Baked Greek Lentil Meatballs with tzatziki - the perfect vegetarian dinner recipe. These meatballs are full of fresh greek flavors. This is a recipe that is great to make for omnivores or veggie skeptics, my boyfriend is not vegan or vegetarian and loves this recipe.
I love cooking with lentils. For another delicious lentil recipe try my lentil burrito bowl with chipotle sauce or my asian lentil salad.
Why you'll love this recipe
It is easy to make.
These meatballs are the perfect vegetarian dinner recipe.
It is full of greek flavors.
The recipe is vegetarian, and can be made gluten free.
Instructions
Blend together meatball ingredients.
Form meatballs and bake.
Serve meatballs with tzatziki and sides of choice.
Ingredients
- brown lentils
- red onion
- bread crumbs
- mint
- parsley
- tomato paste
- egg
- salt
- pepper
- paprika
- oregano
- soy sauce
- lemon
- yogurt
- cucumber
- lemon
- garlic
Storage instructions
The pasta can be stored in a sealed container in your fridge for up to 2 days.
Equipment
You just need a sheet pan and a food processor for this recipe.
Recipe FAQS
What food processor do I use?
I love my cuisinart food processor, I have had it for years and it is a staple item for me.
Substitutions
- mint and parsley - can be subbed with your favorite herbs, dill or basil would work well
- egg - I think a flax egg would work here but I am not sure
- brown lentils - you can use green or black lentils. Red or yellow lentils will be too mushy.
Other vegetarian recipes to try
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Baked Greek Lentil Meatballs with tzatziki
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 ½ cups cooked brown lentils can use canned
- ½ red onion - finely chopped
- ¾ cup bread crumbs gluten free if needed
- ¼ cup fresh chopped mint
- ¼ cup fresh chopped parsley
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 egg
- ½-1 teaspoon salt
- black pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- juice from ½ lemon
Tzatziki
- ½ cup yogurt
- ¼ cup shredded cucumber
- juice from ½ lemon
- pinch salt
- pinch black pepper
- 1 garlic clove - minced
- ¼ cup fresh chopped dill
- +other optional sides of veggies of choice and cooked grain of choice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Add all meatball ingredients to a food processor. Partially blend until combined but not pureed, you want to leave a little texture.
- Roll out meatballs onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake meatballs for 30-35 minutes.
- While meatballs are cooking, mix together your tzatziki.
- Serve meatballs with sauce and sides of choice.
Linnea
Can use yellow or red lentils (or any other lentis) Instead of brown lentils?
Kristi
Hi Linnea, you can use green or black lentils. Yellow/red will be too mushy for this recipe.
Kaia
I realllyyyyyy enjoyed this recipe! I’ve never made lentil meatballs and was nervous that they would be a bit dry but that was not the case! they were so flavorful and moist and yummy! definitely adding this to my weekly rotation as it’s so easy and light and makes good leftovers for lunches 🙂
Kristi
Thanks so much Kaia!
Prang
These lentils meatballs become my new obsession! They're easy to make and taste so good. The texture is pretty close to the actual meatballs. I used fresh herbs I have on hands and despite not adding the breadcrumbs they still hold the shape really well. Thanks for this recipe!
Kristi
Thank you prang!!
Sophia Daskalakis
Well they are NOT gluten free if they have bread crumbs.
Kristi
You can use gluten free breadcrumbs
Carolyn
Oh, my gosh! These were delish!
I used parsley and mint from my garden and some previously cooked and frozen lentils from my freezer stash.
I airfried them at 390F. They were ready in about 30 mins, but next time I will make them smaller and more dip-sized 😉
I will make these again soon. Yum!
Kristi
Thank you Carolyn! I'm so happy you liked them.
Mirjam
Today I had these lentil meatballs for lunch, with a cucumber and tomato salad, and they were delicious! For dure, I'll make these again
Kristi
Thank you Mirjam!
Andi
Can I just leave out the egg( can’t eat eggs) or do I need to substitute something for it?
Kristi
you can use a flax egg!
Elyssa
Made these for dinner tonight and they were super delicious! The addition of fresh herbs really took these over the top! My only change in the future would be to halve the tomato paste and only use 1 tablespoon.
Jasmine
Can I use 1 flax egg to make this vegan? Thanks in advance.
Kristi
yes I believe so
James
Dearest Jasmine, I'm from New York city. I never heard of flax egg.