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
One of my favorite meals I have ever made. These falafel were relatively easy and quick to make (soaking time aside) and were soooo delicious. We baked them and will like pan frying next time. Thanks again for another amazing recipe!
thanks and happy you liked this one Alyssa!
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!