Vegan Mediterranean Spiced Chickpea Balls

This easy vegan dinner is sure to impress your friends and family. Even if they aren’t vegan they won’t miss the meat in these “meatballs.”

A few years ago my best friend decided she no longer wanted to eat meat, and she became a vegetarian. Since then our dinners typically consisted of pastas and roasted vegetables. While that sounds delicious, don’t get me wrong, I had struggled with finding other things that I could make for us to eat together. So when we had planned our next meal together, I decided I wanted to challenge myself, with amazing results might I add.

I brainstormed with my boyfriend, and unbeknownst to me, he was still thinking about the Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bites I made for my meal prep one weekend. Though they were delicious, I didn’t just want to take the chicken out and call it our dinner, I really love to push myself to try new things.

Easy Vegan Dinner

Typically when making meatballs, or in this case chickpea balls, you’d use an egg to help glue the mixture together. And while my friend would have been fine with that, I really wanted to challenge myself and try something I’ve never done before. I had heard of chia eggs before and knew that people had used the chia and water mixture as a substitute for eggs. But I had never experimented with it myself, so after some quick googling I was ready to begin!

How To Make a Chia Egg

Thankfully it was extremely easy to make the chia egg, most of the process is just waiting for the chia seeds to soak up the water. All you need to make a great substitute for eggs is:

• 1 Tbsp Chia Seeds

• 2.5 Tbsp of Water

Mix the chia and the water together until all seeds are coated, and let that sit for 5 minutes. The seeds will soak up all the water and create a paste, perfect for holding together your “meatballs.”

I was a little nervous at first that the mixture would not come together right without the eggs. I know my friends love me, but I never want to serve them bad food! But the “meatballs” held their shape nicely, and thankfully they were delicious!

Other Ingredients You Will Need to Make This Easy Vegan Dinner:

• Two cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

• 2 Tbsp Olive oil

• 1 small onion, diced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 cup quinoa, cooked separately

• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1 Tbsp fresh cilantro

• 4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

• 2 chia eggs

• 2 (10oz) bags of spinach

It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but don’t worry it’s still super easy! All you have to do is mix the ingredients and stick them in the oven! See below for the full recipe!

Roasted Chickpeas On The Side

Above, I mentioned you need two cans of chickpeas. One for the “meatballs” and a second can is just for some extra roasted deliciousness. My friend and I both LOVE chickpeas so I really took that into consideration when creating this recipe. You don’t have to roast the second can of chickpeas but trust me IT’S WORTH IT. Such a little thing adds so much flavor and texture to your meal!

Serve over spinach for a perfect balanced and super easy vegan dinner!

Vegan Mediterranean Spiced Chickpea Balls

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 45 mins

Total Time 1 hr

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mediterranean

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  

Chickpea Balls

• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp fresh cilantro
• 4 Tbsps fresh lemon juice
• 2 chia eggs

Spinach

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 10oz bags of spinach
• 3 cloves garlic chopped

Roasted Chickpeas

• 1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin

Instructions

 

Chickpea Balls

• Cook quinoa to package directions. Set aside to cool.
• Meanwhile, add 1 Tbsp olive oil to a small pan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until onion is soft and translucent 7-10 minutes. Set aside and let cool.
• Mash chickpeas, and combine with quinoa, onions & garlic, breadcrumbs, spices, cilantro, lemon juice, and chia eggs in large bowl.
• Heat oven to 375° and line large baking sheet with parchment paper. Form 1 – 1 1/2 inch balls with the chickpea mixture and line up on pan. Spray or drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top.
• Bake 25 – 30 minutes, until balls are golden brown. (For a little extra crisp, broil on high an additional 2 – 3 minutes.)

Spinach

• Heat olive oil in large pan over medium heat, add chopped garlic and cook until fragrant, 3 – 5 minutes.
• Add spinach and let wilt, stirring frequently. (It helps to add a little more olive oil on top after the spinach goes into the pan.)

Roasted Chickpeas

• Pat your chickpeas down with paper towels until dry, combine with spices and olive oil.
• Add to oven with chickpea balls for about 10 minutes, or until brown and crispy.
• Serve chickpea balls over a bed of spinach, with the roasted chickpeas as garnish. Top with some additional lemon juice.

Keyword easy dinner, healthy dinner, Vegan

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