When I first started blogging, I tried making vegetarian meatloaf by adapting a recipe for Chicago Diner’s famous (and delicious!) veggie burgers. It didn’t work out very well, but I had to post about it because it was part of a cooking challenge I was participating in. Somehow, this failed attempt at vegetarian meatloaf became one of my more popular posts with Google.
Because I grew up Catholic and Catholics feel guilty about everything, I couldn’t help but feel horrible about this. I’m not of the opinion that traffic is traffic and I like to know that the people who are coming to my blog from a search engine are actually finding what they need. So I vowed that I would come up with a successful vegetarian meatloaf recipe! One that was made with healthy, natural ingredients. It took a few attempts, but I’ve finally come up with something that I think is pretty darn good.
This recipe is adapted from Give Them Something Better’s vegan sausage recipe, via Thrifty Veggie Mama. (Oh yes, that’s right, this meatloaf is vegan too!) My problem before was trying to make my meatloaves too big–vegetarian meatloaf is better on a smaller scale. So for this recipe, I made them in muffin tins and they turned out perfect. Triumph! Redemption! Victory! (Etcetera.)
A vegetarian (and vegan) meatloaf recipe that uses oats and other natural ingredients. The cayenne gives this recipe a sausage-like kick, but if you'd rather do without the spiciness, feel free to omit it or sub in 1/4 tsp. of black pepper instead.
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 3 1/2 c. water
- 1/4 c. Bragg’s liquid aminos
- 1/4 c. nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp. olive oil
- 2 tbsp. onion powder
- 1 tbsp. maple syrup
- 1 tbsp. dried sage
- 1 tbsp. Italian seasoning
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1/2 tsp. cayenne
- 3 1/2 c. oats
- 1/2 c. prepared pasta or marinara sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 16 muffin tin cups with cooking spray.
- Place all ingredients except oats and sauce in a large saucepan and bring to boil. Add oats and remove from heat. Cool for 5 minutes.
- Divide oatmeal mixture into 16 muffin cups. Top each cup with a spoonful of pasta sauce.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until browned on edges and solid (if you try to lift a loaf out of the tin and it falls apart, it needs to cook longer).
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This sounds awesome. I have also been attempting to make vegetarian meatloaf for years – and failing miserably. I think I was trying to make it too large; I like your idea of making them on a much smaller scale.
Yes! They need to be smaller. When I tried making meatloaf in a loaf pan, it would always end up being overdone on the edges and mushy in the middle, and if I did it in a roasting pan (that’s how my mom always made meatloaf), it would end up being a big, sloppy mess. You’d think meatloaf would be an easy thing to make vegetarian, but I guess not.
ok. am i being unbelievably dense here? am i missing the amount of oatmeal somehow? i mean, i know it’s been a rough week, but am i losing my mind too? *sighs*
oh geeze! never freaking mind. i really AM losing my mind!
Ha! When I saw your comment, I got scared that I left it off.
This sounds good!
You’re awesome! Honestly I had no idea there was even such a thing as vegetarian meatloaf. Looks delicious! And it tastes like meatloaf?
It really does (although since I based it on a sausage recipe, it’s a little spicier than regular meatloaf, but I like it that way) and the texture comes very close to meatloaf too. If you want to make recipes that taste SUPER close to the real thing, there are lots of meat subs on the market that can help you do that, but I don’t like using them because I try to stay away from processed foods (and they’re expensive!). So I guess what I’m saying is that this tastes as close to meatloaf as you can get using oatmeal.
Haha, too funny, I have the whole Catholic guilt I am always struggling with
I really do feel guilty over everything. I even feel guilty over things that other people do. And over things that I didn’t do. I’m just a big ol’ bag of guilt.
Yummy! I like the idea of using mini muffin tins!
The muffin tins are totally essential–if you don’t use them, the center won’t cook through! I learned this through many trials and experiments.
they’re baked savory oats! that’s great! i usually use vital wheat gluten to make seitan for these type of faux meat dishes but the oatmeal is definitely a nice substitution. i’ll definitely try!
Let me know what you think! I’m very picky when it comes to faux meat, so I really liked these because they have a nice savory flavor, but not in a “trying to taste like beef” way. Because I don’t like that!
Does the oatmeal have to be cooked first?
Nope, it cooks when you stir it into the hot liquid mixture.
Hey I have some textured vegetable protein that I would like to use up. Do you think I could substitute it for the oats or would the meatloaf end up too watery?
I’m not sure–I’ve actually never cooked with TVP because I don’t like it, so I don’t know how it would work in this recipe. The oatmeal kind of acts as a binder in addition to being the main ingredient here, so I think I would maybe try replacing half the oatmeal with TVP. If you make it, let me know how it turns out!
This looks like an amazing recipe and I am really looking forward to trying it. I was wondering if the recipe calls for slow-cooking or fast-cooking oats.
I use old-fashioned oats, not the quick cooking ones. But I think the quick cooking ones would still work if that’s what you have on hand.
Perfect! Thank you so much for your quick reply! I`ll let you know how it goes!
I made these a few weeks ago (topped with BBQ sauce) and they were a big hit with the hubby. Enough so that they’ll be his Valentine’s Day dinner too. Thanks for a great recipe (and a great alternative to TVP or other meat substitutes).
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! I love the idea of topping them with BBQ sauce–I’m going to have to try that next time.
I literally just made them right now and they were AMAZING!!! I’ve made lentil loaf before but barely ate a piece and left it sitting in the fridge for a month. You’re genius!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Although I love lentil loaf too.