Sweet and Sour Faux Meat Balls

These appetizers really have a meaty texture and a wonderful taste. Non-vegetarians may not even realize that they're not made of meat! And for vegetarians, it's a refreshing and delicious alternative to soy-based meat substitutes. If you want them to taste more "sausagey" try doubling the amount of sage and add a hearty dash of dried basil. When I made this recipe for a holiday party, I coated a pan with non-stick spray, put the meatballs on it without the sauce, and baked for 30 minutes at 325 degrees F, in order to brown and firm them up nicely. Then I tossed them into a crockpot and covered them in homemade barbecue sauce (there are several fine recipes on this website). DELICIOUS party appetizer! I'll also consider making them in a white sauce and serving them over egg noodles, a la Swedish "meatballs". Thank you, Janet, for posting this recipe! It's definitely on my "keeper" list!

This recipe makes a lot but it was so tasty that we didn't have any problems finishing them. A great alternative to greasy real meatballs.

These are the best "fake" meatballs I have ever tasted. It was almost scary how much they looked and tasted like "real" meatballs. I had to keep reminding myself that I had not actually put any hamburger into the recipe! The sweet and sour sauce was very good, too. I also plan to make the meatballs again with Italian seasonings and parmesan cheese and use them in spaghetti.

The meatballs are pretty good for other purposes (like spaghetti & meatballs), but we really didn't think they went with this sauce very well at all. I'd give the meatballs 4 stars but the combination of the meatballs & sauce only 2.

Easy and quick to make. Very yummy and filllng. Made with brown rice.

I didn't use the sauce do I cannot comment on that but the "balls" were good. I omitted the sage as my husband isn't a fan and I used half the cheddar and half mozza cheese. I also added lots of garlic and used walnuts instead of pecans. They turned out tasty!

My family loved these. I used fat free cheddar and cottage cheese. Really good, but the texture is more like stuffing than a real meatball. We had these with mashed potatoes and a vegetable for dinner.

Edible, but I don't think it's a keeper. Had too much of a bready flavor, so if I were to do it again, I would probably cut down on the bread crumbs. The sauce was really good though. I think I will use that again with regular meatballs. In spite of being vegetarian, DO NOT mistake this for being healthy. I got 18 meatballs using a 2 tbsp scoop out of this recipe. Once I added up JUST the caloric stuff, that worked out to 205 calories per meatball. Yikes! BTW: this is the same recipe as Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Meatballs except with one more egg.

This sauce was OK... I used it on regular frozen "meat" balls but it was too tart. I would add sugar or reduce the amount of vinegar to improve the flavor. I won't make these again.

These were awesome. I cut the sweetness in a double recipe by making only one recipe worth of sweet-sour sauce, and making up the difference with canned tomato sauce. It worked very well.

I did not care for this recipe! I would have rated it 0 star if the site would allow. I followed the recipe exactly. The sauce tasted like ketchup and the meat balls were dry and tasteless. I will NEVER make this again!

this recipe is amazing!!! made the meatballs last night for dinner. I didn't have any basil so I used Italian seasonings which was delicious. For the sauce I also used some honey along with the apricot and ketchup. This meatball recipe has now become the ONLY one I will use!. Next time I make them I'm going to go meatball sub and toss them into a really hood homemade marinara sauce! YUM!

This was a great recipe. Easy and tasty. It's a little high in the fat, I am going to tweak it to see how low fat I can make it with out giving up the taste. Next time I will use a food processor to grind the nuts better. My 18month old threw some on the floor and the dog gives it 5 bones.

Oh my gosh, these were just so good, I don't know where to start! With the ingredients listed, I thought there was no way these could look anything like the picture, and couldn't understand how anyone could claim that they taste like real meatballs. Well, I was so wrong!! They really did come out looking exactly like the picture, and were indeed very similar to real meatballs in both taste and texture. I am going to use this recipe as a base to experiment with different sauces and flavours, like a tomato sauce to serve over spaghetti, or a spicy gravy to turn it into koftas with rice!

I used meat. The sauce was the best. The family loved it.

I did not care for these.

At first I thought these were wonderful then they proceeded to get harder and harder. Dont know what I did wrong, Sorry.

I did not make the sweet and sour sauce. I baked the 'meat' balls with a little olive oil and later added them to pasta sauce. They were fantastic. I have another batch in the oven right now, however, this time I have added carrot and celery and I am hoping they will turn out like faux rissoles. I can not recommend this recipe enough.

You have to love this recipe, everyday ingredients and great taste. I have made this a couple of times now, I use less vinegar, personal preference.

I made it for my son a few weeks ago and he liked it so much he ask me to make it again. I must admit I am a meat lover but dishes like this may make me convert. The whole family loved the meatballs immensely.

I loved this! I made a couple of subsitutions with things I had on hand - Apple cider vinegar and homemade loquat jam, but followed the recipe otherwise and it was amazing. My non-vegetarian husband said he hates meatballs but he liked these!

Well I am bias since I do not eat meat. Still WOW. These are great just finish eating them 30 minutes ago. SO easy, So good. I made a Salisbury sauce instead and piped mashed garlic potatoes on top. My husband said this was a winner. YUM

Good texture, holds together well. I think I will try a savory sauce next time, it was too sweet & rich for me. I will also substitute egg beaters for the eggs & use lowfat cheeses. I think it would be good served over the top of boiled fresh green beens or carrots. I froze the leftovers and will use for future creations.

These were delicious, I wished they were a little more saucy though, so if I was to make them again I might even double the sauce. I would make these again, however the calorie count was quite high so I will probably save them for special occasions and not make it a regular at our table.