Bite into a vegan meatball sub made with lentil meatballs, tossed in a homemade marinara sauce, on a bed of spinach, and crunchy toasted bread. This vegan meatball sub recipe will bring you back for more!
There's something about a vegan meatball sub that brings a smile to my face. Whenever I'm craving comfort food, sandwiches come to mind. I can't think of anything more delicious than a vegan meatball sandwich on crusty bread. So, if you're craving comfort food, whip up this vegan meatball sub recipe!
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But how can you make a healthy vegan meatball sub? It's easier than you think. It's all about the ingredients and a few helpful hints.
For instance, making and freezing vegan lentil meatballs ahead of time allows for a quick and easy meatball sub. Even though I make batches of meatballs and freeze them, vegan meatballs are easy to prepare.
First, choose your favorite vegan meatball recipe. I make two different versions of oil-free vegan meatballs.
Although both lentil meatball recipes are oil-free and plant-based, either recipe works for this vegan meatball sub recipe. Therefore, the first recipe option is a simple lentil meatball recipe.
Ingredients Recipe Option 1
- Brown Lentils: I like to use Trader Joe's steamed, vacuum-sealed, brown lentils.
- Organic Vegetable Broth: A little vegetable broth acts as a binder for the other ingredients.
- Shallot: Shallots have a delicate and sweet flavor with a hint of sharpness.
- Garlic: The garlic perfectly matches the shallots to create a rich flavor.
- Fresh Basil: I suggest using fresh basil when possible.
- Italian Parsley: Parsley brings freshness to this meatball recipe.
- Muir Glen Organic Tomato Paste: I love this brand of tomato paste, but any tomato paste works well.
- Italian Panko Bread Crumbs or bread crumbs of choice (gluten-free or homemade): I make my bread crumbs by toasting bread and crumbling it in the food processor. Then I add Italian seasoning.
- Salt: A little salt enhances the flavors in the recipe.
- Pepper: I prefer using fresh ground pepper
- Flax Egg: A combination of flaxseed meal and water is the perfect egg replacement
Or I also make vegan meatballs using my vegan meatloaf mixture, which includes vegetables.
Ingredients Recipe Option 2
- Brown lentils: I like to use Trader Joe's steamed, vacuum-sealed, brown lentils.
- White or yellow onion: White onions have a strong, sharp, and not very sweet flavor
- Carrot: I dice the carrots small for this recipe.
- Celery: Celery adds freshness as well as crunch to a recipe.
- Red pepper: Red Bell peppers are sweet and flavorful when added to a recipe.
- Mushrooms: The mushrooms add meaty structure to the meatballs
- Garlic: I love garlic, especially combined with mushrooms and garlic.
- Tomato paste: Tomato paste acts as a binder.
- BBQ sauce of choice: I make my Vegan BBQ Sauce, but any bottled brad works.
- Yellow mustard: Yellow mustard gives the mixture tangy goodness.
- Flaxseed meal: Flaxseed meal is another binder to keep the meatballs from falling apart.
- Fresh parsley: Parsley gives the mixture a fresh taste
- Salt: A little salt enhances the flavors in the recipe.
- Pepper: I prefer fresh ground pepper.
- Quick oats: The oats act as a binder to the recipe, holding the meatballs together.
- Whole wheat bread crumbs: I use my breadcrumbs by toasting bread and crumbling it in the food processor.
How to Make the Sub
- First, saute diced onions and garlic and wait until the onions brown before adding vegetable broth.
- Once the pan started to brown, a small amount of vegetable broth caramelized the onions.
- Next, add the frozen vegetable meatballs. I used the lentil meatballs without the vegetables this time. Frozen meatballs stay together better.
- I always make batches of meatballs and freeze them for various recipes like vegan spaghetti & meatballs.
- To brown the lentil meatballs, add them to the onion mixture and add a little more vegetable broth to prevent the onions and meatballs from sticking.
- Next, add 1 ½ cups of marinara sauce. I make an oil-free vegan marinara sauce, but any oil-free marinara sauce works well.
- Fortunately, there are many oil-free pasta sauces available in the grocery store.
Vegan Marinara Brands
- DeLallo Marinara Sauce
- Muir Glen Organic Portobello Mushroom Pasta Sauce
- Ragu Light Tomato and Basic Marinara Sauce
- Pomi Tomato Sauce (add Italian seasoning and fresh garlic)
- 365 Everyday Value Marinara Sauce (Whole Foods)
- Engine 2 Pasta Sauce (Whole Foods)
- Simple Truth Organic Mushroom Pasta Sauce (Fry's/Kroger)
How to Prepare the Sandwich
- A helpful tip for getting perfect crispy bread and reducing the amount of bread eaten, I suggest hollowing out the bread.
- Creating a well allows the spinach and meatballs to stay in place.
- Then, use the bread removed from the center of the roll for other recipes such as bread crumbs or dip in soup or hummus.
- Not only does this help avoid the bread from getting soggy, but it also gets crispy quickly when broiling.
- First, hollow the bread, create a well, and broil on low for 3-5 minutes.
- Remove the bread from the oven, and add a layer of fresh spinach to the bun or bread base.
- Then, add meatballs and sauce.
- Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and vegan parmesan cheese is an option but highly suggested.
Recipe FAQs
Ingredients like flaxseed meal, bread crumbs, and oats help bind the meatballs together. I also like to freeze my meatballs to keep them together.
You can use a melon baller or a cookie scoop to make the same-sized meatballs. Then, roll them in your hands to form identical balls.
I like to flash-freeze the meatballs in mini-muffin pans. Then, transfer the frozen meatballs to a container. They won't stick together.
Tips
- Regardless of which recipe you choose, either recipe freezes well and can be made ahead of time.
- I always batch-cook lentil meatballs and freeze them before or after cooking them.
- Another great way to cook vegan meatballs is by using a mini muffin pan and placing the meatballs in each muffin well; this prevents the meatballs from moving around on a baking sheet.
- Or, flash freeze the meatballs using a mini muffin pan (uncooked) before transferring them to a container for freezing.
- When making any recipe using lentil meatballs, I suggest using frozen meatballs so they stay uniform and don't fall apart.
- If cooking the vegan meatballs without freezing them, avoid moving them too often when pan searing or cooking in the oven to keep them intact.
Try this yummy vegan meatball sub! You will love the crunch and tasty meatball combination.
Other Vegan Sandwich Suggestions
If you like this vegan meatball sub, give it a 5-star review and comment below.
📖 Recipe
Vegan Meatball Sub
Ingredients
Lentil Meatball Recipe (option 1)
- 1 recipe lentil meatballs 3-4 meatballs per sandwich
Lentll Meatball Recipe with Vegetables (Option 2)
- 1 recipe lentil meatballs with vegetables
Oil-Free Homemade Marinara Sauce or marinara of choice
- ½ cups Marinara sauce recipe
Other ingredients
- 1 onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- Vegetable Broth
- 3 cups fresh spinach
Garnish
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- ¼ cup vegan parmesan cheese
Instructions
Bread
- Choose an oil-free sandwich bun, bread, or Italian loaf of bread. One whole-grain Italian loaf of bread makes 4-6 sandwiches.
- Slice the loaf down the middle, cutting the bread in half lengthwise
- Now, hollow out the bread by tearing the excess bread for the center of both sides, creating a well for the spinach and meatballs.
- Save the bread for another recipe or discard.
- Set the bread aside.
Preparing the vegan meatballs
- Saute onions and garlic until onions are translucent.
- Add a small amount of vegetable broth in the pan a the onions brown, caramelizing the onions.
- Add the frozen vegan meatballs (12 meatballs)
- Carefully brown the vegan meatballs in the caramelized onions.
- Add a small amount of vegetable broth to prevent meatballs and onions from sticking as they brown.
- Be gentle with the vegan meatballs as they brown, moving them with a spatula to brown all sides.
- Now, add 1 ½ cups marinara sauce.
- Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer, cooking, and gently moving the sauce's vegan meatballs.
Making the Vegan Meatball Sandwich
- Place the bread pieces on a baking sheet.
- Turn the broiler on to low heat.
- Place bread in the oven for 3-5 minutes, checking to make sure bread does not burn.
- Place each piece of toasted bread on a plate.
- Add a cup of spinach to the center of the bread, filling the open section.
- Next, add 3-4 meatballs and some marinara sauce.
- Then, sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley and vegan parmesan cheese (optional)
Notes
- Prepare the meatballs in advance and freeze them for the best results.
- Choose one of two vegan meatball recipes provided.
- If you can't find oil-free bread crumbs, make your own. Toast your bread of choice, add it to a food processor and crumble it into bread crumbs.
- If hollowing out the bread for these sandwiches, toast and use the inside of the bread as bread crumbs.
- Use jarred marinara sauce instead of making your own for an easy time-saver.
- Add extra veggies to the top of the meatball sub like red or green bell peppers, slivered onions, or diced tomatoes.
- Add a little heat by adding sliced jalapenos.
Nutrition
Hi! My name is Kathy, I am a retired high school English teacher & vegan enthusiast and blogger. My entire blog is fully plant-based vegan. I truly believe what we eat & how we live determines our health & the preservation of our planet! 🙂
Kathryn
Thank you💛🧡❤️
Kathy Carmichael
Hi Kathryn, I hope you enjoyed this recipe.