What is traditional falafel made of?
You may be wondering… what is falafel? Falafel is a flavorful mixture of chickpeas (or fava beans) fresh herbs, spices, onion and garlic, that are shaped into little flat balls and pan-seared. Falafel can be served in a pita sandwich or as part of a mezze platter.
Serve falafels with homemade pita bread (surprisingly easy!), creamy tahini sauce, Tzatziki Sauce and pickled turnips (or onions)… somehow the combo, at least to me is absolutely perfect.
Why can’t you use canned chickpeas?
How to make Falafel! | 60-sec video
What is in Falafel?
- Dry chickpeas (not canned)
- Cilantro (or parsley)
- Onion
- garlic
- Green Chili pepper (jalapeno or sub cayenne)
- Coriander
- Cumin
- baking soda
- kosher salt (add more to taste)
- olive oil
- high heat oil for frying, or spray oil for baking
How to make Falafel: Step-by-step
STEP ONE:
Soak dry chickpeas overnight, do not use cooked chickpeas, do not use canned! You’ll need two cups of soaked chickpeas with is roughly ¾ cups dry.
Drain them well! This is Key- feel free to wrap them in a towel. Spread them out and let them dry up a bit!
STEP TWO: Place the chickpeas along with the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse repeatedly (do not blend), pulse -pulse- pulse, scrape down sides, pulse again, until combined, but not overly smooth.
Don’t over blend- you want to to be granular, not smooth like hummus… and should look something like this below.
To achieve this you must pulse, scrape sides, repeat a few times.
STEP FOUR: Pan-sear the falafel. No, you do not need to dredge them in flour ( unless they feel very very wet). A little wet is ok here.
Heat a skillet, with high-heat oil, over medium heat. Without crowding, carefully place falafels in the warm skillet. Do not fuss with them, just let them develop a crust.
Can Falafel Be Baked?
What to serve with Falafel
1. Pita Bread!
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, these 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.
2. Tahini Sauce!
3. Pickled Turnips
How to make a Falafel Pita Sandwich
Make a beautiful Falafel Bowl or a Falafel Salad
What to eat Falafel with
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: stovetop
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
- Diet: Vegan
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), soaked overnight
- 1 cup cilantro (stems ok) or sub-Italian parsley
- 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)
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- high heat oil for frying, or spray oil for baking
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 cup red wine vinegar
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- Additions: peppercorns, coriander seeds, mustard seeds, dill ( all optional)
Creamy Tahini Sauce: ( Or try this vegan 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
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, baking soda, and olive oil, 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. Place falafel dough in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 400F.
- Using damp hands, form round, golf ball-sized balls in your hands compressing tightly into balls. Teh compression here will help bind them. If they feel 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 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) do not move or mess with them until a deeply golden crust forms (this crust will ensure they naturally release themselves from the pan). Using a thin metal spatula, carefully turn 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.
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
I do not recommend using canned chickpeas.
Try Fava Beans: Feel free to use soaked fava beans- or a combo of both- also delicious!
Baked Falafel: 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.
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 in the fridge for the week, pan-searing as needed.
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,
Great recipe with wonderful flavour. Next time I am going to cook the falafel in a non stick frying pan instead of my cast iron as I felt they were cooking too quickly. Would make less pitas so they could be a bit larger and slightly thicker as some did not puff up as well as others.
Would like to try making Marqooq bread (wrap) instead to make with the falaffel – just wondering if you might have a recipe.?
★★★★★
Thanks Linda! I dont have a recipe for it but love the idea of using it here!
Can I use something in place of the cilantro?
Aggs- how about flat-leaf parsley!
As always, these were delicious!! They were juicy, but held together fine. I love that you don’t have to cook the chickpeas!
All the sauces are wonderful, and my family feels spoiled thanks to your delicious recipes Sylvia!
★★★★★
Awww 🥰 thanks Laura! Appreciate this so much and hope you and your family are well. Big hugs ❤️
CAN I USE COOKED, BUT FIRM TO THE BITE CHICKPEAS?
Feel free to try Roseann- but I will say,the traditional way is with raw, soaked – and it truly is the BEST!
THANK YOU FOR ANSWERING. I DON’T CARRY MOST OF THE INGREDIENTS YOU MENTIONED, BUT WHAT I’LL USE I’M SURE THEY WILL BE GOOD. I JUST HOPE THEY DON’T DISINTEGRATE LIKE YOU SAID COULD HAPPEN.
another winner! I didn’t think they were going to hold when I was at the part of making the balls but with a lot of compressing they totally held up. I did try to make the pita recipe too but I didn’t read it thoroughly and pregnancy brain didn’t help so I used all whole wheat and they were very dry but was still good. I’m going to have another go at it with half and half like you recommend and I believe they will be perfect! Everything else was delicious as usual, the tahini sauce and the pickled turnips paired perfectly! I just threw on some thin sliced cucumbers and it was perfect, and plated so beautiful as I used red onion with the turnip and it turned a beautiful pink! Thank you for another amazing recipe.
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed Nicole and love that you made the turnips!
I followed the recipe as instructed, however I was afraid I over blended. I chose to bake mine and was on pins and needles praying they’d come out right…and they did!
Glad to hear it Shaneka~!
Why don’t the chickpeas need to be cooked?
This is the traditional way to make falafels. Raw, soaked chickpeas (or fava beans). It improves the texture 100 percent.
Easier than expected and so delicious!
★★★★★
Absolutely great!! This is the falafel recipe that I’ve been wanting. Thank you!!
★★★★★
This came out delicious even though my falafel turned into mush in the cast iron pan (followed recipe exactly, too). We just sprinkled the cooked falafel bits over everything and it tasted just fine. 🙂
★★★★
Oh shoot Sarah- I’m sorry. Did you refrigerate first? Did you pack them tight in your hands? Any changes or other things you can think of? Just curious, they always work for me…and I want them to you work for you too!
This was much easier than I had feared it might be. The mixture was wet enough to hold together but not too wet to fall apart, though I did sort of pack the balls tightly with my hands. I was surprised how dark they got when fried, but they were not burned and wow, the flavor is spectacular!!! I will never use a mix again, ever. I made them for my birthday dinner and we all loved them!
Thanks for sharing you family recipe! You are so right about learning to cook what you love from those who originally made it for you. Then you have the food, the memories and the ability to recreate it yourself when they are gone. A treasure!!!
★★★★★
Thanks Mert- I’m so glad you enjoyed these. They can be tricky but I think you nailed it with packing tight. I will note the recipe.
Flavor great…. I tried to use canned garbanzos…let them dry but the falafels just fell apart in the pan no matter how long they cooked…very sad.
Pita and tzaziki sauce are great
★★
Canned garbanzos will just not work here. Sorry.
Kid approved! Great recipe.
★★★★★
We made the tahini sauce and it was amazing. We will be trying the falafels next week but buying the bread from our local shop.
★★★★★
I could not fry them without them falling apart.
★★★
Yes, they can be a bit delicate, but should hold. It is important to dry off the chickpeas well and also to refrigerate the dough.
I did both but still did not hold well.
Sorry about that. They can be finicky. Perhaps it was the consistency (not blended enough), the type of pan, the length of time the chickpeas were soaked. A lot of variables here! I make these pretty often so will see if I can fine turn the recipe further.
This recipe is the best! The falafel is great, the tahini sauce is great, and the pickled beets are seriously the best! I grew up eating falafel as a kid and wasn’t a huge fan but decided to give it a try as an adult and WOW! Do not skip the pickled beets – they might be the best part of this recipe!
I cooked the falafel in my air fryer at 350 degrees for about 22 minutes, rotating halfway, and they came out perfect!
★★★★★
Love it Brittany!
Love this is turned out great made it several times. What do i need to do once i freeze them? Do you let the thaw then warm them or put frozen in the oven?
★★★★★
Great Megan! I’ve done it both ways- baked from frozen or thawed, both work! You can freeze on a pan, till firm, then place in a zip lock.
While I wasn’t brave enough to attempt the bread and pickled turnips (yet!), the falafel and tahini sauce were DIVINE. I used store bought pita bread and added cucumber and Campari tomatoes to add a nice veggie crunch. Always love the recipes from this blog!
Perfect!
Love this falafel recipe! It was both delicious and simple to prepare. Definitely putting it in my recipe rotation.
★★★★★
Followed the recipe to a T and it was perfect. Thank you! I baked them because I was feeling lazy and they turned out great!
★★★★★
This looks amazing! Do you have to use dried chickpeas?
YES!!! 😉
I love this recipe and it’s so easy with uncooked chickpeas! Easy week day meal that lasts for several days.
★★★★★
Absolutely delicious! Tried making the pitas as well, but my oven didn’t go high enough and didn’t have a pizza stone, so ended up eating store bought… Still absolutely delicious though 😋
★★★★★
How long does these need to be in the oven for after pan frying?
I just keep in there while the others are frying- 10-15 minutes, just until warmed all the way through.
Delicious! I absolutely love the pickled turnips. They are amazing.
★★★★★
thanks so much! I like them too!
Can these be frozen before cooking? I’ve made falafel many times before, but this is the first time I’ve added baking soda. The fresh falafels were wonderful – crispy outside and light as a breeze inside – not dense at all. So so good. I’m thinking this is due to the baking soda. If I freeze them before cooking, am I defeating the purpose of adding that ingredient?
★★★★★
Possibly? Truthfully I’m not sure. I have frozen after searing but not before.