With Cranberry-Orange Glaze
Make these crowd-pleasing plant-based meatballs for the holidays! With a flavorful bunch of festive ingredients (caramelized onions, rosemary, pecans, and a hint of smoke), they are perfect for a fancy Friday night or your holiday gatherings. Paired with the cranberry-orange glaze, they hit all those craveable sweet-savory notes.
I developed this recipe for the holidays last year, and this year, I’m finding myself enjoying them over and over again, on repeat, and savoring the leftovers. If I could sum up November and December in a food, it would be this!
Caramelized Onion Meatballs with Cranberry-Orange Glaze
Festive & flavor-packed plant-based meatballs will delight family and friends over the holidays. Perfect for a fancy Friday night or larger gatherings!
Servings: 12 meatballs
Ingredients
Sauce
- 1 14 oz can whole-berry cranberry sauce
- 3/4 C maple syrup
- 1/4 C sweet orange marmelade
- 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt fine/table
- 1/2 tsp orange zest grated
Meatballs
- 3 oz caramelized onion from ~9 oz raw yellow onion, cooked until almost no liquid remains
- 1 1/2 Tbsp rosemary fresh, chopped
- 1 Tbsp garlic roughly chopped
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley
- 1/2 C pecans toasted
- 3/4 C + 1 Tbsp plain breadcrumbs
- 1/4 C vegan parmesan or substitute 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 C cooked wild rice a generous, rounded cup
- 6 Tbsp JUST egg or 6 Tbsp vegan egg replacer, such as hydrated flax or chia seeds
- 1/2 Tbsp lemon pepper seasoning salt-free
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp salt fine/table
- Minced fresh parsely for garnish
Instructions
Sauce
- Combine the first 6 ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes, or until cranberries are mostly broken down. Set aside to reheat when the meatballs are ready.
Meatballs
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Caramelize the onions (this should take ~30 min!). Add the caramelized onions to a food processor with the rosemary, garlic, parsley, toasted pecans, breadcrumbs, and vegan parmesan (or nutritional yeast). Process until mostly a paste (ok if a few larger bits remain).
- Transfer the onion mixture to a bowl and add the cooked wild rice and JUST egg. Add the lemon pepper, smoked paprika, and salt. Mix with a spatula or your hands until the rice has broken down somewhat and the mixture is homogeneous (see note about adjusting consistency).
- Shape the mixture into meatballs and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes. Flip meatballs. Bake for another 10 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and gently add to the simmering cranberry-orange sauce.
- Simmer the meatballs, covered, in the sauce for at least 10 minutes, agitating the meatballs occasionally.
- Garnish with parsley when serving.
Notes
Depending on how much liquid was in your caramelized onions, your meatball mixture may need a small adjustment. If the mixture is very wet and sticky, mix in additional breadcrumbs, 1 tablespoon at a time, until you can form balls without it sticking to your hands too much. If too dry and crumbly, add additional vegan egg or water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture holds together when pressed.
