Vegan Swedish meatballs with gravy and lingonberries
45 min · 32 g protein · 386 cals / serving
Springy, browned meatballs of soy mince and wheat gluten, seasoned with allspice and nutmeg like the Swedish originals, in a smooth, savoury cream gravy with a little soy sauce and mustard. Served the way Swedes eat them: boiled potatoes, green beans and a spoonful of tart lingonberry jam.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 cup textured vegetable protein (tvp), dry, dry soy mince (TVP granules)
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp vegetable broth, boiling
- 1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1/2 cup vital wheat gluten
- 1 small onion, finely grated
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg, grated
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp canola oil
Gravy
- 1 2/3 cups vegetable broth
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp unsweetened soy milk
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
- 1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
To serve
- 1 1/3 lb gold potatoes, peeled, halved if large
- 14 oz green beans, trimmed
- 4 tbsp lingonberry jam, reduced sugar, or cranberry sauce
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
Steps
- Stir the TVP, boiling broth and soy sauce together in a large bowl and leave for 10 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed.
- Meanwhile put the potatoes in a pot of salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for 15–20 minutes, until tender.
- When the TVP is cool enough to handle, add the vital wheat gluten, grated onion, allspice, nutmeg, salt and pepper and knead in the bowl for 2 minutes, until springy. Roll into 16 balls a little smaller than a golf ball.
- Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat and brown the meatballs, rolling them around, for 8 minutes. Add 3 tablespoons of water, cover and cook 3 minutes more so the middles firm up rather than stay gummy. Lift onto a plate.
- Whisk the broth, soy milk, cornstarch, soy sauce and mustard until smooth and pour into the skillet. Simmer, stirring, for 3–4 minutes until thick and glossy, then return the meatballs and simmer 2 minutes more.
- Add the green beans to the potato pot for the last 4–5 minutes, then drain. Serve the meatballs and gravy with potatoes, green beans, a spoonful of lingonberries and parsley.
Good to know
No lingonberries where I live?
Cranberry sauce is the closest match and the usual stand-in outside Scandinavia: the same tart, jammy note against the creamy gravy, with about the same score.
Can I freeze them?
Yes. Freeze the browned meatballs and the gravy separately, then reheat the meatballs in the gravy from frozen over low heat.
Are they gluten-free?
No: vital wheat gluten is what binds them and gives them their bite, and there is no swap that behaves the same.
Alternative
Per
- Calories
- 75
- Protein
- (34%)
- 6 g
- Fat
- (12%)
- 1 g
- Carbohydrates
- (54%)
- 11 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 207 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1545 kcal goes into the pot and 2198 g of ingredients comes out as about 2050 g of food: 75 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.