![lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3017 lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3017](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3017.jpg)
This was supposed to be today’s post:
![Processed with VSCOcam Processed with VSCOcam](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/IMG_0769.jpg)
The pie had other plans.
Easy as pie?
I really wanted to be mad when I opened the oven door, but I couldn’t stop laughing. Yesterday, was one of those days and I wasn’t surprised in the least. Why wouldn’t the pie explode?
![piefail-2921 piefail-2921](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/piefail-2921.jpg)
Murphy’s Law – when you forget to put oven liners in a new oven, the sticky pie will erupt like a volcano! Luckily, it came off easily after the sugars cooled. I used the oven scraper tool like a champ. As for the pie dish, I think it will need to soak in acid for 6 years. No big deal.
Obviously, I had to Instagram this pie fail. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that other people love to laugh at fails on the internet. I know I do. Speaking of which, I clicked on the #piefail hashtag and laughed so hard I almost cried. Did you know pumpkin and apple pies can explode? I’m really happy to contribute to the collection. I’ll be checking in with it throughout pie season!
Anyway, tomorrow we leave on a much appreciated getaway and I really didn’t want to end on an epic pie fail, so I was up late last night and at it again all morning and afternoon until I nailed this lentil mushroom ball recipe. Who needs pie when you have this festive dish?
![lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3034 lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3034](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3034.jpg)
![veganlentilballs veganlentilballs](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/veganlentilballs.jpg)
These lentil balls couldn’t be more festive. They are packed with green lentils, cremini mushrooms, toasted walnuts, dried cranberries, rosemary, oregano, thyme, and kale! Oh MY.
![veganlentilballs veganlentilballs](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/veganlentilballs1.jpg)
Oh, and a tablespoon of sherry vinegar takes it over the top on the delicious scale. If you haven’t cooked with sherry vinegar before, I beg you to try some! It goes so well with anything mushroom. BFFs forever.
![lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-2935 lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-2935](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-2935.jpg)
I thought a fresh cranberry + pear sauce would go nicely too. The light sweetness of the sauce is a lovely compliment to the earthiness of the lentil mushroom balls. If cranberry sauce isn’t your thing, I suggest pairing it with my mushroom gravy. I haven’t tried this pairing yet, but I suspect it would be a nice option! Now all we need is a little holiday music pumping from the speakers and some Home Alone on the TV…
![lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3027 lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3027](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3027.jpg)
![Lentil Mushroom Walnut Balls with Cranberry-Pear Sauce](https://ohsheglows.com/gs_images/2013/11/lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegansquare-3017-768x768.jpg)
Lentil Mushroom Walnut Balls with Cranberry-Pear Sauce
![](https://ohsheglows.com/wp-content/plugins/osg-recipes/images/ornament_long_artichoke.png)
Yield
13-14 balls
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
These lentil mushroom balls are festive, filling, and a great vegan protein option for your holiday feast! I paired it with a lightly sweet cranberry-pear sauce, but if you aren't a cranberry fan my vegan gravy would be a nice option too. You can most likely prepare the lentil balls in advance. Just shape the balls and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for no longer than 12-24 hours, bring to room temperature, and then bake as usual (of course, remove plastic wrap first). The cranberry sauce can be made a couple days in advance as well. I don't suggest skipping the sherry vinegar; it really makes this lentil mixture come to life and it pairs so well with the mushrooms. Lastly, it's important to (very) finely chop all the vegetables and walnuts so everything sticks together.
Ingredients
for the lentil balls:
- 1/2 cup uncooked green lentils
- 1 cup walnuts halves, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2 heaping cups finely chopped cremini mushrooms (one 8-oz package)
- 3 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 cup finely chopped destemmed kale leaves
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary (or 1/4 tsp dried)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
- 2 tablespoons ground flax + 3 tablespoons water
- 1/2 cup gluten-free rolled oats, ground into a coarse flour
- 1/2-3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
for the cranberry sauce:
- 2 cups frozen or fresh cranberries
- 1 ripe pear, peeled and finely chopped
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- small pinch fine grain sea salt
Directions
- Add lentils into a medium pot along with 2 and 1/4 cups water. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium. Simmer for about 20 minutes, uncovered, adding more water if the lentils dry out. Once the lentils are fork tender, remove from heat and mash with a potato masher until it's a coarse paste with some lentil pieces still intact. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325°F. Toast the chopped walnuts for 9-12 minutes, until lightly golden and fragrant. After toasting, increase oven temp to 350°F.
- In a very large skillet or wok, add the oil along with the finely chopped mushrooms and garlic. Season with salt. Saute over medium-high heat for about 7-9 minutes, until most of the water cooks off. Now add the kale, toasted walnuts, cranberries, herbs, and sherry vinegar. Stir until combined and continue cooking for another few minutes until the kale is wilted. Remove from heat and stir in the mashed lentils when ready.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the ground flax and water. Stir for 10 seconds and then immediately pour into the skillet mixture. Stir to combine. Now stir in the 1/2 cup oat flour until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste. The mixture should be fairly moist and sticky. If it's way too sticky, add a bit more oat flour. If it's dry, add another tbsp of water.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Shape lentil mixture into balls and pack tightly with your hands so they hold together. Place on baking sheet an inch or so apart. Repeat for the rest. If the mixture is too hot to handle, let it cool for a bit first and then proceed.
- Bake the lentil balls at 350°F for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, gently flip over, and bake for another 11-13 minutes, until golden and firm on the exterior.
- For the sauce: Add the cranberries, pear, and maple syrup into a medium pot. Bring to a low boil over high heat and then reduce heat to medium. Simmer, uncovered, for 10-20 minutes until thickened. Use a potato masher to mash up the pear.
Tip:
- If your mixture seems dry (and this could be the case if the lentils are cooked too long), feel free to add a touch of water to moisten the mixture enough so it adheres.
- To make oat flour, add the rolled oats into a blender and blend on high until a flour forms. Alternatively, you can use 1/2 cup oat flour if you already have some on hand.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)![lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3018 lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3018](/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/lentilwalnutmeatballscranberrysaucevegan-3018.jpg)
I look forward to thawing the leftovers when I return. :)
I’ll see you next time from sunny Arizona! In the meantime, you can follow our adventures (and pie fails) on Instagram, as always.
Enjoy!
I know mushrooms are one of the star players in these, but is there anything I could use in place of the shrooms?
Hi Ang!
Not sure if you keep checking comments, but I wasn’t sure how best to contact you…
Anyways, I was just eating one of your insane-good homemade Rolos and I thought “This is better than a Turtle” (which is my all-time favourite chocolate) – and then I realized, you should totally give us an OhSheGlows-ified version of Turtles for the holidays! Just another little request of you – you know, to work on in your spare time! ;)
Oh my!!! I cannot wait to try these. What a wonderful idea!
The lentil balls look delicious! …and the pie mess looks very depressing :( This is somethine that would definitely happen to me!
[ Smiles ] This is evidence that vegan food is not boring!
Just made the recipe and it is AWESOME! Thanks so much :)
Angela, you are my hero. My sweet baby is having some … digestive issues … and it’s looking like the best thing for her might be for both her and me take some time off from bread-type products for awhile (or at least cut way down, since they are currently featuring starring roles in both of our diets). “What will I EAT?” I whined to myself. And then I came back here, and there were some absolutely PERFECT lentil-walnut-mushroom balls (she loves mushrooms!). Definitely making these tomorrow. THANKS!
These look awesome. This will be my first Vegan Thanksgiving so I’m looking for ideas. I’m allergic to walnuts though – do you think almonds would be a good substitute?
Thanks – Anastasia
Hi Angela :) Have you thought about creating a “recipe box” where we can save our favourite recipes from you that we want to use on a regular basis, for easy access? I’m not sure how time consuming this would be for you; if it is don’t bother of course. I imagine a lot of people have pinterest etc where they might have such functions but for those without it could be handy. Have a nice holiday, cheers.
We use Evernote and clip our favorite recipes, etc.
Yum! These look great. I bet they’d make a great finger food / appetizer at a holiday party!
Oh my goodness, that mess!!! Sorry to say that I laughed a lot. You’re totally right about people enjoying others’ fails. Makes us feel better when we totally goof!!! Your recipes and pictures always look so delicious and gorgeous, so it’s refreshing to see that kitchen experiments go wrong for you too! :-D
The lentil balls look very yummy, as well as the cranberry sauce. :-D
Wow this looks amazing! I’m not a hug fan of lentils but this looks so good, I’ll have to try it.
Also, I’ve done the same thing to my oven too. More than once.
Sooooo I totally made an oops here by not chopping the mushrooms small enough and subbing cabbage for kale, chopping that too large as well. Since I couldn’t form the balls very well, I decided to just add some extra oats and bake as a loaf with a ketchup/apple butter/molasses glaze and OH MY is it wonderful. I’ve made a lentil loaf before, but this definitely trumps. Thanks for the happy accident
Could this be made into a loaf instead of the little balls? I checked out the loaf recipe mentioned in the comments, but really prefer the lentil-walnut-mushroom combination here. It sounds yummy – thanks for sharing!
Hi Amanda, I think it would work in a loaf format – though I haven’t tried it yet so I’m not sure on the timing. I would guess it would need 45-50 minutes or so. Let me know if you try it out!
Great, I’m definitely going to give this a try for our Thanksgiving table! For a 9×5 loaf pan, do you think I might need to increase the recipe (1.5x, 2x) since this was only for about a dozen balls (not sure how big you were making them)? Very excited to try this!
Another great recipe. We loved it. There were no leftovers My husband was amazed by the great mix of flavors.
oooh – I made these last night – SOOOOO good! I had to process them as my boyz will not eat something if they can see the different ingredients (mushroom, nuts, cranberries, kale…) but are fine if they don’t know too much ;-).
We all loved them and I especially loved the sauce with them. Yummm – just finished baking the second half of the batch ( I made a double batch to freeze some) – can’t wait for some leftovers tonight! Thanks so much for sharing your genious. Hope your time away if phenomenal!
Looks yummo! Was going to make your lentil loaf for Thanksgiving, but may make these instead. Curious why you say to keep them in the fridge no more than 24hrs? I would need to make these in advance of the holidays and wondering how far ahead I could make them.
Hey Sam, The time estimate is just a guess – I worried that any longer than a day and they might start to dry out. Let me know how it goes if you try it!
will do – thanks!
Angela! I’ve been racking my brain for ideas to bring to my giant Irish-Catholic Thanksgiving. THIS IS PERFECT. And I have to agree (with the other Hannah!) that your pie explosion looks deeeeelish. :)
The walnut ball recipe (with cranberry-pear sauce…yum) is awesome but I’ve just got to thank you for sharing the pictures of the pie! Glad to know I’m not the only one who screws up in the kitchen now and then. :)
Just finished making these for dinner. They turned out wonderfully! Thanks for the great recipes.