Baked Vegetarian Chickpea Meatballs

Recipe posted in: Flex Meals & Snacks, Lunches & Dinners, Appetizers, Main Courses
Baked Chickpea Meatballs recipe

Transform an ordinary can of chickpeas into perfectly seasoned, plant-based meatballs! This delicious vegetarian meat alternative pairs perfectly with zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash and your favorite pasta sauce. Featuring a savory blend of carrots, onions, bread crumbs, nutritional yeast, olive oil and fresh parsley, our Baked Vegetarian Chickpea Meatballs recipe is sure to become a regular on your Meatless Monday menu.

These baked plant-based meatballs are extremely versatile:

Baked Chickpea Meatballs recipeMake them a full Flex meal by adding a PowerFuel like grated parmesan or shredded mozzarella cheese. With a little low-sugar pasta sauce, you’ll have the perfect plant-based Italian dinner that fits perfectly into your healthy diet.

You can also serve them in marinara sauce and create a meatball sub with a whole grain roll. Just be sure to add another SmartCarb to your day!

Finally, some healthy, homemade buffalo sauce would turn these baked chickpea meatballs into the perfect gameday appetizer or healthy snack. Just serve with toothpicks for easy eating. Steal the buffalo sauce recipe from our Buffalo Turkey Meatballs recipe!

One serving of these Baked Vegetarian Chickpea Meatballs contains 182 calories. If you’re on the Nutrisystem weight loss program, you can log it into your NuMi app journal as one SmartCarb and one Extra.

Looking for more healthy chickpea recipes? Check out some other creative ideas below:

What’s your favorite way to cook with chickpeas? Do you have your own favorite chickpea recipe that you want to share with us? Submit your delicious chickpea recipes on our Recipe Submission page for a chance to be featured on The Leaf.

Servings: 4

Calories per Serving: 182

On Nutrisystem, Count As: 1 SmartCarb and 1 Extra

Ingredients:

  • 2 carrots, peeled
  • ¼ sweet onion
  • 2 Tbsp. fresh parsley
  • 2 tsp. olive oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1-15 oz. can chickpeas, no salt added
  • 2 Tbsp. bread crumbs
  • 2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
  • ¼ tsp. black pepper
  • ¼ tsp. garlic powder

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Place the carrots, onion and parsley in a food processor and process until finely chopped.
  3. Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the chopped vegetables and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
  4. Place the chickpeas, cooked vegetables and the egg in the food processor. Blend until pureed.
  5. Stir in the breadcrumbs, nutritional yeast, black pepper and garlic powder.
  6. Scoop about 2 Tablespoons worth of the mixture and use hands to roll into round balls. Place on parchment paper.
  7. Spray chickpea meatballs with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 25-30 minutes, flipping halfway through the cook time.
  8. Serve meatballs with pasta and marinara, have it in a sub, drizzle buffalo sauce on it, or in another way!
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