Food is deeply personal and becomes rooted in us at a very young age. For most of us, our comfort food is what we grew up eating – the special meals our parents made for us in celebration, but especially the simple daily meals we ate together as a family. After I moved away from home, this was one meal I missed the most and looked forward every time I went back to home.
This falafel recipe is tried and true. It is simple, delicious and authentic. There are several tips to making good falafels that are light and yet won’t fall apart when frying:
How to make the BEST falafels:
- Use dry chickpeas that have been soaked overnight, not cooked, not canned. Drain them well! Key!
- Don’t over blend. The falafel “dough” must be granular rather than smooth.
- Add a little baking soda to keep them light.
- Let them “rest” at least 20 minutes before frying to allow them to bind.
- Fry in a cast-iron skillet, allowing them to form a deeply golden crust, before moving or flipping. This ensures they will naturally release from the pan. If done this way, you will not need to add flour or bread crumbs….keeping them gluten-free.
Place the well-drained, soaked chickpeas in a food processor, add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until combined, scraping down sides as necessary. Don’t over blend. It still needs to be granular, not smooth like hummus… and should look something like this. To achieve this you must pulse, scrape sides, repeat.
Making homemade pita bread is a fun easy project – and doing this with your kids is especially fun. Of course, store-bought pita bread is always a great option if pressed for time. But if you feel like making them, they really are easy!
I remember making pita bread with my mom when I was little, and I’ll never forget the feeling of complete surprise, seeing the flat dough, magically puff up in the hot oven. With the rising time, it’s about a 3-hour commitment, so plan accordingly.
Falafel Sauce
What to Serve with Falafels!
- Creamy Tahini Sauce (aka Falafel Sauce),
- Pita Bread
- pickled turnips
- Tabouli
- Tzatziki Sauce
- Baba Ganoush
- Hummus
Pickled Turnips
Authentic Falafel Recipe with Tahini Sauce and Homemade Pita Bread
- Prep Time: 12 hours
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 12 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 3-4
- Category: vegan, main, gluten-free
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Description
How to make authentic Falafel from scratch using soaked chickpeas (not canned) with Homemade Pita, Creamy Tahini Sauce, Pickled Turnips, Cucumber Yogurt Sauce *Chickpeas need 10-24 hours of soaking time. Makes 10 Falafels (I highly recommend making a double batch of the falafels!)
Ingredients
Falafel Recipe
- 3/4 cup dry chickpeas ( yields 2 cups soaked)
- 1 cup Cilantro ( stems ok)
- ½ 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)
- high heat oil for frying, or spray oil for baking
Pita Bread Recipe ( makes 12 pita) ( or store-bought pita)
Middle Eastern Pickled Turnips
- 2 medium turnips, peeled and thinly sliced.
- 2– 3 slices of a small red beet, ( optional, for color)
- ½ thinly sliced onion
- 2 sliced garlic cloves
- 3/4 C red wine vinegar
- 3/4 C water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- Additions: peppercorns, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, dill ( all optional)
Creamy Tahini Sauce: ( Or try this vegan Everyday Tahini Sauce!)
- 3/4 Cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1/4 Cup tahini paste
- 1–2 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- cracked pepper
- Juice of one medium lemon
Tzatziki Sauce Recipe
Instructions
- Soak 3/4 cup dry chickpeas in a bowl of cold water on the counter for 10- 12 hours or up to 24 hours hours. They will swell into 2 cups. Place in a strainer, letting them drain WELL, and pat dry with a towel for extra dryness. (Wet chickpeas will be more difficult to fry.)
- Measure 2 cups of the soaked, uncooked chickpeas and place in a food processor and pulse repeatedly along with the onion, garlic, cilantro, chili, salt spices and baking soda, scraping down sides, until it is well blended but still coarse like sand. Don’t overwork it- this should not be smooth, but rather quite coarse and granular. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven ( or toaster oven) to 400F.
- Form round, slightly smaller than golf ball sized balls in your hands. If it feels very wet, feel free to lightly dredge in flour if you like. (I usually don’t, even when wet!).
- In a non-stick pan or 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. Start with one tester falafel. Place it carefully in the hot oil, do not move it or mess with it until a deeply golden crust forms (this crust will ensure it naturally releases from the pan). Using a metal spatula, carefully turn it over. Sear the other side. Each side will take about 3-4 minutes. Cook in batches, not crowding. Place falafels in the oven while you cook remaining falafels to cook them through. Keep them in warm oven until ready to serve.
Middle Eastern Pickled Turnips
- Bring all ingredients to a boil in a medium-sized pot, remove from heat, and refrigerate until ready to eat.
Creamy Tahini Sauce:
- Blend all in the food processor, until smooth. This may seem slightly salty, but trust me it works in the big picture when all the components are combined.
Notes
TO BAKE FALAFELS: heat oven to 375 F. Place balls 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.
Keywords: falafel recipe, falafel recipes, baked falafel recipe, authentic falafel recipe, easy falafel recipes, vegan falafel recipe, vegan falafels , falafel sauce, pita recipe, easy pita bread recipe, tahini sauce,
My dad and I lay them out on newspaper! The recipe was amazing and the pita was fantastic also.
★★★★★
These are the best falafels I’ve ever made. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
So concise and had all the info I needed.
★★★★★
Great to hear!
Awesomeness!
★★★★★
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?
Can the pita bread recipe be made gluten free?? If so, do you know what flours would work best??
Yes, I was about to ask the same thing. What is the point of doing gluten free falafel with gluten bread?
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.
All of the recipes in this post speak to my heart. These are my comfort foods as well and you nailed them right down to the pickled turnips. Thank you for sharing these recipes and the memories that go with them. That tells me that these recipes really are something special.
I loved this recipe, however every time I cook the felafel’s it sticks to the bottom of the frying pan!!! Im using a good amount of oil (partial frying, possible ¼ way up the felafel once emerged in oil) and it always sticks. I try to keep moving them around so they don’t get stuck in one spot and not put too many in at a time but it always happens! Please help me as I end up loosing half the felafel as I get them out of the pan and try and re-roll them and bake in the oven to finish them off.
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!
Wow what a great post. I want to try all of these recipes. Thanks!
Homemade pita AND falafels?! Awesome!!