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Vegan Broccoli Balls. Broccoli Cheese Balls, veggie / meat balls. Serve with marinara, or over spaghetti or in a sub. Easy Vegan Recipe. Can be gluten-free. Makes 10 to 12 1 – 1.5 inch balls Jump to Recipe
I have been trying to incorporate more broccoli in my meals. Yes, yes, I have to admit that it isn’t a vegetable that makes me go yay. I mean I eat it, but am not excited about it as I am with Cauliflower. That is about to change this year with my challenge to make dishes with said nose wrinkling vegetable, that I will like to eat. Lets see how Okra fares this year.
These balls worked out well to get me to somewhat actually like eating broccoli. Broccoli is roasted to dry out the excess moisture, spices, almond meal, breadcrumbs and chia egg or flax egg are mixed in and rolled up into balls to bake until crisp. The spices get stronger as the baked balls sit and I like the stronger spice flavor. Some vegan cheese in the balls also helps the balls in texture and flavor.
Do you have an unexplained dislike for a certain vegetable or food? How do you get over that dislike?
More Apps from the blog to try
- Kung Pao Cauliflower Make it!
- Spicy Crispy Cauliflower with celery ranch.
- Vegan Cheese balls
- Dips for Gameday.
Balls ready to be baked.
Baked below. Serve with marinara or spicy tomato chutney or over spaghetti as veggie balls, or make a veggie ball sub.
Vegan Broccoli Balls
Ingredients
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 large head of broccoli, , florets and tender stem (peel off the knobs from the stem and use)
- 2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, or 1 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp garlic
- 1/2 tsp chipotle pepper
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 tsp 1/3 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp or more nutritional yeast
- 1/4 cup almond meal
- 1/4 cup or more bread crumbs
- 1 chia seed egg, 1 tbsp chia seeds or chia seed meal mixed with 3 tbsp warm water, let sit for 2 minutes to gel
Variations
- 1/4 cup my almond milk pepper jack, or other vegan cheese shreds like daiya cheddar or pepperjack optional
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Pulse the broccoli and basil in a food processor until grated. Add to the pan. (2.5 to 3 cups grated). Add a dash of salt, mix and cook for 3 to 4 minutes to dry out the excess moisture. (If the broccoli is dry, cook for only a minute). Take off heat.
- Add in the spices, almond meal, breadcrumbs. Mix well. Make the chia seed egg or use 1 flax egg (1 tbsp flax seed meal + 2.5 Tbsp warm water) or egg replacer for 1 egg.
- Mix in. Add vegan cheese shreds if using. Add more breadcrumbs if needed.
- Shape the mixture into balls. If the balls are too crumbly (depends on the moisture content, size of grated broccoli etc), add another chia egg, or sprinkle some non dairy milk or aquafaba and mix well.
- Place on parchment lined baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F / 200ºc.
- Bake for a total of 20 to 25 minutes or until crisp and golden on the outside. (Turn the sheet around after 15 minutes, and continue to bake.). you can also sprinkle some cheese shreds on the balls in the last 5 minutes. Serve warm with marinara or over spaghetti or as veggie balls in a sub sandwich.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
In other news,
Microbeads have finally been banned. These tiny plastic beads in hundreds of products ranging from body scrubs to toothpastes provide an exfoliating sensation for users and are designed to wash down drains. But because they are made of plastic, microbeads do not dissolve and may pose a threat to the environment. In September, a study published in Environmental Science & Technology reported that more than 8 trillion microbeads were entering the country’s aquatic habitats daily causing many issues for the aquatic animals. The volume was enough to coat the surface of 300 tennis courts every day.
Ringling is retiring elephants from their shows, but wait, the elephants will head to cancer research and breeding facility and not a sanctuary. Lets get these elephants to a true sanctuary where they can live a somewhat natural life after years of abuse.
These are great! I’ve made them several times now. The only suggestion I have is to move your directions to make the flaxseed egg up since that has to sit for 10-15 minutes before use.
Thanks!
thanks Randi
What’s the purpose of almond flour?
Adds some volume as broccoli will reduce in size on cooking.
The recipe is Delicious! I couldn’t get them to “stand up”. I reread the recipe again and again. I think in the end I just needed to bake longer. I have put the in the freezer tonight and will bake tomorrow before I serve.
How long did you bake them for?
Would love to see a photo of what broccoli grated in a food processor is supposed to look like.
good idea, thank you
In the description it says that the broccoli is roasted, but I don’t see this in any of the steps. Is raw broccoli grated, then fried with the onions? Looking forward to making this for super bowl!
its pan roasted: Pulse the broccoli and basil in a food processor until grated. *Add to the pan. (2.5 to 3 cups grated). Add a dash of salt, mix and cook for 3 to 4 minutes to dry out the excess moisture. (If the broccoli is dry, cook for only a minute). Take off heat.
Very nice and tasty. Easy to make. I’m thinking about shaping them into patties to make veggie burgers with it.
cool
These look wonderful, but wondering, do you think I could substitute more breadcrumbs for the almond flour? Is the purpose of the almond flour to hold them together? I am excited to try them!
that’ll totally work – go for it Maggie. chia/flax egg are the binder. (hold together)
Tried this today without cheese, I loved it: simple and easy to make. My 4yo enjoyed it as well. Thanks for sharing!:)
Great recipe! Made it for my holiday party and my coworkers were skeptical at first, but ended up saying how yummy they were.
Hi,
Do the balls freeze well? I would like to prepare them a day or two ahead of time.
they would need more binding for freezing. add more flax egg and breadcrumbs