All the flavours of your favourite stuffing made meat free and without bread! A lot of plant based and vegan stuffings contain bread to bind so for the those of you who find bread bloating or struggle with grains, these Vegan Stuffing Balls are the answer to your Christmas wishes… well maybe alongside a nice new shiny lip gloss hey girls?!
What is this Vegan Stuffing made from?
My plant-based stuffing balls are made mainly from roasted vegetables, blitzed down in a food processor after cooking, and rolled with crispy sizzled herbs, toasted seeds and then bound with a little flax and psyllium. The psyllium helps with a lighter texture so they’re sort of a cross between a veggie dough ball and a stuffing ball.
Why sizzle the herbs first?
It’s worth taking the extra 1 minute to fry the herbs in a little olive oil first guys over just adding direct to the stuffing. This takes the woodyness out of the herbs and makes this stuffing taste all out amazing. If you’re familiar with my recipes, you’ve probably noticed i’m frying herbs for everything right now. Total game changer.
Don’t worry, you won’t burn the olive oil as you’re cooking it on a super low heat. If you prefer you can fry with avocado oil which has a higher smoke point.
Optional extra flavourings
Feel free to add any of the following to your stuffing balls. They make them even more delicious.
Chestnuts work great in this meat free stuffing for an extra festive twist.
Dried dates, apricots or cranberries are also wonderful if you like a sweeter stuffing. You don’t need many but they add a really nice something special.
What to serve with your vegan stuffing
I may have been known to munch these direct from the tray on their own so feel free to join me in that, but ultimately these stuffing balls are great with your Christmas dinner. Stay tuned for my Vegan Christmas Dinner Traybake coming next week. Your one shop plantbased festive dinner in a fuss free clean up method!
I love to make these stuffing balls for a good sunday roast too. Whether you’re vegan or just trying to eat more vegetables, this veggie stuffing will be well received by all.
I hope you enjoy guys.
Vegan Stuffing - No Bread
INGREDIENTS
- 150 g pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled + cut into 1cm small cubes
- 1 large carrot
- 1 red pepper, seeds removed + cubed
- 1 small red onion, wedges
- 100 g cauliflower florets or celeriac, peeled + cubed
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup pumpkin / sunflower seed mix
- Zest 1/2 lemon
- Zest 1/2 orange
- 4 vacuum packed cooked chestnuts (optional)
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp psyllium husk powder
- 3 tbsp flax meal
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary chopped or 1 tsp dried
- 1.5 tsp fresh sage, chopped or 3/4 tsp dried
- 1.5 tsp fresh thyme, chopped or 3/4 tsp dried
optional extras
- 1 tbsp dried cranberries, apricots or dates, chopped
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200C / 180 fan and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Add the pumpkin, carrot, pepper, onion, cauliflower or celeriac and garlic. Toss with 1 tbsp olive oil and pinch of salt. Roast for 30 minutes or until soft. If the onions, peppers or cauliflower start to cook too much remove and set aside until the pumpkin is done. After 24 mins ass the seeds to a corner of the baking tray and cook for the remaining 6 mins till golden.
- Heat the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil in a pan on a low heat. Sizzle the herbs for 1 - 2 mins till slightly crisp. This will take the woodyness away and make the best flavour.
- Add the roasted veggies, seeds, ground psyllium husk powder, ground flax, sizzled herbs (reserving a little of the oil for the top), roasted garlic (minus the skins), lemon + lime zest, chestnuts / dried fruit if using, salt and pepper. Pulse until soft. Allow to stand for 5 - 10 minutes to let the flax and psyllium firm up then roll into balls.
- Place back on a greaseproof lined baking tray and brush with the reserved herb oil. Bake for 7 - 10 minutes until golden, turning once. Allow to cool slightly to firm up.
