Spaghetti quinoa meatballs

These meat free meat balls are the perfect family mid week dish! Bursting with flavour, high in protein and soy free! You can also freeze the meat balls and eat on a later date!

Info

Macros

Ingredients

(Meat balls)

– 60g dry quinoa (I use Tesco own brand)
– 100g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
– 1 tbsp light soy sauce (I use Kikkoman less salt soy sauce from Tesco)
– 400g tin of black beans, drained at 235g
– 100g plain flour (or coconut flour if you wanted to keep it vegan)
– ½ onion, diced
– ½ tsp olive oil
– 1 garlic clove, crushed
– 1 tbsp dried Italian herbs
– Pinch of salt

(Tomato sauce & pasta)

– 1 tsp olive oil
– ½ onion, diced
– 2 garlic cloves, crushed
– 1 tbsp dried Italian herbs
– Pinch of salt
– 200g cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
– 4 tbsp tomato puree
– 400ml boiling water
– 300g wholewheat spaghetti pasta

Method

1. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. Cook the quinoa according to packet instructions (if you haven’t already). In a frying pan add 1 tsp of olive oil and fry the mushrooms and soy sauce on a medium to high heat for 5 mins.

2. Place all the meatball ingredients into a food blender (including the quinoa & mushrooms), blend until fairly smooth. It should be wet but sticky enough to form each meatball.

3. Using two spoons, scoop together 12 meatballs evenly and place onto a baking tray (don’t worry if they aren’t perfect in shape, along as each ball has the same amount of mixture in each one). Place into the oven and cook for 20-25 mins until crispy.

4. Whilst the meatballs are cooking, in a large frying pan add 1 tsp of olive oil and fry the onions and garlic on a medium to high heat for 5 mins. Then add the remaining tomato sauce ingredients and reduce to simmer for 10 mins. Whilst simmering, cook the spaghetti according to instructions.

5. Once the spaghetti is cooked mix together with the tomato sauce and simmer until the meatballs are cooked. Share out the pasta evenly into 4 bowls and serve the meatballs on top.