Vegan Paleo BBQ Meatballs

good paleo vegan bbq meatballs are an easy comfort food that is solid as an appetizer or a main dish! No tofu, soy, or grains- lots of veggies and whole foods!

At Avdaye, we add lots of tips in all of our recipes – because we are a home cook without any formal training, and we find we are more confident making dishes when we understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. Our goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

Good Vegan Paleo BBQ Meatballs

We love finding fresh, good ways to re-make some of our favorite foods – reducing calories, fat, and even making them gluten/grain free, or vegan!

It's not always easy to come up with a way to create a meaty flavor or a good texture from vegetables – and we didn't think we'd be able to without using grains to bind the meatballs– but we are so pleased with how great these turned out!

And- to make this recipe even tastier– we are teaming up with Vitamix to give YOU a 5200 blender so you can make your own!

This blender is awesome- and what we used to get the solid texture for these “meat”balls! (as well as solid drinks, smoothies, soups, etc!!)

Eating fresh, healthy food is a lot easier with the right tools- and our Vitamix makes eating healthy foods simple! It can be used as a blender for smoothies or soups, as a food processor, or even as a grain mill!

It is also awesome for making homemade nut butters!

And we are so excited to give a brand new Vitamix 5200 to a lucky reader! scroll down to enter and win- after this good meat-free, grain-free, totally fresh and good Paleo Vegan BBQ Meatball recipe!

Freezing these Meatballs

These are such an easy, good comfort food that you don't have to feel bad about!

You can also pre-cook them and freeze these meatballs ahead of time- and make them in big batches!

This way, you can pull a few out at a time to have a perfectly portioned appetizer or dinner, so you can reach for a great whole-food instead of quick go-to processed foods!

We're sharing another great take with these meatballs soon- so stay tuned!

How to Make these BBQ Meatballs

The trick to this recipe is the solid texture- and a good method.

For our meatball texture, we want a finely ground base- but not overly ground (or it will turn to soup!!).

In many blenders, this would be tough- but the Vitamix allows you to use a tamper to stir your ingredients right there in the blender for the right texture!

Pulse on a low setting and stir well while blending to keep the food moving and prevent it from liquifying.

Also, after testing a few ways to make these meatballs- we can say NOT to cook these on foil (as pictured). Use parchment paper instead- the soft texture of these meatballs will stick to foil.

The meatball itself is a little fragile until sautéed (or frozen for future use) – so don't manhandle them when sautéing!

Other good Paleo Recipes

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Ingredients

• 2 tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1 bell pepper, any color, diced
• 1 eggplant, skin on, diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• ½ cup walnuts, diced fine
• ½ cup paleo BBQ sauce

Method

1. Set a baking sheet out with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large pan, heat grapeseed oil until shimmery.
3. Add in diced bell pepper, eggplant, walnuts, and zucchini.
4. Sautee until browned, about 15 minutes – stirring regularly to prevent burning.
5. Remove from heat and let cool about 5 minutes.
6. Add to vitamix blender with tamper and grind until soft- making sure to use tamper to stir mixture. It should be a small, soft texture but not liquified.
7. Remove mixture from blender and put into a large bowl.
8. Take 1/4 cup mixture and roll into a tightly packed ball.
9. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.
10. Continue rolling balls until you've made them all.
11. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, until a deep brown. This step helps the meatballs “set”, so don't skip it!
12. At this point, you can remove your meatballs and freeze them for another use.
13. If eating immediately, place meatballs in a pan with a drizzle of grapeseed oil over medium heat.
14. Brown on all sides, about 8 minutes.
15. Add bbq sauce, stir well.
16. Let sauce heat up- about 2 minutes.
17. Remove from heat and serve immediately!