Tofu meatballs are a tasty, and nutritious alternative to meat-based meatballs, as they are packed with flavor and protein. You can make them with pantry staples in 3 easy steps.
For more vegetarian recipes, try our lentil meatballs, black bean burger, and lentil patties.
Our tofu meatballs are an excellent high-protein vegetarian meal for a weeknight dinner as they are easy to put together and cook in 20 minutes in the oven.
Like many of our other tofu recipes, such as baked tofu, air fryer tofu, pan-fried tofu, and BBQ tofu, these meatballs are satisfying and versatile.
Louise and I love serving them in a sub, with rice, or with spaghetti and homemade marinara sauce.
Our tofu meatballs are inspired by Italian home cooking, so you’ll be familiar with the ingredients and flavor of this dish.
As we’ve shown you in our other Italian-inspired recipes like our tofu cacciatore, tofu pasta, and tofu in pizzaiola sauce, tofu’s neutral taste works beautifully with Italian flavors.
Ingredients
Quantities are in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
- Tofu: Use firm or extra-firm tofu. Avoid silken or soft tofu.
- Olives: Black or green, pitted. Adds savory depth.
- Walnuts: For healthy fats and flavor. Sub with almonds or cashews.
- Breadcrumbs: Italian-style preferred. Helps bind the mixture.
- Onion & Garlic: Use any type of onion and fresh garlic, or sub 1 tsp each of onion and garlic powder.
- Dried Oregano: Or substitute with thyme or Italian herb mix.
- Fresh Parsley: Adds freshness. Swap with basil or chives.
- Salt & Pepper: Use sea/kosher salt and black pepper. Optional red pepper flakes.
- Cornstarch: Helps bind. Sub with tapioca starch.
- Nutritional Yeast (optional): Adds cheesy flavor if available.
How to Make Tofu Meatballs
US cups + grams measurements in the recipe box at the bottom of the page.
Preheat the oven to 400°F or 200°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Take the firm tofu from the package and squeeze it over a sink to remove excess moisture.
To a food processor, add the tofu, breadcrumbs, pitted olives, walnuts, chopped onion, garlic, dried oregano, fresh parsley, cornstarch, nutritional yeast, salt, and black pepper.
Blend until combined. Stop and scrape down the sides of the food processor once or twice.
Shape the tofu mixture into small balls of 0.7 ounces or 20 grams each by rolling them between the palms of your hands. You should be able to get 24 tofu meatballs.
Tip: We recommend using a scale to measure the first couple of meatballs and make sure they are the right size so they cook fast and get warm to the core.
Tip: If the mixture sticks, grease your hands with a few drops of olive oil. If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, you can shape the meatballs with two spoons, but they won’t get as round.
Arrange the meatballs on your prepared baking tray. Bake at 400°F or 200°C for 20 minutes.
Tip: For extra flavor, brush the meatballs with olive oil before baking them.
This is what they should look like after baking for 20 minutes. They are soft but stay together well and don’t fall apart.
Serving Suggestions
These tofu meatballs are delicious with a store-bought or homemade marinara sauce or other Italian tomato-based sauce.
Stir them in and simmer for 5 minutes, then add fresh parsley or basil and serve them with warm bread, rosemary focaccia, in a sandwich, with pasta or rice.
Variations
- Pan-fried tofu meatballs: Warm up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet, then add the meatballs. Fry gently for 12 to 15 minutes, turning them around often to get cooked on all sides.
- Air–fryer: Arrange the meatballs in your air fryer without overlapping and air fry at 350°F or 180°C for 10 minutes.
Storage & Make Ahead
Make ahead: Tofu meatballs are an excellent recipe for meal prep as they keep well for days in the fridge.
Refrigerator: Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freezer: You can freeze the meatballs for up to 3 months. Let them cool down completely and freeze in a freezer-friendly container without the sauce.
Thaw & Reheat: Defrost in the refrigerator overnight. Warm them in the microwave for 1 minute or in a saucepan with sauce for 5 minutes. Frozen and thawed vegan balls can fall apart as you reheat them.
Questions
Pan-fried meatballs are softer and juicier but a little less healthy as they are cooked in oil.
Oven-baked ones are a little dryer but healthier and still delicious.
However, if you put them in marinara sauce, it’s very hard to tell which ones are fried and which are oven-baked.
Yes. Use gluten-free breadcrumbs. Also, serve them with gluten-free pasta or gluten-free bread.
Yes, absolutely. Just leave the breadcrumbs out or substitute rolled oats for breadcrumbs.
The meatballs will still be delicious, although a little denser. The tofu flavor will be more recognizable.
More Tofu Recipes
If you tried these tofu meatballs or any other recipe on our blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let us know how it goes in the comments. We love hearing from you!
Tofu Meatballs
Video
Equipment
- Food processor
Ingredients
- 8 ounces firm tofu or extra-firm.
- ½ cup breadcrumbs
- ⅓ cup pitted olives black or green.
- ⅓ cup walnuts
- ½ onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 handful fresh parsley
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 twists black pepper
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch optional, to help binding.
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast optional, for flavor.
Serve well with
- 12 ounces spaghetti cooked in salted boiling water.
- our homemade marinara sauce or a store-bought one.
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400°F or 200°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.Squeeze 8 ounces firm tofu over your sink to remove excess moisture.To a food processor, add tofu, ½ cup breadcrumbs, ⅓ cup pitted olives, ⅓ cup walnuts, ½ onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 handful fresh parsley, ¾ teaspoon salt, 2 twists black pepper, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, and 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast.Blend until combined. Stop and scrape down the sides of the food processor once or twice.
- Shape the tofu mixture into small balls of 0.7 ounces or 20 grams each by rolling them between the palms of your hands. You should be able to get 24 tofu meatballs.Tip: We recommend using a scale to measure the first couple of meatballs and make sure they are the right size so they cook fast and get warm to the core.
- Arrange the meatballs on your prepared baking tray.Tip: If the mixture sticks, grease your hands with a few drops of olive oil.Bake at 400°F or 200°C for 20-25 minutes or until browned on top and bottom.
- Heat our homemade marinara sauce or a store-bought one in a large skillet. Add the meatballs and simmer for 5 minutes.Serve with 12 ounces spaghetti, focaccia bread, or in a sub sandwich.
Notes
- Tofu – No substitute recommended; avoid silken or soft tofu.
- Walnuts – Replace with almonds or cashews.
- Olives – Use either black or green, pitted.
- Breadcrumbs – Any breadcrumbs work, but Italian-style is preferred.
- Onion & Garlic – Substitute with 1 tsp each of onion powder and garlic powder.
- Dried Oregano – Replace with dried thyme or Italian herb mix.
- Fresh Parsley – Swap with fresh basil or chives.
- Cornstarch – Use tapioca starch instead.
- Nutritional Yeast – Optional; omit or include if available.
Nutrition
Don’t Lose This Recipe
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Hi! We are Nico & Louise
We're here to share easy, healthy, and delicious recipes 🌿✨.
Welcome to our blog, we are glad you are here.
Could you add the sodium amounts in your recipes please? Love your recipes so much! Thank you!!
Thanks Paula,
We are happy you like the recipes 🙂
We are looking into this, we are trying to find a more reliable calculator for the sodium amount.
Have a great day!
Nico
What a amazing dishes you post, just love it, easy to make
Thankyou so much😇😊
Madhuri, I’m so happy you like our food ❤️💪
Thank you for your kind comment, and all the best,
Louise
I really liked the taste but I have to concur with the other comments on the consistency. The next time I use this recipe again, I will not soak the breadcrumbs in the milk first as I think this was the issue. I used the normal Coop brand breadcrumbs and it was almost impossible to mix with the blended tofu mixture as they became solid little masses. After baking for the allotted time according to recipe, the meatballs were not firm and were instead mushy and fell apart in the sauce. I will add the breadcrumbs and milk separately next time, or omit the milk entirely or only use it to aid in blending in the food processor for the tofu mix.
I’m sorry to say that although the flavor was good, the texture and consistency were totally off. With enough water on my hands I was able to form the mixture into balls, but nothing I did could get rid of the soft, sticky, uncooked center. I baked them in a 400° oven for a half an hour and they were still falling apart from the soft center, so I flattened them out and pan fried them for a few mins on each side then cooked them in the sauce for ten minutes. Although crisp on the outside after all that, they were still almost raw mush on the inside and falling apart when served. Will definitely not be making these again and am sad for the lost ingredients.
Hi there, I am sorry the recipe didn’t turn out as expected.
We never had the falling apart or the uncooked issue.
Some things to consider, not sure if you did this, but I’ll mention it anyway:
– use firm or extra firm tofu
– squeeze out the water from the tofu before blending it
– oil your hands before shaping the tofu
– make small balls, 20 grams (0.7 ounces) per ball, measured with a scale
Hope this helps troubleshoot what went wrong.
Have a great day!
Nico
I had the same experience. I even read the comments about the mushy interior beforehand, so I was super careful about following the recipe exactly, including squeezing out the liquid from the tofu and even purposely making some balls smaller.
Not sure why some of us end up with a mushy ball while others get a meat-like texture? 🤷🏽♀️
I followed the instructions exactly, and ended up with a mixture the consistency of ricotta cheese. Impossible to shape into meatballs. However it tastes good. Not sure what to do next. I did use extra firm tofu and squeezed the water out of it.
Hi Jennifer,
Sorry it didn’t turn out well, not sure what could have gone wrong. You could try adding a little more breadcrumbs and cornstarch to thicken the mixture till you are able to shape it.
Hope this helps.
Nico
Im afraid I had a similar experience to other commenters, and I wish I had read them before starting. Mixture was sticky but I managed to create balls (measured with scale to 20g), but when frying I got a nice brown surface whilst the centre stayed completely raw. I tried microwaving one to see if that would cook the middle, but it didn’t. I decided to try and make the balls into mince to get it all cooked, and this took ages but eventually worked but when added to the sauce all texture dissolved and I was left with a tomato mush! Disappointing after using lots of expensive ingredients and the end result was inedible..
Hi Elsa,
I’m sorry the meatballs didn’t turn out as expected. We now re-developed and improved the recipe to make it easier to cook.
Have a wonderful day.
Nico
These “tofuballs” are so tasteful. Great for weekdays dinner. Please, do you know if I can freeze them? Thank you!
.
Hi Angie,
I’m super happy you liked the tofu balls! Yes, you can freeze them. Store them in the fridge for 3 days, and in the freezer for up to 3 months (that’s the tofu balls without the marinara sauce, it’s best to store the sauce separately).
Have a wonderful rest of your week! Kindest,
Louise
I really enjoyed this for both the taste and the creativity! I just have to tweak a couple things to follow the steps more closely so I do have quite so mushy “meat” balls next time around! Thank you for this inspiring recipe.
Hi Nina, I’m so delighted you liked the “meat”-balls, thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment here. And have a great Tuesday! Kindest, Louise
Just made this again this time with dried tomatoes instead of olives, also delicious
Delicious and easy to make👍👍
These “meatballs” are delicious! I just made them. I baked them coating them with olive oil and they came out crispy and flavorful. What an easy recipe. You are so right, Nico!
Fantastic, Barbara. I’m delighted you liked them.
Thank you very much for your kind feedback and rating 🎉
All the best, Louise
Hi Jon, yes, thanks for bringing that up. I’ve added the missing step. Add breadcrumb/mix to the rest of the meatball ingredients. Apologies for the confusion.