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 1x
- 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
Falafel Recipe
- 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
Falafel bowls (makes 4 hearty bowls)
- 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
For me, the falafel is one of the best I have ever had. I love Lebanese and Mediterranean foods, and falafels are up there on the list. Since the recipe made over 20 (for me), I shared some with a Greek friend. He was impressed, especially on my first go. I had to make a few tweaks to accommodate the items I had on hand. I used parsley instead of cilantro and added a scant 1/8 cup of mint. The mint added such a nice flavor. I also prepared the falafel using both methods of cooking to check it out. The pan-fried method was a bit better, but not by much. So, air-fryer it is. I now have a stash of frozen falafels ready and waiting!
Awesome Terry! Glad you enjoyed these. Mint sound amazing, and I guess I need an air fryer. 🙂
Hi Sylvia,
I love all your recipes and this was no exception. I did have some trouble shaping the patties – they seemed too wet. So next time I will dry in the oven. I fried a few because I couldn’t believe baked ones could be good (they were!) the fried ones were hard to flip and ended up more like scrambled falafel but it was still delicious! Excited to have some left for future use. Thanks!
Thanks Maggie! If you fry them next time, try compressing them together in your hands!
Hey, I’m still confused, but about something else. In the ingredients, it says, “3/4 cup dried chickpeas (yields 2 cups, soaked). “ But in the body of the recipe, under number 3, you say to add FOUR cups of soaked chickpeas (garbanzo beans). So should I soak 1.5 cups of dried chick peas, or add just TWO cups of soaked beans to the food processor?
Hi Mary, sorry, it was a typo. You need 2 cups soaked chickpeas, which is about 3/4 cup dry. I think it’s fixed now. 🙂
With regard to the coriander and cumin, whole or ground? In makes a difference in terms of the actual amount of spice in the dish.
Thanks!
Hey Mary, I used ground pieces here, and noted the recipe. 🙂
Good to know since it wasn’t clear to me in the ingredient list. Anxious to make this!!!
I saw that- thanks for pointing it out. I made it more clear now.
Could I make them in an air fryer ?
Did you tried it ?
(By the way, I had this air fryer as a Christmas gift, don’t know what to do with it except French fries! If you were to offer a couple recipes, I am sure people like me would love it!)
I think you could, yes!
Amazing! I doubled the falafel recipe so there would lots in the freezer for future meals. The baked falafels are much less effort than having to stand around over hot oil and frying them in batches. Thank you for this!
So happy these worked for you, Lauren. So nice to have some in the freezer!
This recipe worked beautifully! I made them a week in advance, froze and reheated following your instructions.
Right before guests arrived I decided to also make the zhoug. So glad I did! It was easy to make quickly and gave an excellent flavor blast to the bowls.
Will definitely make this meal again.
Perfect Gina-Great to hear! The Zhoug is a flavor bomb- glad you enjoyed it!
Made this for lunch . Loved it . I used roasted eggplant for veggies . It was absolutely yummy . Didn’t use any grains since I had Falafel . It was very filling and satisfying . .
Great to hear and thanks so much Rohini! I love the addition of roasted eggplant- sounds delicious!
First time baking falafels and it was a success! We love falafels but I always kinda dreaded making them bc I hate pan frying things which always smoke up our kitchen. It was surprisingly easy to flip which I typically had troubles with. Served it with a variety of roasted veggies, picked onions and tahini dressing from scratch. Lovely dinner!
Great to hear Bowie- thanks!
I made these last night. Rather than make them smaller, I made them burger size. I followed your instructions and used a small salad spinner to make sure the beans were dry. I used three 15 ounce cans of organic garbanzo beans to have 4 cups of beans as per the recipe. The recipe is pretty easy. The burgers held together well until I tried to flip them—I should have made each a little smaller—but even then they were in just two halves and not falling apart. I made both the green tahini sauce and the Tzatziki sauce and made couscous Moroccan style (all three recipes from your website). My husband said “Love this, this is a keeper!” I asked which he was referring to and he said all of it. I asked which sauce he preferred and he said both. This is high praise as my husband is a very good cook! Thank you Sylvia!
Hey Pam- glad they worked ok! I have never had good luck with using canned chickpeas, and always use dry, soaked chickpeas (traditional). Did you have to add anything like breadcrumbs or flour to get them to hold together?
This recipe is a Grand Slam! Soooo good. Like deep in my belly I could not wait to eat the leftovers. <3 It's the whole thing, the falafel, the tahini dressing, the quinoa…I put it with spinach, radish and carrot because that's what I had.
Also, I am also most definitely incorporating this into meals I freeze ahead for camping trips. yeessssss. Thank you!
Awesome Jenifer!So happy you enjoyed!
Yummy! My bowl consisted of spinach, shredded iceberg, little colorful tomatoes/sliced, grated carrots, sprouts and picked red onion. Drizzled w/your everyday tahini sauce as the dressing.
Oh, and quinoa!
I was super happy with these! Paired with every day quinoa and all the toppings I could muster.
Mixed up yogurt, garlic salt and fresh dill to drizzle on. So wonderful!
Used a blender (Ninja BL621) because we don’t have a food processor and it worked out pretty well. Falafels were great – and I didn’t have an issue with them being too dry!
Made this recipe with canned chickpeas. The falafal was a little dry but so flavorful. Added the everyday quinoa which was delicious, the pickled onions, and the tzatziki sauce recipe. Threw in fresh spinach. I was surprised as to how good it was. All the flavors complemented eachother beautifully. Will definitely make again!
Awesome- Glad it turned out with the canned chickpeas. 🙂
I cheated and used canned beans. They still tasted amazing! Full of flavor, but not too spicy. Perfect with tatziki sauce.
I enjoyed this. Falafel was a bit dry without a lot of sauce. Would definitely make again
I just made this for dinner and it was delicious!!! It will go on my regular roster. I was worried when making the falafels because they were hard to shape (as described in a previous post) even after adding a couple tablespoons of flour. But once baked, they became solid and did not break apart even when flipping them over. In hindsight, maybe I didn’t need to add the flour after all. Being baked, they were drier than a fried version but that’s the cost for making them healthier. They were so tasty, it totally compensated! The quinoa recipe is simple but such a nice complement. I sprinkled a bit of sumac on top of the whole bowl for an added “lemony” taste. YUM!!!! So glad I found this blog. Going to try a lot more recipes!
Thanks for the comment – I appreciate you sharing your adaptions!
Made these falafels this evening. Substituted lentils (because I had them) and added a bit of parsley. They were fantastic, and even my “I hate all things new and/or unfamiliar” 7 year old son loved them. I love that they’re baked rather than fried.
Awww, thanks Jaeden! Glad you enjoyed and your liked son liked them too!
How wholesome the bowl is! Thanks for motivating me to make this recipes again after a long postponed period xD So delicious!
– Natalie
Excellent, excellent flavor. We used cayenne to substitute for the missing jalapeno as well as using the dried garbanzos from your web site store. My husband is a falafel nut and he loved this recipe. I served it with a cucumber, tahini, lemon, garlic sauce that I mixed up in my mini oscar. The food processor does an easy job of making this come together quickly. Thank you Sylvia…..
ah hear,this looks amazing.
Cannot wait to make this,Ive been soaking the ol’ chickpeas all night.
let you know how I get on.
Thanks
ah dear,this is sublime…thanks so much.
Looking forward to making this.
What did I do wrong!? My falafels did not stick together at ALL. It was very wet but also fell apart so easily – I couldn’t get them to form into any kind of shape. Followed the directions, but I did have some water in the mix – I thought I had drained the chickpeas well but maybe not? Or perhaps too much texture in the mix? I was so looking forward to this. 🙁
I’m so sorry. You need to drain the chickpeas really really well. You used soaked chickpeas, not canned?
I did! Soaked them overnight, but wondering if I didn’t drain them well enough. I will try again, these look so yummy!!!
I added notes in the recipe to drain extra well. I hope this helps Lucy! Please let me know if you try them again. 🙂
This looks so fresh and delicious. What a great idea to meal prep these!