Vegan Eggplant Meatballs (Gluten-free, Oil-free)

Roasted eggplant has this amazing texture and fairly neutral flavor, so with proper seasoning, it can be turned into many tasty things. If you would like to try eggplants for the first time or just looking for vegan recipes with eggplants, this 6-ingredient vegan eggplant meatballs recipe might be exactly what you need.

Are you looking for even more vegan eggplant recipes? Try our rich vegan eggplant parmesan with a creamy white bean mozzarella sauce or our vegan moussaka with the meatiest vegan minced meat possible. We also love this roasted eggplant bell pepper dip which is a delicious marriage between muhammara and baba ganoush.

What can you expect from this recipe?

If you are looking for a meatless meatball alternative, eggplant balls are a great choice. We don’t need to call it vegan or vegetarian, as none of the so-called “eggplant meatballs” recipes are actually containing meat. The star ingredient is THE eggplant and all other ingredients are only there to make sure you can form a ball.

Eggplant has such a spongy texture, you have to watch the amount of oil, especially with these veggies as they can soak up too much and become too oily and heavy at the end. I love how enthusiastically Chef Pasquale cooks eggplant balls but it is hard to watch the amount of oil he uses.

I have to say our eggplant meatballs are somewhat simpler and healthier. You can make them delicious even without eggs, oil, or breadcrumbs.

And why this recipe is the best vegan eggplant meatballs recipe? It is thanks to marjoram, a lesser-known Italian green herb that gives amazing flavor to eggplants.

Ingredients

You only need 6 ingredients to make vegan meatballs with eggplants.

• Eggplants – Roasted and pureed
• Quick oats or fine oats – We don’t recommend using rolled oats as they are harder to soften and may give you a crunchy finish.
• Rice flour – You can use oat flour or any gluten-free flour blend.
• Ground flax seeds – This is one of the vegan egg substitutes when it comes to binding ingredients. Alternatively, you can use tapioca starch or cornstarch.
• Marjoram – The idea to use marjoram comes from the seasoning of sausages we grew up with. We were just experimenting with our vegan lentil loaf recipe using marjoram when we thought of trying it also with this recipe. And it worked. At least for our taste buds. You can – of course – season it with basil and oregano.
• Garlic powder
• Salt and black pepper

🛒 You can find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How to make vegan eggplant meatballs? 

Roasting eggplant

First, you need to roast the eggplants, which is easy to do. I usually use a glass container or a baking mat so I can roast them oil-free.

1. Wash the eggplants.
2. Cut them in half vertically and place the halves upside down in a single layer in an oven-safe glass baking dish or on a silicone baking mat. You can cut off the stem, but not necessary.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius) and roast the eggplants for 30 minutes. They have to be tender enough that you can peel or spoon out the eggplant flesh.
4. Take them out and let them cool until it is comfortable to touch them with your bare hands. You can see it in the below photo of how eggplants look after roasting without oil in the oven.

Making the mixture

1. Peel or spoon the eggplant “meat” and blend it until you get a puree using a food processor or a hand blender.
2. Mix ground flax (not flakes or seeds) and water and wait until they get a gelee consistency. The ratio of ground flax and water is 1:3 tablespoons.
3. Take a large mixing bowl and add the pureed eggplant and all other ingredients (oats, brown rice flour, flax egg, marjoram, salt, and black pepper) and mix them with a wooden spoon. You don’t need to add the mixture back to a food processor or blender.

Resting to form the balls

As with most veggie balls recipes, it is better if you form the eggplant balls after the mixture is rested a bit.

We recommend placing the mixture in the fridge for approx. 10-15 minutes so that the oats and the flax egg can work their magic and get all ingredients to stick together so to speak.

After that, it will be easy to form small (2-3 inch wide) veggie balls, which can even be fun for the kids to help out with.

Baking or frying

Take your frying pan, add a bit of oil and fry them on medium heat for a couple of minutes on each side. If it is a truly non-stick like these ones*, then you wouldn’t need to add any oil and the eggplant balls will still get a crispy brownish crust. They should look like the ones in the below picture.

If you prefer baking, then take a baking mat or a sheet pan with parchment paper and bake them at 350 Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for 15-20 minutes turning them at half-time.

Top tips to make them perfectly

• Roasting in advance – You can roast the eggplants in advance and store them in the fridge for 1-2 days without a problem. The only thing you need to pay attention to is that they might release liquid, so you need more oats or flour to get to the right consistency
• Size matters – Baking and frying time depends on the size of the meatballs you make. The smaller they are, the cooking time will be shorter.
• Turn them gently – In my experience with gluten-free cooking and baking, whatever mixture I make is usually soft to work with when hot, but firms up after cooling.
• Don’t recommend simmering the meatballs in a sauce – You can add these vegan eggplant meatballs to a tomato sauce for example and they will NOT fall apart. However, we recommend baking them in advance before doing that. They need that crispy outer crust first.

What to serve with them?

When your vegan eggplant meatballs are ready, you can serve them in many different ways.

• Drop them into our homemade marinara sauce (see below picture) and make spaghetti with “meatballs”. You can even pop it in the oven and top it with lots of grated cheese to turn it into a pasta bake or casserole.
• Try it with our delicious caramelized carrot pasta sauce or this creamy cashew alfredo that complements these meatballs perfectly. Or try to add it to your vegan mac and cheese.
• You can make a complete meal by adding vegan mashed potatoes, your favorite Fried Rice, or any combination of roasted veggies (asparagus, mushroom, root veggies…)
• Make an eggplant meatballs sandwich with marinara sauce.
• Put them on a stick or skewer, add a dip (like vegan BBQ sauce or vegan nacho cheese sauce) and serve them as appetizers.
• Take a vegan and gluten-free biscuit and make meatball biscuit sliders.
• Stuff pita bread with veggies and eggplant balls top with your favorite vegan yogurt dip.
• Add them to your vegan shakshuka to make it more filling.
• Can it be a delicious pizza topping? Why not?

Let us know in the comments what is your favorite combination!

FAQs and substitutions

What can you use instead of rice flour?

If you don’t need to eat gluten-free, then you can use all-purpose wheat flour. If gluten-free, you can use other gluten-free flours like oat flour, chickpea flour, or buckwheat flour for sure. To be honest, we like rice flour for vegetable balls since they have the most neutral taste and they will keep the focus on the seasoning.

What can you use instead of oats?

We have only tried to make it with oats. However, we don’t recommend rolled oats as they will give you a crunchier finish compared to fine oats or quick oats.

If I need to change it, I would try it with breadcrumbs. Any other grain would be too hard when they are uncooked, or too moist if they are cooked. Please note that panko breadcrumbs are not gluten-free. You need to choose one of these gluten-free breadcrumbs substitutes then.

Can you turn them into burger patties?

Yes, you can.

How do you store them?

You can keep it in the fridge in an airtight container for 4-5 days tops without any problem. We recommend storing the meatballs by themselves and separating them from any sauce. Otherwise, they soak up the sauce and may fall apart the next day.

Can you freeze them?

Yes, you can store them in the freezer. We recommend freezing after frying/baking, not as an uncooked mixture. The reason is that roasted eggplant will release moisture after it is thawed. If you are ready to enjoy them, pop them back in the oven or warm them up in a frying pan to get the crispy crust back.

Why do we love eggplant recipes?

Did you know?

Eggplant is technically a fruit, but we rather think of it as one of the nightshade vegetables.

According to Cronometer eggplants are great to boost the fiber content of any dish. It is high in vitamin B1 and B6 as well as copper and manganese. Furthermore, purple fruits and veggies are usually high in antioxidants just like eggplant. If you are interested in learning more, here is an article about the 7 surprising health benefits of eggplants. So it is really worth it to incorporate eggplants in your weekly meals.

Choosing the right recipe may determine whether you like eggplant or not in the end. They can be quite bitter if not properly cooked or baked. It has a spongy texture similar to mushrooms. However, there are so many great recipes you can try apart from having them as “meatballs” for example make it a star in this Asian caramelized eggplant salad or go with a Middle Eastern flow and make Lebanese stuffed eggplants or a vegan sabich sandwich. Do you have a favorite eggplant recipe? Let us know in the comments below.

This Eggplant Meatballs recipe is vegan (so egg-free and dairy-free), vegetarian, nut-free, soy-free, and WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based). However, it is only gluten-free if you buy certified gluten-free rolled oats like this one. Oats are naturally gluten-free, although they are usually cross-contaminated with other grains.

More veggie balls recipes

You can browse through our quick vegan meals collection or check out

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UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in Jan 2019, but was rewritten and republished with more details and tips in June 2022.