Easy Mediterranean Lentil Meatballs
Don’t you just love it when a recipe is as simple as ‘mix + bake’? No pre-cooking, no unnecessary extra steps – just mix together all of the ingredients, and pop it in the oven. And that’s just the case for these vegetarian lentil meatballs (lentil balls? vegeballs? meatlessballs?). They couldn’t be easier.
Other easy ‘mix and bake’ recipes → easy nut roast; baked fajita rice; Boursin pasta.
I served my lentil balls with spaghetti and tomato sauce – spaghetti and meatballs is such a classic that’s hard to improve on. If you prefer, you could equally serve these vegetarian meatballs with couscous and tzatziki, stuffed into pitta bread, or even just eaten straight from the oven (no judgment here). They’re packed with Mediterranean-inspired flavours, and they’re super versatile.
⭐️ What’s in these Lentil Meatballs?
The basic recipe for these lentil meatballs is canned lentils + flour + egg (the same base I used for my cheesy lentil burgers). Once you’ve got that far, you can jazz things up however you like. I added:
- black olives
- sun-dried tomatoes
- parmesan-style cheese
- fresh basil
- garlic
If you like, you could easily switch things up to bring a different flavour profile to your meatballs – maybe you could make a Tex-Mex version, or use some Indian spices, for example.
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🥗 Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make these vegetarian meatballs. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.
- cooked lentils. I used lentils from a can, because they’re so convenient – just drain them well, and they’re ready to use. If you can’t get canned lentils, you can boil dried brown or green lentils until they’re soft, then continue with the recipe as written. I would not recommend using red lentils for this recipe, as they will not give quite the same end result.
- eggs
- plain flour (I used wholemeal for extra fibre)
- sun-dried tomatoes
- black olives
- parmesan-style cheese. ‘Real’ parmesan isn’t vegetarian, but there are plenty of vegetarian alternatives, which are very similar. Often, supermarkets sell a generic ‘Italian hard cheese’, which is usually vegetarian.
- fresh basil
- garlic granules
🖨️ Printable Instructions
Mediterranean Lentil Meatballs
If you’ve cooked this recipe, don’t forget to leave a star rating!
Print Pin Comment(if you suffer from allergies, please double check all ingredients before eating)
Ingredients
- 2 x 390g tins green lentils, thoroughly drained (470g, or ~ 2 2/3 cups, in total when drained)
- 2 eggs
- 2 Tablespoons sliced black olives, roughly chopped
- 5 pieces sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 50 g (~ 1/2 cup) finely grated vegetarian parmesan-style cheese
- 1 teaspoon garlic granules
- Few sprigs fresh basil, roughly chopped
- 85 g (~ 2/3 cup) plain flour (I used wholemeal)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F). Add all of the ingredients, except for the flour, to a large mixing bowl. Use a fork to mix the ingredients thoroughly. It’s fine if the lentils get a little mashed up.
- Add the flour, and mix well to combine.
- Lightly grease a baking sheet. Use clean hands to form the mixture into ball shapes, and place them on the tray. The mixture will be quite sticky – they don't have to be perfect balls. I managed to get 25 balls from the mixture.
- Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, until the lentil balls are slightly crispy and just firm.
- Serve with spaghetti and tomato sauce, if desired.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
💭 Recipe FAQs
You could certainly mix together the ingredients in advance, and then store the mixture in a sealed container in the fridge for a day or so, until you’re ready to shape and bake the balls. The meatballs are tastiest when freshly baked, but if needed, you could even bake them in advance, and then reheat when you’re ready to eat them.
I didn’t experiment with freezing these balls, but it’s the sort of recipe I have had luck with freezing in the past, so I definitely think it’s worth a try.
The easiest way to reheat these lentil meatballs is in the microwave. They do dry out a little and lose their crispiness when reheated, but they’re still tasty. Alternatively, you could re-crisp them in the oven or air fryer.
I served my meatballs with spaghetti and tomato sauce, which worked beautifully. You could alternatively serve them stuffed into pitta bread with some tzatziki, or alongside some mashed potato.
These look so tasty! Yum yum yum! H x
Such a great idea making ‘meatballs’ with lentils, I really need to try this. Love the recipe!
Thanks Petra! :)
“I once heard that you should keep buying cheaper and cheaper versions of each item until you can actually tell the difference” – this is an excellent philosophy and one that I follow too! Love the look of the lentil meatballs, yum!
It’s really good advice isn’t it :) With tinned tomatoes though, you can tell the difference really quickly!
I love lentils but I have never thought of turning them into meatballs, definitely one to try! I stopped buying tomatoes because I felt a lot of them were watery so I just tend to buy passata now and make a tomato based sauce with that x
Try the Cirio tinned tomatoes and you’ll never look back – definitely not watery :)
I an usually not a fan of meatballs but this dish looks nice.
Aren’t supermarket brand budget tinned tomatoes awful! I bought them once too, never again! I find the Eastern ones are quite good – four for £1 usually, but they’re hidden in the foreign food section and not with the rest of the tinned tomatoes. Cirio is a bit more expensive but definitely tasty. Gorgeous recipe!
OMG YUM!! These look absolutely delicious. I love mediterranean flavours xxx
There’s a nice amount of protein these and the tomato puree flavor sounds great.. I think my guys would like this a lot.
Yum, this looks gorgeous! I’m a total cheapskate when it comes to food shopping – if Aldi doesn’t stock it, we can’t have it! ;) x
I can’t wait to try this for myself. I have suggested to my partner we make it at the weekend!
Let me know how you get on :)