Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs

January 10, 2018

Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs are here and they are so savory, luscious, meatless, and scary-delicious.

Swedish meatballs, as described by Wiki, are just meatballs with a brown gravy. This is not news to me. We live in Minnesota. I grew up eating Swedish meatballs. Bjork love-love-loves them (yes, his name is Bjork) and he hardcore campaigns for a gravy-loaded meatball splurge every time we're at IKEA. So to that Wiki description, I say: yes.

I also say: define meatballs, exactly. Because I think I might have just made meatballs … with wild rice and mushrooms… without meat. I rolled them and baked them and put them in brown gravy. They are extra-yummy. Does that count? Am I in?

Okay, here's what we have going on in those little non-traditional veg balls of joy:

wild rice (YAS)
mushrooms
breadcrumbs
yogurt or mayo to keep em from drying out
eggs to hold it all together

Hello, little tasty bites of goodness. And then you go and put them in a pan of brown gravy-like business? Things are about to heat up.

Here's your VERY LOW KEY meatball process.

That's it. Takes maybe 15 minutes, start to finish, especially if you use pre-cooked wild rice, which you should, because ain't nobody got time to sit around and wait for wild rice to cook when you are hangry for vegetarian Swedish meatballs. I described some pre-cooked wild rice options in the recipe notes and you should take advantage.

For those of you taking the POY Sugar Free January challenge with us, you are in luck: it's very easy to sub whole wheat breadcrumbs and whole wheat flour so you can get away with zero refined grains here. The gravy in the pictures is made with whole wheat flour – you can see it's a little less smooth than a traditional gravy, but I've always been a fan of interesting food textures, so that is of zero concern for me when I'm dealing with all the flavors of Swedish meatball heaven.

Can I declare 2018 the year of the Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs? WHO EVEN KNEW. ♡

Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs

Author: Lindsay
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes
Yield: 6-ish servings (6 meatballs per person)

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Description

Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs are FOR REAL! These little meatballs are made with wild rice and mushrooms and they are served up in a simple and savory brown gravy. Yum!

Ingredients

Vegetarian Meatballs:

2 cups cooked wild rice
1 heaping cup finely chopped mushrooms
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
3/4 cup breadcrumbs (see notes)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
olive oil (optional)

For the Gravy:

3 tablespoons salted butter
1/2 teaspoon onion powder and/or garlic powder
3 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup sour cream
salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Meatballs: Preheat the oven to 425. Mix the meatball ingredients together. Roll into balls (1-2 tablespoons each) and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until firm when you press them.
Gravy: Melt butter in a large skillet. Add onion powder, garlic powder, and flour. Let it bubble for a few minutes to remove any floury taste. Slowly add broth, whisking after each addition, to make a smooth sauce. Stir in sour cream. Adjust consistency to taste with more broth. Season to taste.
That's all! Place your cooked meatballs in the gravy and get them all nice and saucy. Serve with potatoes, salad, or roasted veggies.

Notes

Pre-cooked wild rice will save you a lot of time. I used a can of wild rice (!!) for one of my test batches and was great – tasted awesome and it saved me a lot of time. The canned wild rice I bought contained just cooked wild rice, water, and salt – I drained the water before using it. Whether you cook your own wild rice or use pre-cooked, in terms of flavor I'd STRONGLY recommend 100% wild rice as opposed to a "wild rice blend" which is usually made up of primarily white or brown rice with only a few sad and lonely specks of wild rice.