Tempeh Meatballs Vegan Greek Meatballs
Tempeh Meatballs are easy 1-bowl vegan meatballs with delicious Greek flavors. They are delicious, gluten-free, vegan meatballs to make Greek meatballs, gyros, or salads.
What is Tempeh?
Tempeh is made of fermented soybeans using a fungus called tempeh starter.
It has a dense and firm texture compared to tofu. The fermentation process binds the soybeans into a hard block and adds up protein, fiber, and vitamins.
It has a strong earthy flavor, perfect to create vegan meat-substitute recipes with flavors and texture.
Also, most tempeh you can buy are fortified in vitamins B12. It’s a great nutritional addition for people on a vegan diet as vitamin B12 is quite rare in plant-based foods.
Greek tempeh meatballs
Tempeh meatballs can be flavored with any combo of spices. However, if you’ve been reading me for a while, you know I am French, and I have a passion for Mediterranean flavors.
Greek tempeh meatballs are the most flavorsome made with only 10 simple ingredients:
- Tempeh – I used vitamins B12-fortified organic tempeh.
- Red onion
- Garlic
- Parsley – I used Italian flat parsley.
- Mint leaves
- Dried oregano
- Salt
- Tomato Paste
- Vegetable stock
- Tabasco or chipotle sauce – this is optional but great to spice up the meatballs.
Tempeh meatball gyros
Greek tempeh meatballs are delicious served into a Lebanese flatbread along with diced cucumber, tomatoes, black olives, and red onions.
I recommend generously covering the bread and meatballs with mint coconut yogurt sauce.
Tempeh meatballs salad
Tempeh meatball salad makes a delicious vegan, low-carb lunch. Simply combine the vegetables below into a plate or glass container:
- Diced cucumber
- Tomatoes – cut in quarters.
- Black olives
- Red onions sliced
- Lemon juice – simply squeeze fresh lemon juice on your salad and olive oil if desired.
- Hot tempeh meatballs – add the hot meatballs on top of the salad with mint coconut yogurt sauce.
If you intend to take away the salad, store the meatballs separately from the salad. Rewarm the meatballs in a warm saucepan or sandwich press before serving on top of the salad.
Which sauce for Greek Tempeh meatballs?
There are plenty of delicious sauces to drizzle or dip your meatballs. The best choices are :
- Mint coconut yogurt sauce – this tastes like Greek tzatziki sauce. It’s thick and creamy with a delicious mint, lemon, and garlic flavor. It’s ready in 2 minutes. See the recipe below.
- Vegan aioli or mayonnaise
- BBQ sauce
- Tomato sauce
- Vegan cheese sauce – my vegan nacho cheese sauce pairs really well with these meatballs!
Other recipes you might like
If you liked these meatballs, try the following recipes:
If you enjoy this recipe, save this on Pinterest for later. If you made it, don’t forget to leave me a review below!
Your friend, Carine
Tempeh Meatballs
Ingredients
- 9 oz Tempeh - cubed
- 3 tablespoons Red Onion - finely chopped
- 2 Garlic - crushed
- ¼ cup Parsley - fresh, finely chopped
- 6 Mint Leaves - finely chopped
- ½ teaspoon Dried Oregano
- ¾ teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil - or any vegetable oil
- ¼ cup Vegetable Stock
- 1 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- ¼ cup Chickpea Flour - see note for options
Mint Coconut yogurt sauce
- ½ cup Coconut Yogurt
- 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
- 3 Garlic Cloves - crushed
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 10 Mint Leaves - finely chopped
To fry the meatballs
- 4 tablespoons Grapeseed Oil - or high smoke point oil of your choice
Instructions
- In a food processor, using the S blade attachment, add all the meatballs ingredients except the chickpea flour!
- Blend on high speed for 20 seconds or until the tempeh starts to turn into a paste, but you still have bits of food.
- Stop the food processor, scrape down the side of the bowl and add the chickpea flour. Blend on high speed for 10-15 seconds to combine. Don't overdo it. This will keep some tiny bits of food and give more texture to the meatballs. Don't worry. The recipe will also work if you blend for too long. You will just lose some texture. Otherwise, you can also transfer the meatball batter to a mixing bowl and stir in the chickpea flour with a spoon.
- Take one tablespoon of meatball batter and roll it between your hands. Place the balls onto a plate and repeat until you form 18 meatballs.
- Warm 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil on a frying pan. When the oil is very hot, add the meatballs and fry evenly, using a tong to rotate the meatballs into the oil and fry on all the sides.
- Add more oil as they fry, up to 4 tablespoons in total. It takes between 8-12 minutes to perfectly fry the meatballs.
- Serve immediately on top of a salad of your choice or in a Lebanese flatbread with diced cucumber, quarters of tomatoes, black olives, red onions slices, and a generous amount of mint coconut yogurt sauce.
Storage and freezing
- Store the meatball, cooked or uncooked, in the fridge for up to 3 days. Make sure you store them in an airtight container to prevent them from drying. If uncooked, fry as usual. If already cook, rewarm in a hot oven for 5-10 minutes at 150°C (300°F).
- Freeze the meatballs in an airtight container. Place a piece of parchment paper at the bottom of the container to prevent the meatballs from sticking to the storage box. Leave half a thumb of space between each meatball. Defrost for 3-4 hours before frying or baking.
Coconut yogurt sauce
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk all the ingredients together until it forms a creamy sauce.
- Store in the fridge for at least 1 hour, to enhance the flavor or serve immediately if desired.
- Sore up to 1 week in the fridge in a glass mason jar.
Keep warm
- If you fry the meatballs ahead, you can keep them warm in the oven. Place the fried meatballs on a baking tray. Place them in a hot oven at about 120°C (250°F) for a maximum of 30 minutes to prevent them from drying out.
Notes
Baking your meatballs
- The meatballs can be baked at 200°C (400°F), the texture will be softer and less juicy. Place the meatballs on a baking tray covered with parchment paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the meatballs halfway to bake them evenly.
Flour options
- You can replace chickpea flour with the same amount of all-purpose flour or oat flour. The outside of the meatballs is slightly crumbly if you use oat flour.
- Keto options, replace by 1/2 cup of almond flour.
Thank you very much!
Appreciate it alot! 🙂
My Meatballs came out looking the same way but I had to use extra 1/2 or 3/4 cup of Flour All Purpose one. How come because I had to add more flour, it came out mushy, inside of it still tasted mushy? And how come it didnt taste like Meat? Please let me know asap thanks!:) -Mike
It looks like you are using all-purpose flour and not chickpea flour has recommended in the recipe. Chickpea flour is way more liquid absorbent and it has a flavor that make these balls taste earthy, I wouldn’t say meaty ever, but not mushy as all-purpose flour would.
Yea but under Flour Options, it says to use all purpose flour or at flour. Is there anything I can use besides Chickpea flour and how much of it?
Sure, it’s an alternative but like any alternative it comes with different texture and flavor. I personally think chickpea flour is the best choice, oat flour won’t work very well I suppose. Enjoy!
The best plant burger ever!!! It’s healthy, low carbs, and the taste is awesome! I love this recipe. Don’t miss animal burgers anymore. Great job!!!!!!
These are so fun!!! I have never thought to puree (process, make mush, etc) tempeh so I didn’t know what to expect. The directions seemed simple enough to give it a shot and I’m so happy I did! These turned out absolutely delightful and delicious! I didn’t have any fresh mint so I subbed with fresh rosemary for that herb, but the rest of the ingredients I followed as-written. Popped them in the freezer for 10-15 minutes while I cleaned up, then I cooked them our air-fryer: 400F for 10 minutes, then shook and back in for another 5 minutes. They had an interesting lighter puffiness to the outside with a creamier center, and 100% full flavor all around! I served on top of a bed of lettuce w/ diced cucumber, tomato, red onion, and Violife feta. I’m excited to make these again with different flavor combinations! Thanks Carine and Damien!!!!
Thank you so much for the lovely feedback! So happy to have you here with us, XOXO Carine and Damien
This vegan recipe is very tasty but nor something to put in a red sauce. There is no binding agent to hold the veggie balls together! One might want to add vegan egg substitutes like flaxseed or chia seeds. 3 Tbs, ground seeds + 3 Tbs. water. Stir and allow the mixture to sit for about 10 minutes
Thanks for trying my recipe. As I mention in the recipe those meatballs are perfect for gyros sandwich or salad toppings not to bring into sauce. Enjoy the recipes on the blog XOXO Carine
This make me hungy.
Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Awesome! That’s the idea 🙂 Enjoy the recipe. XOXO Carine.
Absolutely delicious! I used extra firm tofu since I didn’t have tempeh, and I baked them in the oven but they have an amazing texture and flavour!
For sure one of my new favourites 🙂
Thank you so much for the feedback! I did not try firm tofu yet in this recipe but so glad to know it works well too ! Enjoy the plant based recipes around here. XOXO Carine.