These Vegan Swedish Meatballs are rich and “meaty”, seriously comforting and covered in a creamy gravy!
Swedish Meatballs (otherwise known as Ikea Meatballs) are little meatballs cooked in a rich, creamy gravy and served with mashed potatoes and tart-sweet ligonberry sauce. It’s the best kind of comfort food: warming, hearty and satisfying. And what better if it was healthy, too?
These healthier Vegan Swedish Meatballs are made using creamy white beans, meaty mushrooms and earthy walnuts. I like to blend up the white beans first until they’re completely smooth, and then add the mushrooms and walnuts at the very end so that they retain some texture.
I love how easy the mixture is to put together, as it doesn’t require any flours, or any egg replacements like flax eggs or chia eggs.
Then all you need to do is use your hands to roll the mixture into little meatballs, before baking them in the oven.
I’m so pleased with how these meatballs came out – they’re crispy and golden on the outside, and moist, tender and perfectly chewy on the inside. They’re hearty and satisfying, and packed full of umami flavour.
But what makes the meatballs extra special, is the creamy gravy! It was inspired by the sauce for my Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff, and it’s luxuriously velvety and seriously easy to make.
The base of the gravy is unsweetened almond milk thickened with cornflour, which creates a super creamy, neutral-tasting sauce. If you’re not into almond milk, you can substitute it with unsweetened cashew or oat milk.
I also decided to add a little mustard for piquancy, soy sauce (or tamari) for a salty, umami taste, nutritional yeast for a little cheesiness, and black pepper for a little kick.
A sprinkle of chopped parsley adds freshness and extra flavour.
I love to serve these Vegan Swedish Meatballs with my Creamy Vegan Mashed Potatoes, a side of steamed veg, and some cranberry sauce, which tastes very similar to ligonberry sauce but is much easier to make/get hold of!
For more white bean recipes, check out my:
- White Bean Queso
- White Bean “Tuna” Salad Sandwich
- Vegan Fish Pie
- White Bean Scramble
- White Bean Mac and Cheese
- Pumpkin Sage White Bean Hummus
If you try out this recipe or anything else from my blog, I’d really love to hear any feedback! Please give it a rating, leave a comment, or tag a photo #rhiansrecipes on Instagram! Thank you.
Helpful tools to make these Vegan Swedish Meatballs:
For the meatballs:
food processor
blender
hand-held stick blender
rectangular baking tray
baking paper
For the gravy:
measuring jug
Vegan Swedish Meatballs (GF)
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 1 tablespoon oil (olive, vegetable, rapeseed or coconut)
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 400 g (14oz) tin of white beans, drained and rinsed (cannellini, haricot or butter beans)
- 70 g (2.5oz) mushrooms, roughly chopped (I used chestnut/button mushrooms)
- 50 g (1/2 cup) walnuts
- Salt + pepper, to taste
For the gravy:
- 530 ml (2 1/4 cups) unsweetened almond milk (or sub unsweetened cashew or oat milk)
- 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
- 1/2 teaspoon (Dijon) mustard
- 2 tablespoons tamari (or soy sauce if not gluten-free)
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- Ground black pepper, to taste
- Fresh parsley, roughly chopped
To serve:
- Mashed potatoes
- Cranberry sauce
Instructions
For the meatballs:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit)
- Heat up the oil and add the onion and garlic once hot
- Fry for around 10 minutes until softened
- Meanwhile, place the white beans in a food processor or blender (or hand-held stick blender) and whizz until completely smooth
- Now add the cooked onion and garlic, along with the mushrooms, walnuts and salt + pepper
- Blend very briefly so that the mushrooms and walnuts are cut up into smaller pieces, but still retain a little texture
- Lay out some greased baking paper on a large baking tray
- Wet your fingers (to stop the mixture sticking) and use them to mould the meatball mixture into small balls and lay them out on the baking sheet - you should be able to make around 18 meatballs
- Bake in the oven for around 30 minutes, until golden brown
For the gravy:
- Measure out the milk in a measuring jug or container and add all the other ingredients
- Mix very well, ensuring that the cornflour has completely dissolved
- Heat the mixture in a pan on a low heat, stirring regularly to make sure the cornflour doesn’t clump
- Slowly bring to the boil and simmer on a low heat for around 5 minutes until the gravy is thickened - add some extra milk or water to thin out if necessary
- Add the cooked meatballs just before serving, and sprinkle over chopped parsley, if desired
- Serve alongside mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, if desired
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Lisa
I made these plant based Swedish meatballs last night, had left overs today and could happily lick the plate. I was a little apprehensive about the nutritional yeast as I’m not a huge fan if it is the star of the show. But the gravy was so delicious I needn’t have worried! I kept the meatballs separate and poured the gravy on top when serving because I wanted to be sure they wouldn’t fall apart if I had leftovers. My meat eating husband loved them too! Thanks for making this comfort food recipe!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much for the kind feedback! I’m so glad you and your husband both liked it! 🙂
Anonymous
Made these with sunflower seeds instead of walnuts and turned out really well, thanks for the recipe!
Rhian Williams
Thank you!
Amanda Geraghty
I was wondering what could substitute for walnuts. I’m really not a fan of walnuts. Thank you!
Rhian Williams
Almonds or sunflower seeds!
India Wardell
Delicious Recipe!!!
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much!
Shennae
i used too much mushrooms because I wanted to use the whole package, the beans wouldn’t blend, the nuts wouldn’t grind up and by the time i got it to blend i had to keep adding water to make it move. i tipped an entire package of walnuts in and an entire packaage of almond meal to fix it. they took ages in the oven and though they were hot in the middle, they were still soft. somehow though they cooked and I made the gravy with coconut milk and served it on soba. not ideal but it’s edible anyway. my mum said the gravy is awful but I think it’s good. So that’s my story of turning it around from failure haha.
Rhian Williams
Hi, thank you for letting us know what happened. I’m sorry you had some problems but glad it turned out ok in the end!
Jeanne
Love to substitute the cornflour, suggestions?
Rhian Williams
You can substitute the cornflour with tapioca starch, potato starch, chickpea flour, arrowroot, rice flour, plain gluten-free flour, or plain wheat flour if you don’t need it to be gluten-free. Hope that helps!
Anonymous
The meatballs were SO good! I added a splash of soy sauce and a sprinkle of red pepper flakes to mine, and they were brilliant. After baking, I then fried them. I made a mushroom soup/gravy mix instead of the gravy recipe recommended as I had lots of mushrooms to use up. It was a wonderful dinner! The meat-less balls really look like meatballs!! Thanks for such a great recipe 🙂
Rhian Williams
Thank you so much, so glad you liked the meatballs! Your substitutions sound delicious, thank you for sharing!