I’ve always wanted to have meatballs with pasta. But being a vegetarian, that wasn’t really an option. So I decided to make meatless meatballs! This recipe took a long time, so this isn’t something you can cook up an hour before dinner — allow the entire afternoon for this (and a few hours more). I spent around 6 hours on this dish.

Here is what you are going to need:

Cut the mushrooms into small, micro-bite-size pieces. This is going to be the bulk of the meatball.

Go ahead and cut the onions and garlic as well, making them as small as possible.

Add the oil to a fry pan and heat on medium/high heat. Once heated, add the mushrooms and begin to stir. Add in the butter and mix it in with the mushrooms until they are golden brown.

Now add in the onions and continue to stir. Once the onions are cooked (I did this for around 7 minutes), take the pan off of the heat and add in the garlic and stir. Transfer the mixture into a large bowl and allow to cool. Once cooled, add in the oats, salt, bread crumbs, black pepper, red pepper, oregano, a handful of cheese and the egg replacer and mix.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 3-4 hours ( did for 3). This allows for the mushrooms to absorb the different flavors in the bowl.

When you are ready to cook, heat the oven to 450 degrees F. Using an ice cream scooper, begin to form the meatballs and place them on a baking tray.

Then place the tray into the oven for around 15-20 minutes (until golden brown).

I stirred them into hot pasta sauce for 6 minutes so they could get a little softer and absorb some more flavor.

And then you are ready to serve with your favorite pasta!

Let me know what you think in the comments!