What You Should Know About Beyond Meat's New Meatless Meatballs
There are a host of reasons you might have considered giving up eating animal protein. And even though you might feel no regrets over your diet choice, we understand if you're wondering whether you'll ever get to enjoy a proper meatball sub without falling off the plant-based wagon ever again. Beyond Meat has thoughtfully fixed that problem for you with its latest offer: Beyond Meatballs
Beyond Meatballs aren't just bits of Beyond Beef formed into meatballs and presented in a pack of 12 for $6.99 at your favorite grocery store. The plant-based meat manufacturer made the effort to create a unique product, so its latest product is pre-seasoned with a signature blend of Italian spices, pre-rolled and ready to cook, according to a press release. The nutritious meatballs are made from simple, plant-based ingredients with no GMOs, soy, gluten or synthetic ingredients and have 30 percent less saturated fat and sodium.
Fast Company says that in fact, Beyond Meat used its basic beef mixture (made with pea and brown rice protein), added more coconut oil than it normally does to improve mouthfeel, then shaped the balls without the help of bread or eggs. To cook the meatballs, just braise them in a sauce, or crumble them to make a solid pizza topping.
Beyond Meat says there is demand for the meatball product
In terms of nutrition, five Beyond Meatballs adds up 290 calories, of which 21 grams are fat, 9 grams are carbs, and 19 grams are protein. Each serving also comes with 500 milligrams of sodium, 110 milligrams of calcium, and 4.9 milligrams of iron.
"It's funny, because meatballs are bigger than you think," Beyond Meat CMO Stuart Kronauge says, per Fast Company. "This one had a lot of retailer demand before we actually made it. Some of our anchor retailers have been asking us for meatballs for a while. There was built-in demand."
Because demand for plant-based products is at flying at a high — Fast Company says the grocery category grew 145 percent in the past year — you can now find Beyond Meatballs at grocery stores nationwide (via CNBC).