Packed full of protein and fibre, these Veggie Meatballs make a super healthy meal for kids. They’re great finger food for baby led weaning too!
My kids are massive fans of meatballs. Meatballs with pasta… rice… potatoes… they love it all! Whilst its tempting to feed them meatballs several times a week I am conscious of the amount of red meat that we eat as a family.
With this in mind I decided to make some veggie meatballs, packed full of chickpeas, or garbanzo beans as they are also known as. Apart from the fact that they make a great meat substitute in this recipe, chickpeas are a super healthy addition to your family’s diet. Chickpeas are very high in dietary fibre, low in fat and are a great source of iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc and vitamin K. And of course they are a great source of protein too.
By now you know I love to hide veggies in my kids food so it’s probably no surprise that I’ve included some sneaky veggies in there too!
You can serve these meatballs on their own with a little tomato ketchup. Or serve them like classic meatballs with spaghetti and sauce. (If you serve them this way, try my Hidden Veggie Tomato Sauce for even more sneaky veg!)
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Veggie Meatballs for Kids
Prep Time: 10 mins- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 25 minutes
Yield: 6
Category: Main Meal
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Packed full of protein, these Veggie Meatballs make a super healthy meal for kids. They’re great finger food for baby led weaning too!
Ingredients
- 1 medium slice wholemeal bread
- 1 can chickpeas (240g drained weight)
- 1 small courgette, grated
- 1 medium carrot, grated
- 1 egg, beaten
- 50g grated Cheddar cheese
- 1/2 tsp dried mixed herbs
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200c. Grease a baking tray or dish.
- Place the bread in a food processor and blitz until it turns into breadcrumbs. Add the chickpeas, grated courgette and carrot, egg, cheese and herbs and blitz again until everything is well combined.
- If the mixture seems too dry add a very small amount of water to loosen it up.
- Remove the mixture from the food processor and roll it into bite sized balls. I made 20 medium sized balls with my recipe.
- If you want to freeze some of these veggie meatballs at this point put them on a plate and freeze until solid, before storing in a freezer bag. Defrost at room temperature.
- Place the balls onto the baking tray and bake in the oven for between 15 and 20 minutes, depending on their size.
These were a total hit with my two little ones! Lovely recipe for Meat FRee Mondays too.
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Hi! I just made the stuff but no way it was possibpe to make balls. The texture was nearly like that of a cream. But I followed the amounts on the recipe. In the end I poured it in the muffin tray. Let’s see the result
Do not undercook these, it’s simple mush if you do. But it still tastes good. I’m not going to pass judgment on this until I make this 100% right.
When you say mixed herbs which spices do you recommend specifically?
Its just a small jar of mixed herbs. Or oregano works well too!
My fussy eater is worse. He hates 2eat anything unless its unhealthy snacks. The only flavour he puts in his mouth is sweet. Its becoming very tiring. I will giv this recipe a go. I know getting him to eat it is another mission altogether. Any suggestions on what else i can do?
★★★★★
Try making your own healthier snacks at home. You can batch make things like flapjacks or oat bars and cookies too. So that way, even though he’s snacking a lot at least you know its healthier snacks!
Love this recipe, can you freeze them after they have been cooked or best to do it before? They seem to turn into a wet mush when I defrost them raw. Thanks!
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Best to freeze them after they are cooked!
Hi I just wanted to confirm whether to freeze before or after cooking as the recipe suggests freezing before but then you replied above saying freeze after they’re cooked…. thanks
Hi, its best to freeze after cooked. Sorry for the confusion!
Preparing food this way will definitely make picky eaters eat veggies without them knowing that they are eating already eating vegetables.
This is an artclie that makes you think “never thought of that!”
So glad I’ve found your website, I have some visiting over the Christmas holidays and I will be visiting here for inspiration!
Hee hee, hope I can help!