Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Meatballs

SUBMITTED BY: KIMCA PHOTO BY: sarah

"My mother first made these for me and now I made them all the time - incredibly delicious! Serve as a main course, an appetizer.. doesn't matter, they always taste great!"

Vegetarian Sweet and Sour Meatballs Recipe

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PREP TIME	15 Min
COOK TIME	40 Min
READY IN	55 Min

SERVINGS

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Servings
USMETRIC

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

Meatballs:
4 eggs
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon dried sage
2 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
Sweet and Sour Sauce:
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white vinegar
3/4 cup apricot jam
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup minced onion
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 dash hot pepper sauce

What to Drink?
	Pinot Gris
	Bourbon Slush

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, Cheddar cheese, and cottage cheese until well blended. Mix in 1/2 cup onion, pecans, basil, salt and sage. Stir in bread crumbs. Form the mixture into 2 inch balls, and place them in a 9x13 inch baking dish.
In another bowl, whisk together the vegetable oil, vinegar, apricot jam, ketchup, 1/4 cup onion, oregano and hot pepper sauce. Pour over meatballs.
Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until meatballs are firm, and sauce is thick and bubbly.

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REVIEWS

Reviewed on Sep. 25, 2008 by Fit&Healthy Mom

The first time I made them I followed the recipe the way it is. But as I was adding the... MORE

Reviewed on Jan. 13, 2004 by DECLAWED

Great, delicious recipe! What a wonderful way to have meatballs again. The only advice I... MORE

Reviewed on Jul. 6, 2006 by MAMA GIN

This is a great recipe. The second time I made it, I rolled the balls smaller than called... MORE

Reviewed on Jan. 24, 2006 by hippyhotmama

I noticed that some reviewers said their meatballs came out mushy and wanted to say it is VERY... MORE

Reviewed on May 13, 2008 by jesseliu02

Full Review

The reviewer gave this recipe 5 stars. This recipe averages a 4.52 star rating.

jesseliu02
May 13, 2008

Even though these are vegetarian, they seemed overly high in calories and fat. I pulled out all the stops in order to try to reduce both. Instead of 4 whole eggs, I added 1 cup of egg substitute (like Eggbeaters). I also used fat-free cheddar cheese and non-fat cottage cheese. I used 1/2 nuts instead of the full 1 cup (I had cashews and almonds on-hand) and finally I used panko bread crumbs instead of regular bread crumbs. Things I added include: 1 tsp Italian herb mix, 2 carrots and 2 stalks of celery minced in a food processor, and 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten. For the sauce I completely omitted the oil and used sugar-free apricot spread. This made about 16 large balls. The flavor was actually very good and I've already made this recipe this way a couple of times. Even my non-dieting and non-vegetarian boyfriend liked them. The only slight issue with them may be the texture (they come out of the oven a little soft). When left in the fridge overnight they actually firm up quite a bit and are perfect. I think one could also throw the batter into a loaf pan and make a "meat"loaf out of this. According to my (rough) calculations, each meatball has only about 120 calories and very little fat.

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Even though these are vegetarian, they seemed overly high in calories and fat. I pulled out... MORE