It seems everywhere I turn lately there are articles and ads on dieting, cleanses and eating clean. Sure it's the New Year and everyone is looking to make positive changes. But there's plenty of room within that for, say, a hefty and satisfying meatball.
A few years ago we did a post here on The Kitchn that featured a few recipes for vegetarian meatballs. But a lot has happened in three years and the options and variety for interesting meat-free meatballs has grown exponentially. So much so that there are recipes that we're really excited to make, that don't at all feel like just a good substitution recipe but a truly inspired and tasty meal. So here's to a New Year of food that fits into each cranny of your resolutions but also satisfies in a way that a smoothie or a green juice just can't.
Try a Recipe:
• Lentil Meatballs in Lemon Pesto - Sprouted Kitchen
• Quinoa Veggie Meatballs - The Small Boston Kitchen
• Spaghetti and Vegan Meatballs - Whole Foods Market
• Eggplant Meatballs - Dash of East
• Meatless Meatballs - The Food Network
Do you have a favorite recipe for an (un)meatball?
Related: Meat/Un-Meat: Meatballs for Everyone
(Images: Sara Morris from Sprouted Kitchen)
Floral Drink Dispen...

I make vegetarian meatballs using cannelini beans, and they're delicious. Even my boyfriend (who's a meat eater) loves them. Here's the recipe:
http://mollycorinne.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/winter-comfort-food/
Enjoy!
I really love the kidney bean based beanballs in Veganomicon. They can't be simmered in sauce, but I love them crispy right out of the oven over my pasta!
Thanks for reposting this one! I left the tab open last week so I could come back to it, but I needed to restart my laptop and couldn't access it again.
The heavy favorite in my house are these lentil ricotta "meatballs" from the fabulous Jennifer Perillo! http://www.injennieskitchen.com/2010/02/lentil-ricotta-meatballs.html
I did some Italian Un-meatballs a couple years ago on my blog. I just adapted my favorite meatball recipe to make a vegetarian stand in. They turned out so well!
http://www.ellesnewenglandkitchen.com/blog/2009/7/3/italian-un-meatballs.html
I just made some morrocan un-meatball sandwiches (gimme lean "ground beef style" mixed with morrocan spice mix and feta crumbles, sauced with a mixture of harissa and marinara sauce, topped with mint pesto and grated mint halloumi cheese on a whole wheat flat bread.) that even my un-relenting carnivore of a boyfriend admitted were just as good as the meat variety. Those lentil meatballs look really good, I'm going to have to try those soon.
I was hoping that would be falafel in the picture. Falafel is my favorite "un-meatball"!
Actually I just saw a falafel based un-meatball a couple days ago! I've been dying to make them since I read the post. Here it is for people's enjoyment (I'm not an author or contributor to this linked site):
http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2012/01/not-meatballs-marinara-638-recipe-106.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BudgetBytes+%28Budget+Bytes%29