Beyond Meat Meatballs started rolling out in Whole Foods, Stop & Shop, Sprouts, Harris Teeter, Kroger, Albertsons, and other stores in September/October 2020. The plant-based vegan meatballs can be found near the fresh meat section of a grocery store (so not in the natural product section usually). Let’s check out how they fare among this plant-based dietitian where you can find reviews for many of your favorite vegan products and also reviews of products you may be interested in, like these Beyond Meat meatballs.
Taste Experience
Beyond Meatballs are in a small, pre-formed meatball shape that can be sautéed in a sauce or baked. We tried both options and here’s what we found…
Beyond Meat vegan meatballs offer the juicy flavor of traditional Italian-style meatballs but without any animal products. They are high in protein (more on that later), but we loved the convenient ready to cook meatballs. They are just flavorful enough to pair with a light sauce or pair with your favorite red sauce. The baked cooking method was our personal favorite as they were a bit crisp on the outside and ‘beyond’ flavorful and juicy on the inside. The zing of Italian spices like basil and fennel are familiar and make these meatballs a favorite for any family. We did find them to be a bit a on bigger side for our palate and dishes we served with it. For example, the meatballs had to be chopped into smaller pieces with bites of the pasta as they were too big to put in your mouth. This is great if you are someone who loves a bigger, heartier meatball.
Beyond Meat Meatballs need to be refrigerated like traditional meat products and are best used within 10 days of being refrigerated or you can freeze and use within a couple of months – Beyond Meat provides a best buy date printed on the label if bought frozen for your convenience. Also, the Beyond Meat Meatballs do not contain tree nuts but do contain peas if you are allergic to legumes but I promise, you can’t taste the peas at all with all the Italian flavor.
Check out Beyond Meat Italian Style Meatballs HERE.
Nutrition
Nutritionally, the Beyond Meat Meatballs have 290 calories per serving, which is 5 meatballs. In that serving, there is quite a bit of fat (which is why they are so deliciously juicy) with a total of 21 grams of fat but only 2 grams of saturated fat and no trans fat (so all that is great for your health!) And of course because Beyond Meat Meatballs are 100% plant-based, there is not any cholesterol.
When it comes to sodium though, there is 500mg of sodium per serving. This may sound like a good but, but according to Beyond Meat, their meatballs have 30% less saturated fat and sodium than leading meatballs. Likewise, their meatballs are soy-free and gluten-free.
Relatively low in carbohydrates, compared to other plant-based meatballs that are grain based, there are only 9 grams of total carbohydrate with 3 grams of fiber per serving.
The best part is that there are 19 grams of 100% plant-based vegan protein in the 5 meatball serving and because they use peas primarily, peas contain a great deal of iron and each serving contains 25% of your iron needs for the day – and if you pair the meatballs with a red sauce, you’ll absorb even more of this non-heme, plant-based iron. Check out Beyond Meat Italian Meatballs HERE to help meet your plant-based protein needs deliciously.
Parting Thoughts
Beyond Meat continues to create family favorite products that taste amazing and are high in protein but without doing any harm to animals or having to eat animal based products. The meatballs are easy to store and bake or sauté, making them a solid choice for those weekday meals when you’re starving and scrambling to put dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes. Beyond Meat Italian Style Meatballs are great to keep on hand in your freezer and can be found HERE. And you will definitely want to stock up once you taste these gems and see how filling they are with less sodium/fat than traditional meatballs but all the plant-based protein to keep you going.