The ultimate Italian comfort food just went vegan. This beanball sub will satisfy all your meatball cravings, filled with veggies and packed with Italian flair.
I’ve been wanting to put together this recipe for a while now, but I kept pushing it aside and dealing with all the other recipe ideas that spring into my head at all hours of the day. I swear when it comes to cooking, I am the anti to my normal type A. I jump from idea to idea, without any clear path in mind, driving myself crazy, but the need to try all these creations must be done or my brain won’t rest. The good news is that a lot of my test trials result in something delicious to share with all of you! It almost feels freeing to be able to ditch my normal organized personality and transform into the Swedish Chef from the Muppet Show (Remember him? Loved him!).
So finally, here I am getting this amazing sandwich on the blog. This will rock the socks off meatless Mondays! My whole family devoured it, even the little one who we usually expect to throw his dinner on the floor and proclaim the normal nightly starvation diet. Hallelujah, a meal we all will eat! This is going to be making it’s rounds quite often around here.
The greatest thing is that you can make all the beanballs and freeze for later use, it only calls for half in the recipe. You can also make the sauce and freeze that too, but to make it really easy you can simply use your favorite jarred red sauce. All you have to do the day of, is bake the bean balls (which can be done at any time) and sauté the kale. Easy! Another idea for a kid version, is to cut the beanballs in half and make a panini out of it. You’ve got to love an easy meal that even the little ones will eat! Serve this up with my Eggplant Fries and you’ve get a veggie filled awesome meal.
- ½ of my Kale & Lentil Balls recipe
- 2 cups of my Classic Red Red Sauce or Crockpot Red Sauce
- 2 cups chopped kale
- a drizzle of your favorite oil for sauteing veggies or veggie broth if not using oil
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- Sprouted wheat or gluten free hot dog buns or sub sandwich rolls
- Make Kale & Lentil Balls. Make Classic Red Red Sauce or Crockpot Red Sauce.
- Wash and chop kale. Saute kale and garlic in a pan using oil or veggie broth until wilted. Add red sauce and cook until warmed throughout.
- Assemble sandwiches by toasting buns and placing 3 beanballs in each bun. Top with red sauce/kale mixture.
- Serve with a side of Oven Baked Eggplant Fries.
- You can make the full Kale & Lentil Balls recipe to make more sandwiches or freeze the rest of the balls for later, they freeze great.
- You can use any marinara sauce you like, but homemade is always delicious.
- You can also sub another green for kale, such as spinach or chard.
Ana says
Beanball Panini? Inspired!
veggiesdontbite says
Thank you! The kids loved it!
Dina says
It looks Yummy and healthy!
veggiesdontbite says
Thank you! It is the same recipe as the burgers I gave you 🙂
The Vegan 8 says
OMG this looks amazinggggggg!! I make a lentil and rice ball recipe that I never got around to posting, just like you, I jump from idea to idea and my kitchen is constant chaos!! I’m printing this out! I think my hubby would just go wild over it. Can’t wait!!
veggiesdontbite says
Ah, thank you so much! They are a huge hit with my hubby for sure. Plus it’s easy to make a bunch of the beanballs and sauce and freeze for future use. Makes for really quick but healthy dinners on those busy nights! My toddlers love them too! I make little beanballs for them and let them use toothpicks to dip in the sauce. They love it! Oh and your lentil and rice balls sound delicious!!
Mason says
Great recipe! Can’t wait to try it!
veggiesdontbite says
Thank you so much! Let me know when you do!
Ashley says
Great recipe! Since I eat egg I just used 1 egg in the recipe for the whole batch of lentil ball instead of the flax and it worked great!
veggiesdontbite says
Thank you so much Ashley! Glad you found a way to make this work for you!
Emily Kemp says
The ultimate comfort food, love this!