This Falafel Bowl is full of so much goodness! Made with baked falafels, your choice of grain, lots of healthy veggies, olives, herbs and drizzled with tahini sauce. Prep the falafels ahead for the busy workweek. Vegan and Gluten-free!
Hey friends, if you’ve been here a while, you’ll know how much I love falafels! My Egyptian father made them often when I was growing up, and to me they are comfort food! Lately, I’ve been “meal-prepping” falafels, then storing them in the fridge (or freezer) for quick midweek Falafel Bowls.
Packed full of protein and loaded up with fresh healthy veggies, these Falafel Bowls truly satisfy! It’s the little things, right? 😉
Ingredients Falafel Bowl
- Falafels: Use homemade baked falafels with soaked raw chickpeas, or purchase store-bought.
- Whole grains: your choice of whole grain like basmati rice, freekeh, bulgar wheat or quinoa (or use cauliflower rice for a grain-free option!)
- Greens – use fresh spinach, arugula, chopped romaine or spring greens, and/ or microgreens
- Tomatoes- fresh chopped tomatoes, or use cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes
- Cucumbers-fresh chopped cucumbers, like Turkish cucumbers, Persian cucumbers or English Cucubers
- Optional additions: olives, grated carrots, cilantro, parsley, avocado, Pickled Turnips or Quick Pickled Onions.
- Optional Sauces: Tahini Sauce, Tzatziki Sauce or Hummus or just use olive oil, lemon and salt.
How to make Falafel Bowls
Step 1: Make the falafels. Using soaked chickpeas, pulse falafel ingredients in a food processor.
Form the falafel mixture into balls and bake them, spray with spray olive oil and bake! Baking falafels requires less oil than frying.
Flip them halfway through to get this nice crust.
Step 2: Prep the bowls!
Prep any grains and veggies that you like ( you can do this ahead for the week). Cut veggies, and cook grains.
Step 3: Make a sauce: I usually make our Tahini Sauce or this Tzatziki. Hummus works too!
Step 4: Assemble the Bowls!
Add grains and greens to the base of the bowl, top with veggies and warm falafels and drizzle with tahini sauce. A drizzle of oil and lemon is nice too!
(FYI: The pink-looking things in front of the Falafel bowl above are pickled turnips. I add a sliver of fresh beet to the pickling liquid to give them their pretty color. To make these, go back to my original falafel post and scroll down to the recipe. A fun thing to do with all those salad turnips in your CSA box.)
How to Freeze & Store Falafels
- Bake the falafels, then let cool completely.
- Place on a flat surface (like a sheet pan) and freeze.
- Once frozen, place in a ziplock bag after they are frozen.
- These will keep up to 6 months.
How to reheat Falafels
I don’t have a microwave, so I put the frozen falafels on a baking dish and cover with foil and heat them in our toaster oven, opening up the foil for the last five minutes to let them crisp.
More recipes you may like:
- How to make Authentic Falafel
- Perfect Basmati Rice
- How to make the Best Quinoa!
- Green Tahini Sauce
- How to Make Tahini Sauce
- Authentic Zhoug Sauce Recipe
Falafel Bowl
- Prep Time: 10 hours
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 10 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 bowls
- Category: Vegan Main, Gluten free, Bowls
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
- Diet: Vegan
Description
These Falafel Bowls are made with your choice of grain, lots of healthy veggies and drizzled with tahini sauce– the falafels can be prepped ahead for the busy workweek. Vegan and Gluten-free! USE dry chickpeas, soaked in water for 8-12 hours or overnight. DO NOT use canned chickpeas.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dry chickpeas (yields 2 cups soaked), soaked in water until plump- 8-24 hours (do not use cooked or canned chickpeas-please trust me!)
- 1 cup cilantro (stems ok) or sub-Italian parsley
- 1/2 cup white or yellow onion, rough chopped
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 1/2 a jalapeno, seeds ok (add the entire thing if you want a little kick)
- 1 tablespoon Coriander
- 1 tablespoon Cumin
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt (add more to taste, I use 3/4 teaspoon)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- spray oil for baking
- 3 cups cooked grain: basmati rice, quinoa, farro, Freekeh, etc.
- 2 cups diced tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes
- 4 cups greens - baby arugula, baby spinach or kale, etc...
- 2 cups sliced cucumbers
- other optional additions: avocado, grated carrot, grated beets, or sliced radishes, micro greens or fresh herbs like cilantro or flat-leaf parsley, Pickled Onions or Pickled Turnips (something pickled or fermented is nice, even kraut)
- Sauce: Tahini Dressing
Instructions
- Place dry chickpeas in a big bowl and cover with 4-5 inches of water and let soak on the counter 10 – 24 hours. Drain, and pat them dry well. (You can dry them further on a sheet pan, in the preheating oven.)
- Preheat the oven to 375F (or pan-sear)
- Place the cilantro, onion, jalapeño and garlic in a food processor and pulse repeatedly until uniformly chopped. Add the drained garbanzo beans, oil, cumin, coriander, salt and sprinkle the baking soda. Blend again, until well combined, but not smooth– leaving a little texture is good here. Scrape down sides if necessary, mix again, to evenly distribute the spices,and baking soda. Add more salt if you like.
- Bake: Grease the bottom of a parchment-lined baking sheet with spray olive oil, or brush with olive oil. Form falafels into ping-pong or golfball-sized balls (a slight oval shape is nice). If it feels sticky, use wet hands. Place on the greased parchment. Once all the balls are formed, using wet palms, flatten just a little, so they are about a 1 -1 ½ inches thick. Spray or brush the tops with olive oil. Bake 15 minutes, then carefully flip using a metal spatula. Continue baking for another 12-15 minutes until golden and slightly crispy. (Alternatively, you can pan sear: form into flattened disks, 2-3 inches wide, by 1 1/2 inches thick, pressing together, firmly with your palms, and place in a well-oiled skillet over medium heat. Cast iron or non-stick works best here. Sear each side until deeply golden, adding more oil as needed. Keep warm in the oven.)
- While they are baking, make the Quinoa and Tahini Sauce and prep any veggies you like.
- Assemble the bowls. I usually start with quinoa, then build upward with greens, veggies, falafels, sauces, pickled things and microgreens and herbs on the top. If packing to take away with you, perhaps keep sauces separate.
- A drizzle of olive, lemon and hot sauce is nice too.
Notes
I recommend doubling this recipe.
***Do not use canned or cooked chickpeas here- it just will not work here! Chickpeas must be raw, dry chickpeas soaked in water until plump, but uncooked!
Make doubly sure the soaked chic peas are drained really well before blending. If they are too wet, they may not stick together. Use only 4 cups.
To freeze falafels, carefully place cooled falafels on a sheet pan in a single layer, and freeze. Then store the frozen falafels in a ziplock bag.
Reheat falafels in a microwave or toaster oven. I usually wrap in foil for the first 10-15 minutes in the oven, then open the foil to let them crisp up a bit.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 falafels with quinoa, veggies and tahini sauce
- Calories: 469
- Sugar: 7.3 g
- Sodium: 672 mg
- Fat: 17.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 63.9 g
- Fiber: 12.1 g
- Protein: 19.3 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
So good made these yesterday along with a quinoa tabouleh. I have left over masa ypu think i can put these in a waffle iron?
Sounds fun, I would just make sure it is well oiled? Do you mean the falafel mix?
Wow! This falafel recipe is tasty! I am fine tuning the seasoning with our farm’s abundance of onion, garlic, cilantro, parsley and dill for not just our own eating pleasure but also to sell at the market as a savory option alongside our son’s cookies and muffins. This recipe is only the second we have used that produced an authentic falafel since we got hooked on an 1999 NPR recipe shared by its maker, an NYC falafel cart vendor named Tommy Tsatsaronis.
His was fried, and since we are now completely WFPB, we avoid frying.
Your step of drying the soaked beans is key as it prevents the flaw of so many falafel recipes that cause them to fall apart. I did that in the dehydrator while processing the herbs and alliums. The double batch was a bit much so next time will just do several single batches, or at most, 1.5 times. Thank you for your work!
So lovely to hear this Maryanne!
These falafels are perfect! They will be on my go to list!
Thanks for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed Swati!
Wonderful! Used farro as my grain as that’s what I had on hand. My husband loved it! He asked if we could have it again soon.
High praise! The falafel, btw, came together easily and baked perfectly in the time specified.
Great to hear this Mary!
This was so delicious I couldn’t believe how healthy it is! My partner and I didn’t have any leftovers! Next time I will double the amount of falafel for sure!
Nice Amanda, so happy you enjoyed!
Hi Sylvia- not sure what I did wrong but mine were incredibly dry- just shaping them into the balls was a struggle – and once in the over they just totally crumbled. Any suggestions as I’ve always loved your recipes and have never had a problem before.
Thanks
Oh shoot. Sorry about that. Did you use a food processor? Add the oil? Soak long enough? Blend enough? So many variables… you also need to compress when shaping.
This was very good. I took your suggestion and dried the chick peas in the oven as it pre-heated. The mixture came out perfectly and the patties were easy to deal with. The pickled onions added another dimension and were a great addition. Next time I may try your green tahini sauce just to mix things up a bit. Fun!
Grea to hear, so happy you enjoyed this!