Beet Balls are a quick and easy vegan meatball alternative made from scratch, with beetroot! They're beautifully purple, delicious and packed with flavour from the toasted walnuts and herbs.
These beet balls are not only a vibrant pinky purple colour, but they taste amazing!
The beets give them a sweetly earthy flavour, that works beautifully with the spices and ground walnuts.
They're perfect on pesto zoodles (courgetti) for an all-vegetable meal!
Reader Reviews
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "I made these last night, they were amazing! Loved the vibrant colour. Made courgetti mixed with spinach, peas and pesto. Delicious! Will definitely be serving it at my little home veggie and vegan restaurant in France." - Louise
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Yum! I'm always on the lookout for a great vegetarian meatball recipe and I'm so glad I found these! They're easy to make and yummy. We'll be making them again" - Lucy
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "This was so good! The whole family loved it and it was delicious and super healthy!" - Safi
Why you'll love this recipe
A tasty way to get loads of veggies into a meal.
They're quick and easy to whiz up and cook.
Beetballs are a beautiful purple color.
These Beet Balls are a tasty blend of kidney beans, beetroot, walnuts, herbs and spices.
Not only are beetroot balls easy, but they have a wonderful flavor.
You can make the beet balls ahead of time and heat them through before serving.
The recipe also makes quite a few beet balls, so you can freeze them for another meal.
Ingredients
- Beets - they add bulk, nutrients and that incredible purple color.
- Walnuts - they also bulk up the beet balls and add a lovely texture.
- Kidney beans - make them protein-packed.
- Breadcrumbs - you can swap to gluten-free if required.
- Red onion - for a flavor intensity.
- Dried oregan and thyme - tasty Italian herb flavors.
Spiralizing
One day I’ll rip courgettes (zucchini) from my own garden, wash them off and spiralize them right onto my plate. One day.
I’m definitely a fan of spiralizing. There’s good reason that this trend for turning vegetables into spaghetti-like ribbons is still raging on.
It means you can have a lighter meal with less carbs, get more vegetables into your diet and use up vegetables.
You can spiralise anything from beetroot and squash, to apples and carrots. It’s a nice way of adding texture and veg to salads.
Courgetti can be eaten raw or lightly cooked. Spiralized courgetti only needs to be boiled or steamed for a minute or two to warm it without turning it to mush, or you could heat it in a frying pan.
It's perfect as a pasta alternative and a bed for these tasty beet balls.
Try these other spiralizer reicpes.
Reduce Food Waste
If you still have some zucchini and beets to use up, try it in these ways to reduce food waste.
- Courgette / Zucchini is fantastic baked into a courgette cake, particularly with chunks of dark chocolate.
- Courgette can be sliced, blanched and frozen.
- Slice courgettes zucchini thinly and use in lasagne in place of all or some pasta sheets.
- Beetroot is lovely grated raw with apples into a salad
- Beetroot also pairs well with chocolate, so try them together in a cake.
- Don’t bin the beet stems, they’re lovely quick-pickled in vinegar or snipped into a salad
- Beetroot greens are perfect for pesto, salad, or sauteed with oil and garlic as a quick side dish
Vegan Dinner Recipes
I hope you enjoy beet balls as a vegan dinner recipe. Be sure to try these other plant-based meals too!
If you're looking for other vegan pasta dishes for the family, try my broccoli and mushroom vegan One Pot Pasta, or Mushroom Pasta with butternut squash and sage.
Go for a healthy curry with Lentil Dahl, Kidney Bean Curry, Vegan Butter Chicken (cauliflower) or Chickpea Curry.
They're all great midweek meals the whole family will enjoy.
Beet Recipes
If you still have beetroot to use up after making beetroot balls, you can use them up in these tasty recipes!
Apple Beet Salad
Beet Pizza (beets in the purple crust!)
Beetroot Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Beet Muffins
Rosolli - Finnish Beetroot Salad
Beetroot Hummus
Beet Burgers
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Easy Beet Balls
Ingredients
For the beet balls
- 2 raw beets washed (approx 300g)
- ½ cup (50g) walnuts
- 15 oz (400g) can red kidney beans (15oz can) drained and rinsed
- ⅓ cup (30g) breadcrumbs
- ½ red onion finely diced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- Salt and pepper
To serve:
- 3-4 zucchini / courgette
- 3-4 teaspoons green pesto look out for vegetarian or vegan if required
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400°F/200°C and grease a baking tray with oil.
- Peel the beetroots and slice into chunks. Whiz in a food processor or mini chopper until fine. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
- In a dry frying pan, toast the walnuts for a few minutes until lightly golden.
- Add the walnuts and kidney beans to the food processor (no need to clean after the beets) and pulse once or twice until crumbly.
- Add the walnut bean mixture, bread crumbs, chopped onion, oregano, thyme, salt and pepper to the bowl of beetroot and combine well, you’ll need to use your hands. Squish the mixture well so that it sticks together. Roll into balls and place onto the baking tray.
- Bake the beet balls for 25-30 minutes, turning halfway through.
For the courgetti (zoodles):
- Courgetti can be eaten raw or cooked. Spiralise the courgettes (zucchini) in a hand-held or freestanding spiraliser. If cooking, blanch the courgetti for a minute or so in a pan of boiling water until hot, then drain. Gently toss the courgetti in the pesto then divide onto plates and top with the beet balls. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors, so is not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietician for special diet advice.
Agatha
They were incredible! I adore red food and totally love all things beets 🙂
Jenny
What a lovely colourful dish - thank you!
nadia
Wow, the beet balls were vibrant and so gorgeous! I would like to be able to grow my own fruit and veg one day, but it seems like a distant dream at the moment if I'm being honest 😛
Jemma
I love courgetti and these beet balls were a tasty addition to make them more exciting!
Dr.Amrita Basu
This was outstanding. It's pretty and healthy.
Louise Elsom
I made these last night, they were amazing! Loved the vibrant colour. Made courghetti mixed with spinach, peas and pesto. Delicious! Will definitely be serving it at my little home veggie and vegan restaurant in France.
Thanks so much for your inspiing recipes! 🙂
Lucy
Yum! I'm always on the lookout for a great vegetarian meatball recipe and I'm so glad I found these! They're easy to make and yummy. We'll be making them again 🙂
Safi
This was so good! The whole family loved it and it was delicious and super healthy!
Jac -Tinned Tomatoes (@tinnedtoms)
Oh nice flavours and loving the pink! Srumbled, yummed, tweeted & pinned
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche
I didn't know you used to live on a boat, that's so cool! These look awesome, such a stunning colour!
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So, so beautiful! And you have been clever and amped up the colour with kidney beans. Delish, and such a fun way to get the family to eat more veggies. Anything that looks like meatballs and goes on noodles/zoodles has to be tried. If it is any consolation, although last year my crops were very giving, my zucchinis are just rubbish this year. But at least they didn't have to contend with swans... 🙂
Ali @ Home & Plate
Wow...what a great dish. I have never made beet balls but healthier they must be than anything made otherwise.. The ingredients sound delicious and the perfect place on top of a bowl of zoodles!
Angela
This looks so yummy and healthy. I am going to add this to my Yum and pinterest! We have to try it out!