Trying to eat “warmer” foods on a raw diet while maintaining raw preparation can be difficult, unless you have a dehydrator. Dehydrators help to keep living foods alive, provided you don’t exceed the 115º Fahrenheit temperature. Usually, dehydrating food can take some time, but this recipe doesn’t require as much time as it takes to make chips or dehydrated fruit. This recipe only requires four hours in the dehydrator, which is great!
These raw meatballs exhibit less of an Italian flavor profile than you would expect from a traditional meatball. Instead, the flavor is a little sweeter and more akin to Swedish meatballs, minus the overly sweet glaze that comes with them. If you prefer a more savory flavor, omit the dates in the recipe. The rest of the ingredients have notably intense and briny, cheesy, and aromatic flavors.
One thing to keep in mind is that you want to thoroughly blend the ingredients, but not so much so that it turns to a paste. Everything should stick together very well, which will help the raw meatballs stay together during the dehydration process. Lastly, these meatballs will work with myriad zoodle recipes. We find that they go great with a creamy avocado sauce (click here for recipe), but a raw marinara sauce (click here for recipe) is quite nice as well. If you are a pesto lover and can’t get enough of it, click here to make a raw vegan pesto to go with your meatballs.
- Prep Time:15m
- Cook Time:4h
- Total Time:4h 15m
- Serves: 6 servings
- Category: Full Body Cleanse Approved, Dehydrated, Entrees, Raw, Vegan, Vegetarian, Gluten-Free
Ingredients
- 1 c mushrooms, chopped
- 1/2 c raw sunflower seeds
- 3 Medjool dates, pitted
- 2 sun-dried tomatoes (not in oil)
- 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp. coconut aminos
- 1 tbsp. raw apple cider vinegar
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tsp. cumin
- 1 tsp. dried rosemary
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and pulse until everything sticks together. You may need to stop blending, scrape down the sides of the processor, and continue blending to incorporate all of the ingredients.
- Using your hands, roll the mixture into 10 balls, each about a tablespoon in size.
- Place the balls on a dehydrator sheet lined with parchment paper and place in the dehydrator at 115º F for two hours. Remove from the dehydrator, flip the meatballs over, and dehydrate for another two hours.
- Remove from the dehydrator and serve on their own or with zoodles and one of the sauces we mentioned in the recipe description.
