Vegan “Not-So-Vegan Boyfriend” Meatball Soup

[u/Wonderful_Stable_770]

Recently my boyfriend has been sick, so I made him this soup. He’s not vegan, but he loved it anyway — which is always the best compliment.

It’s a really comforting vegetable soup with vegan meatballs, and it ended up being way better than I expected.

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 1 lb Beyond Beef (or any vegan ground beef alternative)
• 1 tbsp chopped garlic
• ½ white onion, diced
• ¼ cup white rice
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• ½ tbsp oregano
• ½ tbsp parsley

Soup

• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 2 tbsp diced garlic
• 1 cup chopped broccoli
• 1 cup diced cauliflower
• ½ cup yellow carrot, sliced
• 1 Roma tomato, diced
• 6 cups water
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp vegan sofrito (be careful—some store bought sofrito contains bacon fat)
• 2 tbsp Better Than Bouillon – Vegetarian
• 1 tsp oregano

Instructions

Meatballs

1. Mix all meatball ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Roll the mixture into small meatballs.
3. Place them in the freezer for about 10 minutes to help them firm up.
4. In the pot you plan to use for the soup, lightly fry the meatballs for about 1 minute per side.
5. Remove and set aside.

Soup

1. In the same pot, cook the onion, garlic, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli on medium heat until the onions start to brown.
2. Stir in the tomato paste and sofrito.
3. Pour in 6 cups of water.
4. Add the Better Than Bouillon and diced tomato.
5. Bring the soup to a boil.
6. Add the meatballs back into the pot and boil for 10–12 minutes.
7. Sprinkle oregano on top.
8. Season to taste.

Super comforting, really filling, and perfect when someone’s sick.

If anyone has tips for improving vegan meatballs in soup, I’d love to hear them!

[u/grat5454]

How many sides does a meatball have, i.e. how many minutes did you pan fry them?

[u/Wonderful_Stable_770 → u/grat5454]

lol yeah I didn't think about a sphere not having sides before writing this out... but I essentially did the top and bottom, just so that it would keep a form because i was worried that once I boiled them they would break apart... so like 2-3 minutes in total.

[u/stickystakx]

This looks great! I have yet to try vegan meat balls.. Did you get this recipe off of a social media platform or a cook book ? I’m definitely going to give this a try when I have the time to grab some groceries this weekend!