Our falafel recipe is easy to make and freezer friendly! We love to make baked falafel but you could easily fry these in a pan with a little oil. This is a vegan falafel recipe so it’s great for serving all of your guests! Our favorite falafel sauces to serve it with are tahini, tzatziki or even plain old ketchup for the kids!
Falafel Recipe
We’re so excited to share our baked falafel recipe. We baked 3 batches today in our new countertop oven KitchenAid sent us for National Kids Take Over The Kitchen Day, which is September 13th. We couldn’t wait to use it, and we’ve been testing it out since we received it. It has so many features and can make SO much, so be sure to visit our site on September 13th!! 🙂
My toddler is one of the biggest falafel fans. When she had FPIES we had to get creative when it came to meals and while her cousins would eat chicken nuggets, she would eat our homemade falafel recipe. She didn’t miss out one bit, falafel is delicious and nutritious, packed with protein too! This is a vegan falafel recipe so everyone can enjoy!
What is Falafel
Falafel is typically deep fried, but we like baked falalfel. Falafel is usually made up of ground chickpeas, fava beans, or both, with a nice amount of herbs, seasoning, garlic, and onion. You will see it in a lot of Middle Eastern cuisine offerings.
Even better, it’s baked, not fried. If you like fried falafel you could absolutely fry these up.
We always make a big batch and then freeze some for later. When freezing just shape as normal and then freeze, don’t cook them before freezing. Being freezer friendly makes our falafel recipe even better for snacking after school. We all love the crunchy texture of falafel so instead of using canned or cooked chickpeas we use dried chickpeas that are soaked overnight. By using dried chickpeas, we don’t need to use any binders to keep it together.
Traditionally you’d serve with hummus or tahini, but if you’re a mini chef with a sophisticated palate, ketchup is the secret. 😉
Falafel ingredients
Falafel is one of those recipes you’ll try and right away want to know what is falafel made of so you can make it when you get home. Here’s what goes into our baked falafel recipe.
- Chickpeas
- Parsley
- Cilantro
- Onion
- Garlic
- Cumin
- Salt and Pepper
How to make Falafel
Watch our video to see how easy it is to make falafel
Falafel Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried chickpeas
- 1 cup fresh parsley
- 1 cup fresh cilantro
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Rinse chickpeas and place into a large bowl with enough water covering them so that when they expand they're still covered.
- Allow chickpeas to soak overnight (12-24 hours) and make sure they're covered.
- Once chickpeas are ready give them a good rinse and dry.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Place chickpeas and remaining ingredients into a large food processor.
- Process mixture until desired texture.
- Once you have achieved the desired texture start to shape your falafel.
- Bake falafel for 20-25 minutes, turning once.
Nutrition
My mini chef is in love with cooking, and we’re so thrilled how far she’s come. We’ve been getting all things mini, and she had to have a mini oven! Thank you so much to KitchenAid for sending her this gorgeous oven and even letting her pick the color. 🙂 Having an oven for her was a big deal for us. She’s very hands-on and wants to be involved in the entire cooking process, but the large oven scares her and rightfully so, it’s bigger than her. Having a mini oven has not only helped her get even more hands-on with her food, but she’s even trying foods she wouldn’t want to try before because it came out of her oven!
These look so good, love your little helper.
The only thing better than falafel is freezer falafel! Love this!
Your little helper is awesome! These falafel looks incredibly good!
Best helper EVER!
These look terrific. Falafel is a favorite around here. Love seeing your little helper in the kitchen!
This is an awesome base recipe, but dang if it isn’t true that white people don’t season their food. lol
Thanks, haha! It’s seasoned pretty well, once you mix with some pepper salad or dips it definitely gives it even more flavor. We eat them plain too.