These vegan, Lentil Meatballs with Coconut Curry Sauce are truly delicious! Infused with fragrant Indian spices, they are healthy and full of flavor. Vegan and Gluten Free! Video.
These flavorful vegan, Lentil Meatballs are served over a fragrant Indian-spiced Coconut Curry Sauce. The aroma will drench your kitchen in goodness. The lentil meatballs are baked, rather than fried – so they remain relatively low in fat. Served with basmati rice or a salad, this meal is hearty, healthy and delicious. I also just learned… it also won BEST vegan recipe over at Food 52!
Lentil Meatballs | 60-second Video
Lentil Meatball Ingredients
- Black lentils (uncooked) -I adore these little Black Caviar lentils because of their petite size, their dark color and rich earthy flavor. They are meaty little guys, who hold their shape after cooking, and take only 20 -25 minutes to cook. But feel free to use brown lentils or green lentils. Any whole lentils will work great here- just do not use split lentils.
- fennel seeds
- Quinoa
- Kosher salt
- granulated garlic
- cilantro
- firm tofu
- olive oil
Indian Coconut Curry Sauce:
- garlic
- ginger
- fresh turmeric (or ground turmeric )
- olive oil
- fresh tomato
- Fenugreek leaves – truly elevate! Use fresh or dried. Note: Fenugreek seeds are a different flavor.
- Coconut milk (not lite)
- lime juice
- salt, pepper, seasonings
TIP: Dried fenugreek leaves truly elevate this dish! We use them often here on the blog- so they won’t go to waste!
How to make Lentil Meatballs
Cooked Lentils and cooked quinoa are mixed with cilantro, garlic and spices.
Tofu is whipped in a food processor into a thick paste, and acts as the binder here. Fold this into the lentil-quinoa mixture.
With wet hands, form, into ping-pong-sized balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake the lentil meatballs in the oven for 20-22 minutes.
While they are in the oven make the coconut curry sauce. I highly recommend making a double batch of the sauce!
Place lentil meatballs over the sauce and sprinkle with cilantro.
What to serve with Lentil Meatballs?
- Basmati rice
- Naan Bread
- Indian Spinach Salad
- Palak Paneer
- Bombay Carrot Salad
- Authentic Chai!
- Chai Cookies!
Enjoy the Lentil Meatballs- let us know what you think in the comments below.
xoxo
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Lentil Meatballs with Indian Coconut Curry Sauce
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 15 lentil balls
- Category: Vegan, Main
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Ingredients
Lentil Meatballs:
- 1 cup black caviar lentils (uncooked) Sub green lentils or brown lentils ( see notes)
- 1 tsp fennel seed
- 1/2 cup quinoa (uncooked)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp granulated garlic
- 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
- 6 oz firm tofu, pressed down (to release water) and patted dry – this acts as the binder (do not use silken tofu)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- spray olive oil
Coconut Curry Sauce: ( If you like extra saucy, double the recipe)
- 1– 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic- finly minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
- 1 teaspoon fresh turmeric, grated (or 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric )
- 1 extra large tomato, finely diced, with juices
- 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek leaves (FYI: this is different, and better than fenugreek seeds)
- 14-ounce can full fat coconut milk (not lite)
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne, more to taste
- fresh cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the lentils. On high heat, bring lentils and fennel seeds to a boil in a small pot with 3 cups water. Cover, turn heat to medium-low, and simmer until tender, 15-25 minutes, depending on their size. Drain well, pat dry.
- Cook the quinoa. On high heat, bring quinoa to a boil in a small pot with 1 cup of water. Cover, turn heat to medium-low, simmer for 15 minutes, until all the water is gone, turn the heat off, and leave covered.
- Make the coconut curry sauce. In a skillet or saute pan, over medium heat, saute garlic and ginger in olive oil, until just golden, stirring often to prevent scorching. Add turmeric ( fresh turmeric root, or ground) sauté 1 more minute. Add diced tomato, and sauté until most of the juices evaporate, about 5-8 minutes. Stir in coconut milk, fenugreek leaves, lime juice, brown sugar, salt, cayenne and pepper. Taste for salt. Bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat until ready to serve.
- Make the vegan lentil meatballs. Pre-heat oven to 400F. In a food processor, place the cooked quinoa, and half of the drained lentils (see notes) and pulse until the texture of coarse sand—place in a large bowl. Add the remaining lentils, salt, granulated garlic, and chopped cilantro to the bowl and mix well.
- In the same food processor (no need to rinse) add the tofu (blotted well, broken apart) and olive oil. The tofu will bind the mixture and oil will keep them from drying out. Pulse tofu and oil until a smooth creamy paste, scraping down the sides as necessary. Scoop it into the lentil mixture and mix it all well.
- Form meatballs: Prepare a parchment-lined baking sheet. With your hands, knead lentil mixture briefly so it’s thoroughly mixed and salt and spices are evenly distributed. With wet hands ( or small cookie scoop) form small ping-pong-sized balls. Spray with a little spray olive oil.
- Bake! Place the meatballs on a parchement-lined baking sheet and place in the 400 F oven for 20-25 minutes.
- Assemble: Warm the sauce gently in the pan and place lentil meatballs in the sauce, and sprinkle with cilantro. Serve immediately.
Notes
Storage: Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in an airtight container in the fridge. To freeze, freeze meatballs separately from the sauce on a sheet pan. Once frozen, they should be ok in a zip-lock freezer bag. Full disclosure. These are quite tender and prone to crumbling after they thaw.
Double the sauce for extra saucy! Most people are enjoying this doubled. 🙂
TIP: If using large brown lentils, blend them all with the quinoa for better binding! I like leaving some of the tiny black lentils whole ( for texture and looks) but this doesn’t work as well with big brown lentils.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 lentil balls
- Calories: 295
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 244.4 mg
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Carbohydrates: 40.2 g
- Fiber: 6.8 g
- Protein: 18.5 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
I’m back again 3 years later to rave about this sauce.
I’ve made big batches of it and frozen it for later use, it thaws beautifully.
I’ve never used the meatball recipe again but we’ve used the sauce as a methi malai matter, we used it with cauliflower or potatoes, we’ve used it with spinach and paneer…
My husband is from Sri Lanka so we jazz it up with chilies, cumin and garam masala, but when our (white like me) friends come over we make it true to the recipe.
I will say this sauce is so much better with fresh fenugreek, but even just the dried is awesome. I know fresh fenugreek is hard to find in some places.
The coconut curry sauce was great, but the meatballs were mushy and bland. I cooked for longer than recommended to try and firm them up, but it didn’t work.
Hummmm, something seems off here. Sorry it didn’t work for you.
Hey having trouble finding fenugreek leaves. Just wondering what a possible substitute would be?
I would just leave them out. No substitution really.
What about using dried fenugreek?
Yes, that is what I used. 🙂
Just made it for a first time, substituted tofu for 1 whole egg. Turned out perfect, flavours are epic!!! It will be one of my regular recipes to make. Thank you sooo much 🌺💝
Just made this for dinner and I think it’s one of the best recipes I’ve ever made! I doubled the sauce and my boyfriend said I should’ve tripled it because he loved it so much 🙂 It sort of reminded us of Malai Kofta we’ve had at restaurants. Delicious!!
Hi! I was wondering if you think cumin seed would be a good substitute for the fennel seed? Thanks!
I think it would be fine- but fennel better. 🙂
Any suggestions on how to make the meatballs more moist. They came out very dry. I was thinking of using chickpea water to act like an egg.
Hi Sahara- did you add the blended tofu? That really seems to help. 🙂
INCREDIBLE! The “meatballs” came out even better than I expected. Crispy and delicious.
Next time I’d try a different sauce though.
I just made this and it is wonderful! I love the medling of flavors. Enjoying every bite. Will definately be making again. Thank you!
where is the curry in the sauce?
The spices in the sauce create the “curry” here. 🙂
Hello! We are gluten and soy free, so i was thinking of using flax eggs as a binder in place of tofu. Do you think it will work?
Haven’t tried this with flax eggs, so not sure. Sorry.
Can you prepare lentil balls ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze? Want to make lots for a party! How long will sauce keep areter preparing?
Suace will keep 3-4 days. Not sure how the lentil balls would hold together after freezing, but you could make ahead and refrigerate for 3-4 days.
This was amazing!! I added some chopped spinach to the sauce and put it over cauliflower rice for some extra veggies. I didn’t have tofu so used one egg and breadcrumbs and the “meatballs” held up perfectly! Your recipes are so delicious! My husband and I can’t wait for the leftovers tomorrow 😋
Thanks so much Katie- appreciate this! Glad the egg and bread crumbs worked!
Great recipe, great flavors!
The taste of notte the lentil balls and he sauce are good. But after 40 min in oven the inside Of the balls was still mush. I made 25 meatballs from the 1x recipe above and that was with them being pretty sizeable. If I made them golf size I would have had 33/34. What should the inside look like??? I figure it’s okay since all the ingredients were cooked ahead of time but still would be helpful to know. Plus there’s no way to search your comments to know if someone else had this problem.
Something is off with the measurements. I’m stumped here, sorry.
THIS ONE’S A WINNER! So delicious. One of the best “fancier” lentil dishes I’ve ever made. Look forward to trying others.
Thanks so much Stephen!
Delicious!! I’m going to try and freeze some of the “meatballs” to use at a later date…hoping it works out!
Did you freeze some, trying to find out if that worked! Thanks
This is a fantastic recipe! I doubled up the sauce and thickened it with a chopped baby spinach. Everybody loved it! This is a keeper:)
Thanks Maria! Glad you liked it!
Wow I was not expecting this to be so good. But oh boy, wowza! Another delicious recipe! I didn’t have the fennel seed or cilantro so I didn’t use these things, but it was still so good! I just added some chili oil after it was done and ate it with Roti! Yum!
SO GOOD! I used ground mustard instead of fenugreek and it was awesome. Easy to follow recipe. My husband said “I could totally be vegan if we had something like this every night”
Love it!
Is there a recommended tofu substitution for soy protein intolerant individuals?
Hi Kat. Sorry, no. Nothing specific. If you are comfortable winging it…egg and bread crumbs?? Not sure if you are vegan?
I have the same issue, with a soy allergic husband. I was thinking maybe oats??? That’s what I use in my veggie burgers and generally have pretty good luck, but my veggie base is also pretty wet…maybe also add a liquid ingredient like aminos?
That sounds like a good idea! If you try, let me know!
DELICIOUS!!! I definitely added a bit more seasoning than the amount listed. My family loved it!
Yay!!! Great to hear. Thanks for sharing! 🙌
Wonder what else could go with the sauce, which looks delicious on its own? Thanks!!
I think I could put it on everything!
Made this for my new wife as she loves to eat healthy and it went down a treat. First time cooking vegan and got to say the meatless meatballs were brilliant. They held well together had a nice bite and texture and the sauce was brilliant, so flavoursome. Would definitely recommend doubling up on the sauce for extra sauciness!!
Looking for my next healthy / vegan recipe to try…
Thanks Richard! Appreciate this.
This recipe was delicious! The only thing I might do differently is that I would not put the meatballs in the sauce. They get mushy pretty fast. Instead I found that putting the sauce on brown rice with the meatballs on top was perfect. I will definitely make again, the whole family loved it!