Meatless Chickpea Meatballs in Marinara

Need a tasty, filling, family-style Meatless Monday option? These Meatless Chickpea Meatballs in Marinara have got your back!

With a crispy exterior, meaty-on-the-inside texture, and seasoned to perfection, these meatless meatballs are an obvious choice for spaghetti night. And paired with this homemade meatless spaghetti sauce? A next-level from-scratch family favorite!

As a mom on the go, who doesn’t want to settle for subpar food, I love a recipe like this that comes together quickly and easily, and can be prepped ahead of time and used in pasta or sandwiches throughout the week!

Meatless Chickpea Meatballs Ingredient Highlights

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I used canned chickpeas for this recipe. If you are using raw garbanzo beans, soak them overnight first.

You can use either fresh or dried thyme.

A flax egg works in this recipe!

Meatless Chickpea Meatballs Tips and Tricks

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How to Make Vegetarian Meatballs with Chickpeas

This recipe is just four simple steps. To prep your ingredients, all you have to do is drain and rinse your chickpeas and peel your garlic.

Dump all of your ingredients into a food processor or high-powered blender and process on high until all of the ingredients are completely broken down. It should resemble a thick paste.

There’s no worry of over blending here, so just run your processor or blender on high until there are no visible chunks of whole ingredients left.

Grab a medium cookie scoop or a heaping teaspoon of your chickpea meatball mixture and use two clean hands to roll it into a perfect ball.

The mixture should yield 8 meatballs. If you have excess meatless meatball mixture after forming all 8 balls, add a little more mixture to each until it is all used up.

Spread them out on a lined baking sheet. Consider these reusable baking mats to avoid waste! They are great for nonstick and super easy to clean.

Bake for 15-18 minutes until the exterior is crispy. They may start to brown a little bit, but the best way to know if they are ready is by touching the outside (careful, they’re hot!).

If the exterior feels crispy to the touch, you’re ready for the next step!

Once baked and ready to serve, simmer your meatless meatballs in Marinara or Spaghetti Sauce. This will add moisture and more flavor.

They’re already fully cooked, so they really only need about 5 minutes simmering on low in the sauce. Flip halfway through to coat both sides.

How I Store and Reheat Leftover Vegetarian Meatballs

If you have leftover meatballs, they will stay fresh in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up 4 days. You can also freeze these for up to 3 months.

The best way to reheat them in the sauce is to simmer over low heat, covered, for about 30 minutes until heated all the way through.

You can also reheat them in the oven in the sauce at 350°F in a baking dish covered with aluminum foil.

Making Meatless Chickpea Meatballs Ahead

I love having a stash of these in my refrigerator or freezer! If you want to make these ahead of time, simply skip the last step of simmering them in the sauce. Keep the baked meatballs in the refrigerator for up to ten days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Then, when you are ready to eat them, brown them in a large saucepan with 1 tablespoon of olive oil over high heat. Once browned, add the Marinara or Spaghetti Sauce, cover, and simmer until both sauce and meatless meatballs are heated all the way through.