Which is the best plant-based meatball? What a tasty question to explore
Impossible Foods enters the meatball market with a savory product that couldn't be easier to cook.
- 5G Technician, ETA International
At the intersection of nutrition and fun lies the meatball, a whimsical orb that can also anchor the center of a plate. Impossible Food's first meatball wades into an area that turns as much on culinary faith as it does on nutrition.
Impossible's new plant-based meatball launches in a highly flavored Homestyle variety. Where rival Beyond Meat's Italian meatball tastes quite a bit like its base meat, Impossible goes all in with flavors of garlic, oregano, onion, black pepper and mellow umami. The texture is that of finely ground meat mixed with seasoned bread crumbs, perhaps due to being a blend of their existing burger and sausage meat. Beyond's meatball is a bit coarser and chewier, coming off more like an all-meat meatball.
Let the religious war begin: Few food opinions hew so closely to family tradition as this one.
The Impossible Food's meatball (left) has a finer "grind" than Beyond Meat's version (right).
Impossible meatballs go straight from the freezer to the oven for about 15 minutes, making them simple to prepare. Alternate cooking methods include simmering them in hot sauce, heating in the microwave or using an air fryer, but skillet frying is not on the list. (I've already demonstrated that diverging from Impossible's cooking directions can sometimes yield great results.)
Impossible's meatball is a blend of their plant-based burger and sausage meat, a mix that seems visible when you cut into one.
For a final taste test I gave Impossible meatballs nowhere to hide, tossing them into a simple spaghetti aglio olio with fresh parsley and chili flakes. Their highly seasoned flavor keynoted the dish, aided by the fact that I mixed in the tasty grime from the baking pan, which is essentially soybean oil and browned bits of meatball.
Impossible meatballs have 12 grams of protein in a three meatball serving, with the absence of cholesterol that's a hallmark of plant-based meats. Impossible claims its product requires 75% less land, 85% less water and creates 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to animal meatballs, but most of us still rank taste, texture, price and perceived health advantages above benefits to the environment or animals. Impossible Meatballs are launching at some 3,000 Walmart stores in a new frozen section dedicated to plant-based foods, priced at $6.48 for a bag of 14 1-ounce meatballs.
