I was never a meatball sandwich kind of gal—something about eating balls of meat that didn’t quite appeal to me. The men of my household, on the other hand, seem to gravitate toward these kinds of cancer-licious subs (or at least, they used to). Here we are coming up on a year of veganism and this is the first time I’ve made “meatball” sandwiches. I’ve made seitan meatballs before, which are pretty damn good, but this time, I needed something quick, so I went with Nate’s Zesty Italian Meatless Meatballs. Of course, I forgot how much I paid for them since I bought them (frozen) last week, but I’m pretty sure they were under $4 for 12 oz.

So here’s what I did:

Opened a jar of marinara sauce, poured it in a pan and then dumped the meat-free balls in.

Let simmer about 10-15 minutes. Toast some French rolls for a couple of minutes under the broiler and bada-bing, you’re done.I recommend using your absolute favorite marinara and/or adding some spices because the “zesty Italian” I was expecting wasn’t all that zesty. They needed some kick–not that flavorful. With that said . . . they were very “meat-like”, but without the grossness of real meat. 🙂 The consistency was much like beef and they certainly didn’t have a weird “fake” taste. Quite satisfying.

I sliced them in half using tongs and a serrated knife–you can try doing this while they are frozen. They stack better in the bread if sliced.

Layer on some vegan mozzarella on the rolls, then some sliced “meat” balls and then some more cheeze—that easy.