Vegan Cranberry Chili Meatballs (vegan & high protein) – Plant Based RD (2024)

These vegan cranberry chili meatballs are the perfect holiday appetizer. Sweet, tangy, and spicy and just takes 20 minutes to make!
These meatballs have easily become the one appetizer at Thanksgiving I look forward to the most. Originally inspired by a dish a friend brought to a Friendsgiving feast we held years ago. It also has a little kick to it thanks to the chili and earthy spices mixed into the sweet cranberry sauce. If you are a lover of both sweet and savory dishes, this one is absolutely for you. This recipe also doubles as the perfect sauce to use with your main holiday dishes.

Why you’ll love these vegan cranberry chili meatballs

• All vegan, hearty and delicious! The perfect balance of sweet and spice.
• These make the perfect holiday appetizer and condiment all in one. Leave out toothpicks for guests to grab meatballs and use the remaining sauce to drizzle over your main dishes.
• Ridiculously easy to make. Literally only takes about 20 minutes to cook!

Key Ingredients

• Can of whole cranberry sauce: our main ingredient for the sauce that provides that classic Thanksgiving flavor
• Ketchup: helps to further balance the tomato paste
• Chili powder and cumin: provides an appropriate balance to the sweet coming from this recipe
• Hot sauce: kept the hot sauce tame here because I know that not everyone likes spicy, feel free to adjust as desired
• Orange juice and zest: Adds more freshness and helps to lighten up the entire dish at the end
• Vinegar: provides extra tang along with the orange juice and natural cranberry tang
• Meatless meatballs: I used Gardein’s Meatless Meatballsfor this recipe to make this quick and easy

How to make this dish

1. Place meatballs in the toaster oven to bake according to the package.
2. As meatballs cook, prepare your sauce. In a medium sauce pan, combine cranberry sauce, tomato paste, ketchup, chili powder, cumin, hot sauce, rosemary, vinegar, maple syrup and water.
3. Bring contents of sauce pan to a boil then reduce to a gentle simmer.
4. Carefully add meatballs into the simmering sauce and cook covered for about 20 minutes.
5. At end of cook time, fold in orange juice and zest then serve as desired.

Tips for making these cranberry chili meatballs

• You are absolutely welcome to change the protein source of this recipe. I have tried this recipe with oven baked tofu, vegan sausage bites and falafel with equal success.
• This makes quite a bit of sauce, so this recipe doubles as a condiment. Feel free to double the meatballs if you are serving a larger crowd.
• The sauce, when cooled, can be stored in an airtight container or jar and placed in the fridge for up to 7 days.

More Thanksgiving Sides

• Sweet Potato Casserole Boats (coming soon)
• Sweet Jalapeno Cornbread (coming soon)
• Orange Miso Brussel Sprouts (coming soon)
• Everything Bagel Stuffing

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★ Catherine