Vegan Beyond Meatball Filled Bread Bowls

I love meatballs. Vegan “meatballs” that is.

I love that Beyond Meat can be used to make a deliciously convincing meatball so I can still enjoy one of my all time favorite pre vegan foods.

Before Beyond started selling the beyond meat in a 1 lb. block, I simply bought the burgers and thawed them, mixed them all up and used them as I would ground meat. It works really well and 4 burgers equal 1 lb. of vegan ground. You can use any brand of vegan mince you like. I prefer Beyond but I know there are a lot of new brands popping up these days, so use your fave or what you can find locally! What a glorious time to be a vegan!

So, that said, what do you do with your vegan meatballs? Add them to spaghetti? Sure, I guess, I do love spaghetti and meatballs. Put them on a sub roll and make a sandwich? Sure, It’s one of my favorite sandwiches. OR, you can bake up you very own homemade bread bowls and fill it with vegan meatballs.

Hear me out. These are way BETTER than a sub! For starters it’s less messy, and also you can pile up a LOT of meatballs into a bread bowl. Then you can smoother it, cover it, drowned it, in vegan cheese sauce and bake it up til it’s bubbly brown, and extra gooey. You will likely look a little more classy eating this than you would with marinara running down your chin as you chomp on a meatball sub. Just saying.

Bread bowl meatballs get my vote!

If you don’t want to make bread bowls, you can go buy some smaller round loaves of bread at the bakery and use those. I have done this with a giant round bread loaf and just made one giant bread bowl for sharing. “Sharing” sure…. if you even believe me, then yeah, I shared it.

Anyways, our all purpose vegan cheese sauce gets extra stretchy and gooey, and is perfect for topping these meatball bread bowls. Also, you are going to want to lick the pot you cook it in, so just a heads up, it’s actually that good. You can use the bread scraps to clean up the cheese pot. I am a genius like that, y’all!

So I you are a fan of meatballs, then try them in a bread bowl. Bread makes all meals better and carbs are for sure my love language. Can you even eat a meatball without bread? I would strongly argue that you for sure can not!

INGREDIENTS:

You will need one batch of our Easy Vegan Bread Bowls or 4-6 store bought bread bowls

4 thawed Beyond Beef burgers, or 1 lb block of Beyond Meat
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning (a mix of thyme, sage, basil, marjoram, rosemary, and oregano) if you do not have Italian seasoning feel free to add a combo of any of the listed spices
1 teaspoon tomato paste
1 flax egg
1/2 batch All Purpose Vegan Cheese Sauce

THE SAUCE: ( or use a favorite pre-made sauce)

1 onion, diced
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 small 14.4 oz can diced tomatoes
1/3 red wine (optional)
2 teaspoons crushed garlic
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

INSTRUCTIONS:

Meatballs:

Mix thawed burgers, panko bread crumbs, garlic, spices, and flax egg together in a bowl.
Once well combined, form meatballs with a small scoop, or spoon, and place them on a baking pan. You can line the pan with parchment paper for easier clean up.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sauce: (you can also easily use store bought sauce)

In a medium sized sauce pan, sauté onions and garlic in 1 teaspoon of oil, and a teaspoon of salt, until onions are translucent.
Add the wine, and let it cook for 2 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients, and let the sauce simmer for 30 minutes.
Add the cooked meatballs, and let simmer in the sauce for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Prepare cheese sauce according to directions, allowing it too cook until it is thick and stretchy.
Cut tops of bread bowls and hollow them out. You can save the extra bread to make croutons, or just save the scraps to dip in extra sauce. No judgments from me. It’s what I do. Fill the bread bowls equally with vegan meatballs and marinara sauce.
Evenly top the bread bowls with dollops of the cheese sauce, and sprinkle with some parsley if you like.
Place bread bowls on a baking sheet.
Place in the oven on the top rack just until the cheese starts to get extra melty and gooey.
Allow to cool a bit before serving. You don’t want to burn you mouth ( I am a mom of 4, I can’t help but give this warning)

If you like this recipe, then try these:

Vegan Beyond Meatloaf Stuffed Twice Baked Potatoes

Carbs, carbs, glorious, delicious, most perfect food. Oh how I love you!

If I am going to eat soup, I want bread.

If I am going to eat pasta, I want bread.

Don’t even think of showing me a meatball and not also giving me some bread.

I LOVE bread. I LOVE carbs. Plain and simple, and I don’t even feel a little bad about it.

So bread bowls are just about the smartest bread food there ever was. It’s a bowl…..and it’s bread.

It’s bread that is actually made to hold your food. Ummmm, it does not get much better than that.

Listen, don’t be intimidated by bread making. It’s actually super easy and will save you a ton of money! It also makes your house smell really good, so that is an added bonus. This recipe is pretty basic, and pretty close to our artisan bread recipe, just shaped into bowls!

You can make this right in a stand mixer, but if you don’t have one, no worries, you are just gonna get yourself a little workout!! The bonus is you will burn some calories kneading the dough, so don’t have to feel badly about all the carbs you are about to cram in your face.

If you are at loss for what to serve up in these beautiful bowls, head over to our soup category under recipes for tons of ideas, or fill themwith our classic macaroni and cheese , or be a little extra and fill them with Spinach and Artichoke Mac and Cheese. Carbs inside of carbs, with an added bonus of CHEESE!!!

Spaghetti in a bread bowl???? Yes, yes and YES! We like to pile up Beyond Meatballs inside of these beauties and cover them in our all purpose cheese sauce. Like a meatball sub but totally better!!!

So get to bakin, then you can decide with you want to fill these bread bowls with. There are no wrong answers. I think next time I bake some I will use one as a quaso bowl. That way when its all gone, I can just eat the gooey, cheesy, bread.

Carbs for life!

INGREDIENTS:

6 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoons dry active yeast
3 cups hot water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons neutral oil
1 tablespoon salt

INSTRUCTIONS

In large bowl add hot water around 110 degrees. I just run my tap water until it is nice and hot, if you get the water too hot it will kill the yeast. Add the yeast and sugar and let sit for about 10 minutes, or until it is frothy and bubbly at top.
If using a stand mixer, attach the bread hook. Add the flour, salt and oil. Once the yeast mixture is ready add it to the bowl. I like to use a large spoon to fold everything together before starting the mixer. It cuts down and flour flying everywhere and making a huge mess. (live and learn.) Turn the mixer on medium speed and allow the dough to mix for about 5 minutes. If it seems too sticky and wet and isn’t forming a dough ball, add some flour a few tablespoons at a time. If it seem too dry and isn’t coming together, a little water a few tablespoons at a time. You want a soft dough but not so sticky you can not handle it.
If you do not have a stand mixer, combine all ingredients in a large bowl as stated above and mix well. Once all of the ingredients are incorporated turn the dough out to a clean floured surface and knead by hand for 5 minutes. Again the dough should be soft but able to handle without it being too sticky.
Once dough has been kneaded, form it into a ball place it in bowl that has been lightly coasted in oil. Cover the bowl wth a kitchen towel or plastic kitchen wrap and place in the oven, turned off, or on the bread proof stetting if you have one. Allow the dough to double in size. The amount of time will vary depending on weather and temperature but should take between 30 to 45 minutes.
Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a clean, floured surface. Divide the dough evenly into 6-8 pieces, depending on how big you want your bowls. Form each each piece into a round ball shape. Place the dough balls on a parchment lined baking sheet at least three inches apart. I like to use 2 baking sheets just to avoid over crowding and to prevent the bread bowls from sticking together as they bake. Pop the baking sheets back in the oven for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove from oven.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
You can mix a few teaspoons of maple syrup with 1/4 of water and brush the tops of the bread bowls before baking to help them brown. I like to sprinkle mine with coarse sea salt. You can also sprinkle them with sesame seeds, or even everything bagel seasoning. You can also leave them plain.
Place the baking sheets into the oven and reduce heat to 425 degrees. Bake the bread bowls for 10-15 minutes or until the tops are browning and the bread bowls sound hollow when you tap them.
Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container until use.

To use the bowls, cut the tops with a sharp knife and hollow out the inside. Fill with soup, stew, spaghetti, meatballs, Mac and cheese, or whatever you like.

If you like this recipe, then try these: