Tofu meatballs (gluten free, nut free)
Xanthan gum free, dairy free, egg free, vegan *Tablespoons are in Australian tablespoons which are 20ml as opposed to the more common 15ml. Use ml or use 4 teaspoons for every tablespoon. 4 X 5ml teaspoons = 20ml
Equipment
- Food processor (I use a mini KitchenAid food processor)
Ingredients
- 500 g firm tofu frozen then boiled to thaw, drained and torn into tiny chunks
- 100 g pickled onion (see notes)
- 25 g (1 tablespoon)* gluten free miso paste
- 40 ml (2 tablespoons)* water
- 40 ml (2 tablespoons)* olive oil
- 2 teaspoons dried sage powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 6 g (2 teaspoons) psyllium husk powder
- 50 g+ (1/2 cup) gluten free panko crumb (recipe linked below) or gluten free breadcrumbs of choice, added to achieve the right consistency
Instructions
- Prepare your tofu starting the night before. Freeze the tofu in the package.
- The next day, defrost the tofu by removing it from the package and boiling it in salted water for 20-30 minutes. The corners of the tofu block might flick up a little and that’s when you know it is done. Use tongs to remove it from the pot and place it on a wire rack over the sink. Allow it to cool completely.
- Once cooled, thoroughly squeeze the block of tofu to remove the excess moisture. Tear it into tiny pieces.
- Place the drained pickled onion (if using) and tofu in a food processor (I use my mini KitchenAid food processor).
- Whisk the miso paste with the water in a small bowl and add it to the food processor along with the oil.
- Blend the mixture until it is smooth. It should be more of a cohesive paste consistency than a chunky ricotta consistency and much less lumpy (although a bit of a grainy appearance is expected). Every piece of onion and tofu should be ‘dissolved’ – there should not be any big chunks. Anything less than this and your meatballs won’t hold together well. It takes me about 5 minutes to fully blend the mixture in my little food processor.
- Use a silicon spatula to get all the mixture into a medium mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients except for the gluten free panko/breadcrumbs. Mix well to combine and adjust according to your preferences. Set aside for 5 minutes to firm up.
- From here, you can assess how much panko/breadcrumb you need. I normally end up using 50g of my gluten free panko breadcrumb. You want enough so that the mixture is easy to roll into balls but not too much that the mixture becomes dry.
- If you are struggling to roll your mixture into balls, consider the texture. If it crumbles as you try to roll, you need to add a bit more liquid. Add 20ml (1 tablespoon)* water, mix and try again. If your mixture is too wet, you can either pop it in the fridge for 20 minutes to try and firm it up or add 25-50g more gluten free panko/breadcrumbs.
- Roll the mixture into firm meatballs with about 1 ½ - 2 teaspoons of mixture. I find the smaller ones tend to hold their shape better than larger ones (although you can experiment). I got about 42 small meatballs.
- Heat a large skillet over a medium heat. Add a thin layer of high smoke point oil to the pan once it is hot.
- Add one test meatball and if the oil sizzles as you add it, the pan is at a good temperature. Check that the meatball hasn’t stuck – if it has, keep heating the pan. If it hasn’t, continue adding extra meatballs with space between them to enable easy turning. Turn the meatballs as they brown. I like to brown them on all sides but they generally sink into a slightly less round shape and have a defined top and bottom.
- Once nicely browned, remove them from the skillet onto a wire rack. You can serve immediately but they are also nice cooled and make great leftovers.
Notes
- See my gluten free panko crumb recipe here.
- See FODMAP and ingredient notes in the body of the post.
- See the body of the post for loads of tips and suggestions. I don't just write them for fun!
- See the body of the post if you want to bake your meatballs. I don't really recommend it, but it does work with some alterations.
- If your meatballs lose shape as you turn them, you need to be more gentle but also likely need to add more panko/breadcrumbs next time.
- I recommend a food processor for this recipe. I find that a Nutribullet generally requires more liquid than this to blend. If you add more liquid to this recipe, it will be really hard to form meatballs that hold. Simply adding more crumb to counteract more liquid will result in a bland meatball. So, I do really recommend a food processor rather than a high speed blender.
- You can make larger meatballs - you'll get about 20-30 meatballs. However, I do find that they taste more 'tofu' like than the smaller meatballs.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!