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Zucchini Quinoa Meatless Meatballs
You’ll never miss the meat in these Zucchini Quinoa Meatless Meatballs!
Adapted from Lidia’s Italy.
Ingredients
1 cup cooked quinoa (we used rainbow quinoa)
1 medium zucchini, shredded on large holes of box grater and all liquid squeezed out with a dish towel (1 cup)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely minced onion
8 eggs
1/4 cup fresh Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
2 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 inches vegetable oil in a 4 to 5-quart pot or Dutch oven
For serving:
Prepared Marinara sauce, see our easy recipe here, or your favorite jarred variety
Instructions
- Cook the quinoa according to package directions, cool and reserve one cup. Set aside.
- Grate the zucchini and squeeze out the water and measure out one cup. A little over is fine.
- In a small sauté pan, heat olive oil and over medium heat, cook onions to soft, about 3-4 minutes. Cool and set aside.
- Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl.
- Add in cooled quinoa, zucchini, onions, parsley, oregano, basil, panko, Parmesan, Romano and salt and stir with a wooden spoon.
- Use an ice cream scoop and scoop out 18 balls onto your cutting board. Then roll them into balls and place on a small sheet tray and refrigerate 45-60 minutes to firm up.
- Fill a 4 to 5 quart pot or Dutch oven with about 4 inches of oil. Place a candy thermometer in the pot and heat to 365 degrees F.
- Roll the balls again if they have a flat bottom and place in the hot oil using a slotted spoon and cook in two batches for about three minutes per batch or until browned (9 per batch). See notes below. Remove to a rack sitting over a pan and sprinkle on a little table salt while still hot.
- Finally, either continue cooking all 18 in the oven for 10 minutes covered with foil, or cook in a pot of marinara sauce for 10 minutes to cook all the way through.
- Serve with more marinara sauce and extra Parmesan cheese.
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Notes
When Lidia made her recipe, she made 36 smaller balls so she only needed to fry them. I made mine double that size so as a result, after frying, they need to continue to cook either in the marinara sauce for 10 minutes or in a 350-degree oven covered in foil (so the meatballs don’t brown too much) for 10 minutes to cook them all the way through.
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