Cheesy Tofu Meatballs
These cheesy tofu meatballs are super quick and easy to prepare, and so full of flavour!
Is there anything better than a plate of spaghetti and meatballs? With plenty of rich tomato sauce, and some garlic bread on the side. It’s one of those dinners that’s simple, but oh-so-satisfying.
Luckily, we vegetarians can enjoy meatballs too! These baked tofu meatballs couldn’t be easier to make, and they’re packed with cheesy flavour. I promise, even tofu sceptics will enjoy this one!
Vegetarian meatballs
I’m never sure whether ‘meatballs’ is the right word when you’re talking about the vegetarian version – but ‘vegetarian balls’ just sounds indecent, so vegetarian meatballs it is. If Wikipedia says I can use the word for a meatless version, that’s good enough for me.
Most vegetarian meatballs seem to be made from beans or lentils, but as much as I love lentil meatballs, sometimes I fancy something a bit ‘meatier’. These tofu meatballs are a great alternative to meat!
Tofu meatballs
These veggie meatballs are so quick to make. Start by blitzing up some tofu with a slice of bread, and a few sprigs of fresh basil for flavour.
Technically, you should press your tofu first to get rid of any excess moisture, but I’ll admit I’m often a bit lax on the pressing. I always used to cut my tofu into thin slices and press it under some heavy pans for a good half hour, sandwiched between some clean tea towels… but these days, all I can be bothered to do is cut the block in half and squeeze it in my hands between some sheets of kitchen paper.
Honestly, I’ve never found that pressing tofu makes an enormous difference to the end result. As I detailed in my ‘how to cook tofu‘ blog post, pressed tofu is slightly better when you directly compare it to unpressed tofu – but 99% of the time, you just need to make sure your tofu isn’t swimming with excess water. Just give it a good squeeze for a few seconds and you’ll be fine.
Don’t you just love it when I give you an excuse to be lazy?
Next, just add some grated cheddar cheese (use the mature stuff for more flavour!), and an egg to bind. I like a pinch of garlic granules too! Blitz once more, and that’s your tofu meatball mixture done – it really is quick and easy!
Baked meatballs
Another fab thing about these meatballs is that they’re baked rather than fried – so not only are they on the healthier side (look away from all that cheese for one sec…), they’re also totally hands-off while they’re cooking.
Just roll the mixture into balls, spread them out on a well-oiled baking tray, and stick them in the oven for half an hour while you concentrate on your pasta and sauce. When they come out, they’ll be nice and crispy around the edges – as the cheese crisps up, it gives these meatballs heaps of flavour! Crispy cheese is heaven.
Rich tomato sauce
Of course, no meatballs are complete without a rich tomato sauce to serve them in.
I’ll be honest – I totally cheated this time. I used a shop-bought tomato sauce. Don’t take away my food blogging licence*!
Of course, you can make homemade tomato sauce if you prefer – I just wanted to focus my recipe on the meatballs themselves. Whichever route you take, you’ll end up with a tasty, satisfying dinner.
(*We don’t really have licences, just in case anyone was confused.)
Cheesy meatballs
You may notice that I resisted adding any additional cheese on top of my meatballs and tomato sauce. This is pretty unheard of for me – usually I think pasta only exists to be smothered with a layer of melty cheese.
But actually, the tofu meatballs themselves are nice and cheesy, so they do fine without any extra cheese sprinkled on top. And if even I think that, it must be true.
The cheese helps to give these meatballs their gorgeous taste (there’s no denying that tofu doesn’t have much of a flavour on its own), and they contribute to the crispy coating which makes them all the more satisfying to bite into.
Have I convinced you that these tofu meatballs are worth a try? If you’re looking for a recipe to convert a tofu hater, this is definitely one to try!
Cheesy tofu meatballs
If you’ve cooked this recipe, don’t forget to leave a star rating!
Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 400 g (~14oz) firm tofu, drained
- 35 g bread (1 medium slice)
- Few sprigs fresh basil
- Salt
- Black pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic granules
- 100 g mature cheddar cheese, grated (~ 1 cup when grated)
- 1 egg
- To serve: pasta and tomato sauce
Instructions
- Press the tofu between two clean tea towels (or two double sheets of kitchen paper), to remove any excess liquid, then place in a food processor. Add the bread and fresh basil, along with a good pinch of salt and pepper, and blitz until finely chopped.
- Add the garlic granules, grated cheese and egg, and blitz again until well combined.
- Remove the blades from the food processor (important to make sure you don’t cut yourself!), then use clean hands to shape the mixture into meatballs. The exact number you can make depends on how large you make them – I made 18. Place the meatballs on a lined and greased baking tray, and bake at 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F) for around 30-40 minutes, until firm and golden brown.
- Serve with your favourite pasta and tomato sauce.
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.
Note: Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on exactly what ingredients you choose. Information above is for 1/4 of the recipe, meatballs only.
Still not sure about tofu? Find out how to cook tofu that doesn’t suck!
Just made these, but adjusted for what I had on hand.
– Used about one cup shredded romano parmesan instead of cheddar.
– Used 2/3 cup panko instead of a slice of bread.
– Used dried basil instead of fresh basil.
– Added Italian herbs grinder, garlic herb blend seasoning, and truffle salt.
– Didn’t add too much salt because of the Parmesan.
Other than the above changes, followed the recipe as written. We enjoyed the balls smaller. Reminded us of baked ricotta in an odd but good way. Entertaining ideas on how to make this recipe into a “chicken” Parmesan with the air fryer. Wonderful flexible recipe to get creative with tofu!
Thank you for posting.
Thanks Julie, glad you enjoyed them! :)
Looks interesting. will try this tomorrow! since egg and cheese are used, this can’t be considered vegetarian though :) i think ‘meatless’ is fine :)
There are various types of vegetarians, but here the word ‘vegetarian’ generally means ovo-lacto vegetarian, so eggs and cheese are fine. ‘Vegan’ is used when there are no animal products at all.
So easy and so delicious!!! Thanks so much!
Thanks Jeanne!
This recipe looks great. Can I freeze the “meat” balls after baking them? Thanks
I haven’t tried but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work! They might be a little drier the second time round, but I imagine if you add plenty of sauce it will be great!
I just tried these and I’m still in awe how delicious they were. I (an omnivore) like tofu and LOVE ball-shaped foods for some reason. These are a great alternative to normal meatballs that ticks all the boxes, so thanks for that! Quite often tofu recipes lack in flavour, I find, but not these. Mine turned out a little dry, which probably is due to the changes I made (pre-frozen and therefore rather dry tofu, dry cheeses like Parmesan, smaller balls – I got 11 out of half of the recipe – but same time in the oven). Will definitely experiment to get that out of the way and then there’s no stopping me using them pretty much everywhere where I would normally use regular meatballs!
Greeting from Germany, Victoria
Amazing! So glad you enjoyed them, thanks so much for the lovely feedback :D
I just made these and they are amazing!! I substituted 1TB bamboo fiber for the bread and used the cheese I had at hand – powdered pecorino. they came out crispy on the outside, juicy on the inside and squishy! I predict that my family will eat a lot of ballshaped things in the future, with different flavors, for example in a curry. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!!!
Greetings from France☀️
Glad you enjoyed them and made them your own :) They’d be great in a curry too!