‘Beyond Meat’ Cheesy Vegan Enchilada Meatballs
If you are feeling bored with food lately, give this recipe a try! These enchilada meatballs are super fun, unique, and can be eaten in several different ways. They’re perfect served as a cocktail appetizer, dressed up in a taco, or eaten over a bed of Spanish rice. These vegan enchilada meatballs are meaty, cheesy, and saucy, with a tiny bit of heat. They’re incredibly delicious!
These vegan enchilada meatballs are easy to make!
First, I combine Beyond Meat’s Plant-Based Ground Beyond Beef with yellow onion, fresh garlic, cilantro, nutritional yeast, and a bunch of spices. I form this mixture into meatballs and sear them in a saute pan until lightly crisp all around.
For the sauce, I saute yellow onion, fresh garlic, and jalapeno until slightly softened. I stir in cooked black beans, yellow corn, canned red enchilada sauce, and season it all with salt and pepper. I add the cooked meatballs in and gently stir them to coat them in the sauce.
I dump everything from the pot into a baking dish, cover it with a lot of shredded vegan cheddar cheese and mozzarella, and bake it to melt the cheese and marry all of the flavors.
This recipe is fun because it can be eaten in so many different ways!
If you’re having a get-together, party, or want to bring these meatballs to a potluck, they would be perfect poked with a toothpick and served as a cocktail appetizer. If you set the meatballs out as a self serve party food, I would recommend setting a spoon nearby so people can scoop up more sauce with black beans and corn. I’d also suggest making a batch of Spanish rice to go alongside it! However, if you’re having someone walk around and serve these strictly as a cocktail appetizer on a platter, I’d recommend skipping adding in the black beans and corn, as they don’t hang on to the meatballs so well.
Another option would be to put the meatballs inside of warm corn tortillas to make tacos. I like to garnish mine with sliced avocado, vegan sour cream, sliced jalapeno, and fresh cilantro leaves.
Lastly, I like to serve these meatballs alongside a carb. The other day I made a batch of my Best and Easiest Vegan Cornbread and topped a piece off with a couple of these meatballs with the sauce, and wow, was that delicious! My family loved the combination, too!
If you make these vegan enchilada meatballs, don’t forget to post a picture to Instagram, tag me @chefsummerstorm, and #gardengrub so I can see your recreation!
‘Beyond Meat’ Cheesy Vegan Enchilada Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb/package Beyond Meat Plant-Based Ground Beyond Beef
- 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs (You can skip this ingredient if you are gluten-free.)
- 1/4 cup yellow onion, minced
- 1 tbsp garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup yellow onion, small diced (roughly 1 onion)
- 1 tbsp garlic cloves, minced
- 1 jalapeno (seeds and veins removed and discarded), minced
- 1 cup cooked black beans
- 1 cup frozen yellow corn, thawed
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- One 15 ounce can vegan red enchilada sauce (I used the brand Hatch Organic-Medium)
You Will Also Need:
- 1 cup shredded vegan cheddar cheese (I used the brand Violife)
- 1 cup shredded vegan mozzarella (I used the brand Violife)
Instructions
Meatballs
- Using your hands, evenly combine all of the ingredients EXCEPT for the olive oil in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Form the meat mixture into roughly two tablespoon portioned meatballs. You should have 15 meatballs in the end. Lay them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Rest a large saute pan over medium heat. Once hot, add in one tablespoon of the olive oil. Add in roughly half of the meatballs and cook for 4 minutes, turning them over and around as needed to get them evenly lightly crispy. Remove the meatballs from the saute pan and place them back on the original sheet pan. Add the other one tablespoon of olive into the saute pan and cook the other half of the meatballs per the same last instructions. Set aside and make the sauce.
Sauce
- For the sauce, place a large saucepot over medium heat. Once hot, add in the olive oil. Saute the diced onion for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add in the minced garlic and jalapeno and cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
- Toss in the black beans and corn, stir and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add in the enchilada sauce, stir, and turn the heat off.
- Place the meatballs into the sauce and gently stir to coat them in the sauce evenly.
How to Assemble and Bake the Meatballs
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Dump the entire pot of enchilada meatballs into a 9 1/2" by 9 1/2" baking dish.
- Toss the shredded vegan cheddar cheese and mozzarella together in a bowl. Evenly sprinkle it over the enchilada meatballs.
- Now, wrap the top of the dish with tin foil. Place the dish on the middle oven rack and bake it for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
Tiparooskis
Welcome to the tip section of the vegan enchilada meatballs! Here I provide my top tips to help you perfect the recipe. Sometimes, I also give substitute suggestions that I think you may find helpful.
- Use store-bought taco seasoning for flavoring the vegan beef to save yourself a little bit of time. I’d recommend using one full (1 ounce) taco seasoning packet. Skip adding in all of the spices I listed in the recipe, but still add in the diced onion, minced garlic, cilantro, and nutritional yeast in addition to the seasoning packet.
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