What is falafel?
You may be wondering… what is falafel? Falafel is a flavorful mixture of chickpeas (or fava beans) fresh herbs, chilies, spices, onion and garlic, that are shaped into little balls and fried. Falafel is typically served pita sandwich along with tahini sauce, tzatziki, tomatoes, cucumbers and pickled turnips. They are also often served as part of a mezze platter. *Traditional falafel is made with dried chickpeas (or dry fava beans) that have been soaked in water overnight. This is what gives falafel its unique texture.
How to make Falafel! | 60-sec video
Falafel Ingredients
- Dry chickpeas (not canned) – Authentic falafel is made with dry chickpeas that have been soaked but not cooked. Using cooked or canned chickpeas will result in mushy falafel- with no texture.
- Cilantro (or parsley)- Falfels have a greenish hue to them because they are loaded with herbs!
- Onion and garlic- both add great flavor and depth!
- Green Chili Pepper (jalapeno peppers, serrano, or sub cayenne) add fresh “heat”. Feel free to go light or make them more spicy.
- Spices: Coriander, coriander and salt.
- Baking soda
- Olive oil
How to make Falafel (Step-by-step Instructions)
STEP ONE: Soak dry chickpeas overnight in a bowl of ample cold water for 10-24 hours, until they more than double in size. Drain them well, and pat dry. I often just spread them out on a sheet pan and let dry completely.
STEP TWO: Place the chickpeas and the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse repeatedly (do not blend), pulse -pulse- pulse, scrape down sides, and pulse again, until combined, but not overly smooth. Don’t over blend- you want to be granular, not smooth like hummus… and should look something like this below. You must pulse, scrape sides, and repeat a few times to achieve this.
STEP FOUR: Cook the falafel. Heat a skillet, with high-heat oil, over medium heat. Without crowding, carefully place falafels in the warm skillet, pressing down to flatten slightly. TIP: Do not move them or fuss with them; just let them develop a crust. Letting them develop a golden crust, will allow them to naturally release themselves from the pan. This goes for almost anything you are searing or frying.
See recipe notes for BAKING the Falafels or air frying them!
How to Make a Falafel Sandwich!
How to Make a Falafel Salad
The Best Falafel Recipe
- Prep Time: 12 hours
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 12 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 10-12 1x
- Category: vegan, main, gluten-free
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
- Diet: Vegan
Description
How to make the best authentic Falafel from scratch using soaked chickpeas (not canned) with Homemade Pita, Creamy Tahini Sauce, Pickled Turnips, and Cucumber Yogurt Sauce *Chickpeas need 10-24 hours of soaking time. I recommend making a double batch. See notes for an air-fryer or baked falafels.
Ingredients
Falafel Recipe
- 3/4 cup dry chickpeas (yields 2 cups soaked), soaked 10-24 hours
- 1 cup cilantro, packed (stems ok) or sub-Italian parsley
- 1/2 cup white or yellow onion, rough chopped
- 3 large garlic cloves
- 1/2 of a jalapeno, seeds ok (add the entire thing if you want a little kick)
- 1 tablespoon ground Coriander
- 1 tablespoon ground Cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2– 3/4 teaspoons kosher salt (add more to taste)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- high heat oil for frying, or spray oil for baking
Instructions
- Soak: Cover the dry chickpeas in a bowl of ample cold water on the counter for 10-12 hours or up to 24 hours in the fridge. They will swell into 2 cups. Place in a strainer, drain well, pat dry with a towel for extra dryness. (Wet chickpeas will be more difficult to fry.)
- Blend: Place onion, garlic, cilantro, and jalapeno in the food processor and pulse 10 times until chopped. Add the 2 cups of the soaked, raw chickpeas, salt, spices, and baking soda, pulse again 10 times, scrape down sides, then add the olive oil, and process 10 seconds, until it is well blended but still coarse like sand. Don’t overwork it- this should not be smooth but coarse and granular for the best texure. Place the falafel dough in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 400F.
- Form: Using damp hands, form round, golf ball-sized balls in your hands, compressing them tightly, slightly flattening them. The dough will feel damp, and this is OK- the compression with your palms will help bind them. If they feel incredibly wet, feel free to lightly dredge in flour if you absolutely must- but I don’t even when wet.
- Pan sear: In a non-stick pan or well-seasoned cast iron skillet, heat a ¼ inch of “high-heat” oil on med-high heat until it sizzles when a pea-sized portion of falafel is dropped in. Turn heat to medium. Place them carefully in the hot oil, (they are fragile but should hold together just fine) slightly press down, and do not move them until they develop a deeply golden crust (this crust will ensure they naturally release themselves from the pan). Using a thin metal spatula, carefully turn them over. Lower heat if necessary. Sear the other side. Each side will take about 3-4 minutes. Cook in batches, not overcrowding. Place falafels in the oven while you cook the remaining falafels to cook them through. Keep them in a warm oven until ready to serve.
- Falafels can be cooked ahead, frigerated, and reheated in the oven. Alternatively, the falafel “dough” can be made ahead, refrigerated, and used throughout the week.
- Serve with our pita bread, tahini sauce, or tzatziki, or make pickled onions.
Notes
Do not use canned or cooked chickpeas- not the same.
Try Fava Beans: Feel free to use soaked fava beans- or a combo of both- also delicious!
Baked Falafels: heat oven to 375 F. Place falafel on a greased parchment-lined sheet pan. Brush or spray the tops with olive oil. Bake 12-15 minutes, flip and bake 10-15 more minutes or until golden. These can be cooled and frozen.
Air Fryer: Preheat the air fryer to 380 F. Place falafels on a greased grate and spray with spray olive oil. Airfy 6 minutes, check, add another minute or so if needed.
Meal Prep: The falafel mixture can be kept in the refrigerator and pan-seared “to order”. For example, I’ll often make a double batch and just store the bowl of falafel mix (covered) in the fridge for the week, pan-searing as needed.
Pickled Turnips: Peel and thinly cut turnips and use the pickled veggies recipe. Add a tiny sliver of beetroot to get a lovely pink color!
Tahini Sauce: To make your tahini sauce even creamier- stir in a couple of tablespoons of yogurt.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 falafels
- Calories: 246
- Sugar: 4.7 g
- Sodium: 510.1 mg
- Fat: 2.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 47.9 g
- Fiber: 5.9 g
- Protein: 11.8 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
The best falafel ever. Reminded me of the tasty falafel I have only found at street vendors in larger cities. Thrilled to be able to make these at home. I used fava beans too. Family of omnivores gave it a thumbs up!
Yay Susan!!! I think so too! thanks for the rating, appreciate it!
Yes! Glad you enjoyed it!
What would the baking directions for the falafel be?
I just added, thanks, see notes!
Dear Sylvia,
It would give me great pleasure if you would send your most wonderful recipe of the above , Falafel with Tahina and home made Pita adding the rest of the goodies!!!!
I was born in Cairo, Egypt and remember the Tagmehya(excuse spelling. The last time I ever had a great falafel was in Israel………
Much appreciate and so looking forward to your email
Au revoir,
Hi Henry, Im so sorry the recipe link wasn’t working- I fixed it and it is working now. 😉 I hope you like them as mush as the ones in your memories.
Wow, I am excited to try these beautifully pictured and detailed recipes! Thanks too for sharing your lovely memories.
Thanks so much for commenting Sue, appreciate you being here and reading. 😉
Mine fell apart in the skillet then I added flour to the mix and they were just fine. Did they do this because I used canned beans or is flour added to recipe missing? I see you dredge in flour but even doing that they fell apart before I added flour and remixed no rolled. They were delicious. My two year old LOVED them!
I’m sorry they fell apart, yes it’s most likely because you used canned beans.
Hi! I would love to try your recipe, but wanted to try your suggestion of baking them. Do you have any suggestions on temperature and time for baking? Would you still recommend refrigerating the falafel beforehand?
Thank you for your help and this awesome looking recipe 🙂
Thanks Natalie! Brush with olive oil, and bake at 400 F for 20 minutes until heated through, turning over halfway through.
I have a jar of yeast, Can you tell me how much does your package of yeast weight? Thank you.
Each package is 1/4 ounce ( or 7g)
what a wonderful and comprehensive post! I made the falafel’s- (first time I have attempted falafels) and they were wonderful but very delicate- the mix was very moist and I was squeezing liquid out as I formed the balls- is your mix like that Sylvia? The tahini sauce was also delicious and I look forward to trying the pitta bread- thank you so much for your fantastic site.
I didn’t get to try this whole recipe but the above recipe for creamy tahini sauce served me well. I had only regular yogurt so i drained it on a cheesecloth for an hour or so and was surprised it worked so well… really really great, thanks.
No idea what I did wrong, but when frying, the falafels dissolved in the oil and I could only save a few of them. Maybe too low heat?
Hummmm, I’m so sorry Anders, how frustrating. Did you refrigerate them first?
Great question…I haven’t tried making it with gf flour yet, but if you give it a whirl, please let us know. thanks!!
I would really like your recipe but for some reason I can’t see it? ?
It should be above the comments??
I originally saw your recipe on Pinterest, and knew i had to try it out.
I did a half recipe of the falafel and tahini sauce, and a full recipe of the pita bread, as it was just for me and my husband – who can be quite fussy at times. It was an outstanding success, he loved everything! Thank you for such a well detailed recipe, so easy to follow:)
Thanks for the feedback!!
Oops – I definitely did 2 cups of dried chickpeas which turned into like 4 cups of soaked ones. So now we’ll be having falafel for dayzzzz!
This might be a silly question – but is it 2 cups of the garbanzo beans before or after soaking? I soaked 2 cups which doubled in size (to more than 4 cups) and now they won’t all fit in my food processor! I’m wondering if it’s only supposed to be 2 cups of them once they’re soaked?
Not a silly question! 2 cups soaked chickpeas!
Wow! I have never had falafel, but these look and sound amazing! I’m looking to go semi-meatless (lol) and these seem like a good way to get some protein! I may have to visit the local Greek eatery and see if they have it on the menu for me to try. I was wondering if you might have the nutritional information for these?
I don’t…. I’m sorry. I do know that some people bake falafel instead of fry to cut down on the fat.
That sounds so frustrating! I use a cast Iron skillet, and have never had a problem. Do you have one? Or even try a non stick pan? Right now…my guess is you using a stainless steel pan. Sometimes those can be very “sticky”.
I just finished making the Pita Bread! I have never made anything like it but your detailed instructions were perfect. Thank you. Next time I will making the falafels 🙂
Im so glad you tried them!
OK I am making these right now! May need to brush up on my frying techniques as they seem a bit oily. Any suggestions? Also I think I should have ground the mixture a bit more. Otherwise, they taste great! 😀
Blot with paper towels after frying. Unfortunately to get them really crispy, you need to use oil. A lot of people bake them, and you could also try that for a healthier version.
Your homemade falafels look and sound so delicious! I had to share on Pinterest. I just found your blog from your green smoothie recipe and it is wonderful!
Homemade Falafels have been on my list for far too long – your recipe sounds perfect, and those pictures are just making my mouth water! I just found your blog via foodgawker (yep, I’m an addict) and I can’t get enough. Cheers!
Now i’m starving with this. 🙂
I love a good Falafel. Nice to be offered the complete package with pittas and sauce recipes too, thanks.
Isn’t it amazing what a warm fuzzy memory a comfort food can do? I have many Greek family foods my Grandma and Mom made and just the smell can send me back!
Homemade pita AND falafels?! Awesome!!