These IKEA-style vegan Swedish meatballs are both nutritious and delicious, slathered in a creamy mustard sauce. Serve with oven chips or rice.
Those clever people at my favourite Swedish flat-packed furniture chain are so good at knowing just what you will fancy after a few stressful hours measuring up wardrobes and working out how much you can actually fit in (or balance on) your car.
Last year they got huge kudos for launching vegan meatballs onto their menu, and jolly nice they are too.
Since first trying them I've been trying to make my own at home, and this chickpea-based version is definitely my favourite: moist, packed with vegetables and slathered in a mustardy sauce. Perfect served with some oven chips or rice.
What you need to make your Vegan Swedish Meatballs
Ingredients
Chickpeas Tinned chickpeas are absolutely fine here - you are blitzing them to a paste anyway so there's no need to soak and cook your own. Don't forget to save the 'aquafaba' (liquid from the can) to make some incredible vegan meringues (or my Vegan Chocolate Yule Log!!)
Gram flour is another name for chickpea flour. It has a high protein content compared to other types of flour, so is quite an amazing ingredient - it is great at binding which is the job it is doing here. You can also use it to make vegan 'omelettes', quiche and my favourite - beautiful onion bhajis!
Nutritional yeast flakes These are optional but add a wonderful 'cheesy' flavour to your meatballs. If you haven't used them before you're just going to have to trust me that it is worth buying a tub - you will be hooked in no time! They look a bit like fish food, but give a great umami flavour to whatever you put them in, and are an excellent source of vitamin B12 so really good for you too.
Dairy-free margarine I try to use a good block margarine (rather than a tub of spread) for cooking - it has a much lower water content so behaves more like butter in making a thick and glossy sauce.
Dairy-free milk Use whichever milk you prefer, but make sure it is unsweetened. I tend to go for oat or soya, which are both rich and creamy but without a strong background flavour. Some of the nut milks (coconut, hazelnut) have just a bit too much of their own flavour to use here.
Dairy-free cream There are so many to choose from in supermarkets these days, we are spoiled for choice. I usually go for the Elmlea Plant Double Cream, or I also like Oatly's oat single - both are found in the dairy aisle.
Vegetable stock powder can sometimes have some sneaky milk powder in, so do check the label. My go-to is Marigold, but some of their varieties contain milk so make sure you have the right one.
Can I freeze my Vegan Swedish Meatballs?
Yes! These freeze really well before cooking, so you could make up a double, (or triple!), batch, and then spray with oil, then oven-bake from frozen for half an hour until cooked through.
How else can I make vegan meatballs?
These are chickpea and vegetable based meatballs, based on the IKEA recipe, but you can of course make vegan 'meatballs' from many other ingredients. Here are a few suggestions from blogging friends:
- Kate's Courgetti & Beet Balls from Veggie Desserts
- Sus' Kabocha Squash & Nut Balls from Rough Measures
- Jac's Spaghetti & Beanballs from Tinned Tomatoes
- Laura's Vegan Supergreen Meatballs from How to Cook Good Food
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There are plenty of similarly quick and easy recipes in my new book, ‘Vegan in 15'*.
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Reader Testimonials
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Made this for dinner tonight and was a hit with everyone. will defiantly make again x" Tammy
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "You did it! You got it right with the gram [chickpea] flour!! Most all the other recipes for veggie burger and veggie balls muddle/diminish the veggie flavors with the binders they choose (bread, or oats, or oat flour, or rice, or rice flour, etc). But the gram/garbanzo flour as the binder sustains the veggie flavor. I was lazy with some of the steps but the balls turned out beautifully. The extras kept well in the fridge. Thanks again. Well done!" Dax
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "They tasted so good that I would definitely try them again and make a big batch with the big food processor and freeze them." Vivian
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Grönsaksbullar (Vegan Swedish Meatballs)
Ingredients
For the 'meat'balls:
- 100 g frozen peas
- 1 onion
- 2 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil (plus extra for frying)
- 1 tsp ready-chopped garlic / garlic purée
- 2 carrots
- 1 red pepper
- large handful curly kale
- 400 g tin chickpeas
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes (optional)
- 1 tsp vegetable stock powder
- 2 tbsp gram flour
- a little plain flour for dusting
For the sauce:
- 1 tbsp dairy-free margarine
- 1 tbsp plain flour
- 200 ml dairy-free milk (unsweetened soya, nut or oat)
- 125 ml boiling water
- 1 tsp vegetable stock powder
- 125 ml dairy-free cream (soya or oat)
- 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
- soy sauce
Instructions
- Cook the peas in the microwave or small saucepan for 2 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.
- Peel the onion and cut into quarters, then use a mini-chopper or food processor to chop it finely, (or chop as finely as you can by hand).
- Heat the oil in a large lidded frying pan or casserole, and add the onion and garlic. Cook over a medium heat.
- Peel the carrots and cut roughly into 4-5 chunks, then chop finely in the mini-chopper/food processor and add to the pan with the onions. Next, de-seed and chop the peppers in the same way, followed by the cooked peas and curly kale. Let all the vegetables cook over a medium heat.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas, then blitz to a smooth purée along with the olive oil in the mini chopper or food processor. Add to the pan, then sprinkle over the nutritional yeast flakes, stock powder, gram flour and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper. Mix all the ingredients together, then remove from the heat, and set aside until cool enough to handle.
- Sprinkle a chopping board and your hands with a little flour, then scoop up a heaped teaspoon of mixture, roll it firmly into a ball in your hands and place on the chopping board. Repeat until all the mixture has been used up - you should have around 20 'meat'balls.
- Cover the bottom of a large frying pan with rapeseed or sunflower oil, and fry the meatballs, turning regularly until they are golden brown all over. Remove from the frying pan to a plate covered in kitchen paper, to drain excess oil.
- To make the sauce, heat the margarine in a small saucepan, stir through the flour and cook over a gentle heat for 2 minutes. Add the dairy-free milk , water, stock powder and dairy-free cream, and cook stirring continually until a thick, glossy sauce consistency has been reached. Add the mustard and stir, then add a few drops of soy sauce at a time, tasting as you go, until a good level of seasoning has been reached.
- Serve the meatballs with the sauce poured over the top, with mashed potato or oven chips.
I don't envy you the Ikea flat packs, but I am eyeing up your 'meatballs'. I made some tofu ones a very long time ago and they were so much faff I swore I'd never do it again. But you're inspiring me to give them anther go. Great idea to freeze a batch too.
Oh excited about these! Great recipe Kate. Shared 🙂
I do love a vegan meatball and I am doing a cookery demo featuring vegan alternatives to meatballs so I shall defintely talk about these ones Kate!
Oh my god i have to try this!
Wow! These look so impressive. I shall have to try these. Have never made a successful meat free burger or meatballs before.
They look delicious. I like the "meatballs" from that furniture chain too, I bought frozen ones from them, but I would love to make them at home too.
Thanks Anca - yes they are really good, almost makes all the queuing and general stress of shopping for furniture worthwhile!!
I strongly believe the best meatballs comes from IKEA, period. BUT, these do look yummy - after all, how many days a week you can have meat for dinner..
These were very good. I served them on mashed potatoes with lingonberry sauce and green beans on the side and the flavours were superb. I did have a few issues, however, with the recipe First, it took much longer for the prep than indicated, and I am a pretty fast and experienced cook. Second, a whole can of chickpeas barely fit into my mini chopper, and certainly didn't become a puree. I had to scoop them out and process them in batches. Perhaps because they weren't pureed as much as they should have been, the balls were very fragile and some fell apart when cooking. Nevertheless, they tasted so good that I would definitely try them again and make a big batch with the big food processor and freeze them.
Many thanks for the feedback Vivian, that's really useful to know. My mini-chopper is probably not that 'mini' after all, so I'll have a look at re-wording the instructions - as you say, a food processor would make everything much quicker. Glad you liked the recipe though! Kate
Does dairy free cream mean sour cream?
Hi Rebecca, no sour cream isn't vegan - I use either soya cream or oat cream, both widely available in supermarkets. Enjoy! Kate x
Made this for dinner tonight and was a hit with everyone. will defiantly make again x
Fantastic! Great to hear x
Hi! These look great and thankyou so much for the recipe. I would call these vegetable balls though, as vegan meatballs should have some meat substitute in them, like mince or sausage. Infact, the translation of grönsaksbullar is veggie balls in this case.
Allspice, Caraway seeds and Nutmeg are the three spices in classic Swedish Meatballs. This "Vegan Ball" recipe may be from Sweden, but its flavor is NOTHING like traditional Swedish Meatballs and is in no way a vegan variation of the classic Swedish Meatball recipe. Naming this recipe something like, "My Grandmother's Balls" would better describe the recipe OR add those spices and a coagulant, such as; ground Chia Seeds, to keep the balls from falling apart. Chopping ingredients smaller will also help.
That said, nice photo, nice flavor, had better Vegan Balls.
The gram flour works wonders for this recipe. Well done. The mix did not firm up as well as I would have preferred, so I may add a replacer next time. Otherwise, the flavor was wonderful. And result so colorful and beautiful! No sauce was necessary since the veggie balls were delicious on their own. I may also try baking them next time to reduce the oil content and time at the stove. Thanks for this recipe!
You did it! You got it right with the gram (garbanzo bean) flour!! Most all the other recipes for veggie burger and veggie balls muddle/diminish the veggie flavors with the binders they choose (bread, or oats, or oat flour, or rice, or rice flour, etc). But the gram/garbanzo flour as the binder sustains the veggie flavor.
I was lazy with some of the steps but the balls turned out beautifully. I skipped the sauce since they were delicious on their own. The extras kept well in the fridge. We could add them to our lunches during the week. I will try freezing some on the next round I make.
Thanks again. Well done!
Hello,
I just wanted to comment and say that this sauce is great. I bought some pre-made veggie balls and needed a good substantial veggie sauce to go with them, and your recipe was easy, fast and cupbord-friendly! Thank you.
Hi, planning on making these tonight but can I ask at which stage should I freeze? Before or after frying?
Thanks so much , love your recipes!
These sound just incredible! I'm not vegan, but trying to start eating more meat free dishes and this is just perfect. Ultra comforting!
I made these meatballs yesterday and they were a total hit in my family. Everybody loved them. Thank you for such a great recipe!
YUM! What an incredible recipe! So much flavor, you don't even miss the meat. And this saves me a trip to Ikea!!
My family cannot get enough of these meatballs. They come out the same way each time.
These look so delicious and tasty! My husband is going to love this recipe! So excited to give these a try! Yummy!
Hi, could I make this sauce without the dairy free cream or would it not work?? I only have oat milk, thanks 🙂
Yes absolutely - oat milk is fine, it may not be quite as thick so perhaps add a little less, but it will still be delicious.