and stumbled across some green chile my dad had frozen for me years ago … labeled “mild green chile peppers”. I happen to know that over time, frozen green chile gets hotter and these peppers had indeed gained some heat. Still, they weren’t quite spicy enough for my liking so I threw in some crushed red pepper flakes as well. NOW you’re talkin’! The sauce went from boring to interesting once I added the green chile and red pepper flakes … and then a bit better with red wine … and then with the extra tomato boost from the tomato powder and bay leaf it started tasting really good … and then when I stirred in the fresh herbs, that was when I knew I had struck gold, in sauce form.
I stuck my little vegetable “meatballs” in the tomato sauce, did the obligatory photo shoot (because without that, why would you even care to listen to this story?) and then I stuck my fork into a “meatball” and tasted it with my newest favorite sauce. And lo and behold, my taste buds and my brain got together and agreed: “hey, this kinda makes me believe I’m eating meat!” I gobbled up several of the veggie meatballs, savoring every bite and using my finger to get every last speck of sauce into my mouth.
But … it tasted like meat this time. How the heck did that happen? How can something that’s meatless fool your taste buds into believing you’re eating meat?
I did some thinking on this and here’s my theory: most of us have savored spaghetti and meatballs at some point in our lives, so we’ve trained our brains to believe that balls of “stuff” in an Italian tomato sauce must be meatballs. And so, when we encounter a ball of deliciousness in a really good Italian sauce, our brains tell our taste buds “that’s meat!” Don’t get me wrong: your taste buds will not be completely fooled. I mean, zucchini does not taste like meat … it just doesn’t. But it turns out you can actually kind of trick your brain into believing that it is. (Or at least it worked for me … If this doesn’t happen to work for your brain and you want a vegetarian “meatball” that tastes even more like meat, try this mushroom meatball recipe.)
And seriously, I think you’re going to LOVE the sauce. Once I doused all my little vegetarian meatballs in yummy sauce, I saved a little sauce on the side for another recipe I have brewing in my brain. Ooh I can’t wait to make it!
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Meatless Zucchini “Meatballs” with zesty garden tomato sauce
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 3 - 6 servings 1x
Ingredients
For the meatless zucchini “meatballs”:
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 – 4 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped
- 1 1/4 lbs. grated zucchini
- 2 Tablespoons chopped basil
- 1 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 oz. Parmesan or Romano cheese, freshly grated, plus more for serving
For the sauce:
- 2 – 4 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 medium onion, peeled & roughly chopped
- 1 medium carrot, peeled & roughly chopped
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 cup chopped zucchini
- 1 pint tomatoes or 1 15-oz. can of tomatoes (or 1 lb. fresh tomatoes, peeled & chopped)
- 1/4 cup frozen roasted Hatch green chile, with juices (or 1 4 oz. can)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Fresh ground pepper, to taste
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 Tablespoons tomato powder (or tomato paste)
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig each: rosemary, oregano & tarragon leaves, chopped
- 1 Tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or line with a silicon baking mat.
- Heat a frying pan over medium heat and add the oil. Swirl the oil around with a spatula, add the garlic and zucchini and saute for 5 – 10 minutes or until the liquid is mostly gone from the pan. Pour into a colander over the sink to let excess moisture drain out. Let drain for 15 – 20 minutes, mashing it with a spatula several times to help squeeze out the moisture.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the zucchini and the basil, breadcrumbs, seasonings, egg and cheese until well mixed. (If the mixture is too soupy, add a bit more breadcrumbs.)
- Use your hands to form 1 inch balls of this mixture, setting each ball on the prepared baking sheet and leaving a little space between the veggie balls. Bake for about 20 – 25 minutes or until firm and lightly browned.
- While the meatballs are cooking, prepare the sauce. Put hte garlic, onion and carrot in a mini chopper or food processor and pulse to chop into small bits. (Or hand chop.)
- Rinse out your frying pan and again heat it over medium heat, add the oil and swirl it around with your spatula. Add the garlic/onion/carrot mixture and saute until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the zucchini and saute for several more minutes or until the zucchini is crisp tender. Stir in the tomatoes, green chile, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, tomato powder and red wine and stir to mix. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and let cook, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir in the fresh herbs.
- When the meatballs are done, take them out of the oven and let cool for at least 20 minutes. Then use a spatula to move them from the baking sheet to the sauce. Heat over medium heat until steaming hot, then serve with fresh herbs for garnish and a little shredded cheese on top.
Notes
RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/
© Copyright 2018, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.
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15 comments
this is a brilliant idea. I do one with spinach and ricotta and I cant wait to change it up these are spectacular and the flavors hmmmm so good!
Thanks Claudia … Spinach and ricotta sound delicious too! I want your recipe.
cannot wait to make these with my next batch of garden zucchini – thanks for the recipe
You’re welcome!
This looks such a tasty meatless meal!
It really is. I had a hard time stopping myself!
What an absolutely fabulous recipe! I pinned it twice!! xo
You’re the best, Ally! Thank you so much.
Such a fantastic alternative to meatballs, and look at that beautiful shot, Great post, Ann!!
Thank you so much, Hadia!
Will be making this when our zucchini is ready
Hurrah! I think you’ll love them Theresa.
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