Easy Falafel Recipe (Authentic) | Cook Click N Devour!!! (2024)

Easy falafel recipe with all the tips and tricks you need to get it right every time! Made with chickpeas and very few other ingredients, this vegan and gluten free Mediterranean snack is such a treat.

While these are traditionally fried, you can easily bake them too. Serve falafels with hummus, thahini sauce as snack or stuff in your pita along with your fav salad for a hearty meal. What’s your favorite way to eat these?

I first tasted falafel in our Bangalore days. It was a part of an amazing mezze spread and I have been a loyal fan ever since 🙂

It is close to our very own masala vada, but only in texture. They both are poll apart in flavors and unique on their own.

This recipe is an authentic recipe to make falafel, that I picked up from a middle eastern cook book long back. Over the years I have made it so many times and it is such a staple at our home.

I bake our own pita and it is such a fun to put together a pita sandwich with falafel, hummus and a quick salad.

So if you are fan of this middle eastern eastern but haven’t tried your hands at this, do make some and you will totally enjoy the homemade ones.

What Is Falafel?

Falafel is a traditional and popular middle eastern snack made of chickpeas. Chickpeas along with some fresh herbs and other ingredients is ground shaped into balls and deep fried to make this snack.

Vegan and gluten free by nature, this is a very popular snack worldwide especially with vegetarians.

It is believed that falafel originated in Egypt and was consumed Coptic Christians during religious holidays like lent as meat replacement. In Egypt falafel is made with fava beans.

When I first tasted this snack, I was amazed by its flavor and crispy texture. I was determined to nail the recipe so that I can enjoy falafel whenever I want 🙂

This is really such a yummy treat for the simplest of ingredients used and time spent. All you gotta do is soak and drain chickpeas, blend or pulse with herbs and seasoning, make ball and fry.

This is what I call my kind of cooking, less ingredients, straight forward and easy steps with an incredible dish that you cannot get enough of 🙂

Whether you serve as a snack or as meal with pita this falafel is something that you will be so pleased with!

This Falafel Recipe Is

Traditional & authentic

Absolutely delicious, flavorful and crispy

ridiculously easy to make

wholesome snack for kids

vegan & gluten free

full of plant protein

What Are Falafels Made Of?

Before getting into the recipe, let’s go through the ingredients list quickly.

Chickpeas– the star of our dish. We need white chickpeas or kabuli chana or garbanzo beans for this. Get dried chickpeas and soak overnight for best results. I absolutely don’t recommend canned chickpeas for falafel. read more on this in tips section.

Onions & garlic– For flavor and texture, use as much as you prefer.

Herbs- Two important herbs for making authentic and traditional falafel are cilantro leaves and parsley. ou can leave out either one if you don’t have. You can also add dill leaves.

Spices- roasted cumin, coriander and fresh pepper powder. You can also add a dash of chili powder for more heat.

Two ingredients you will find in many recipes that I neither use nor felt the need are

• flour for binding– if your mixture is made in rightly you do not need any flour for binding. Adding flour definitely alters the texture of this snack and makes them dense. However if your falafel mixture doesn’t hold shape, you can add 2 tablespoons of rice flour or chickpea flour and bind well.
• Baking powder or soda– the common thought is that adding baking soda lends an airy and light texture to falafel. Again, this can be achieved by using well soaked chickpeas and frying in right temperature. If you want to bake the falafels do add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda though.

Some Tips Before We Begin

Use dry chickpeas– Best falafels are made with soaked and drained dry chickpeas. Canned chickpeas are way too soft as they are cooked andl do not do well in this recipe.

The falafel mixture made with canned chickpeas tend to be very soft and the fried bals turn out soft instead of crispy.

Get the consistency of mixture right- the consistency of the mixture should be coarse yet not very much. If you try to make a ball with the pulsed mixture you should be able to and it should hold shape.

Do not add water while processing.

If the mixture is very coarse the balls will break while frying and on the other hand if you make the mixture very pasty it will spoil the texture of falafels.

To add flour or not for binding- As I have mentioned above I never add any flour for binding. If you have soaked the chickpeas well and drained thoroughly you don’t have to add any flour.

If at all you find your mixture very loose and not holding you can add 2-3 tablespoons of rice flour or chickpea flour.

While shaping if you have difficulty or find the mixture difficult to handle, you can refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes just like we do with some cookie dough. Chilling the mixture makes it tight and eases the shaping.

Get the oil temperature- to make perfect falafels that are crispy from outside with fluffy light interior, the oil temperature has to be right. If the oil is not hot enough, the falafels will turn dense and hard. If it is too hot, they will brown quickly from outside while the inside will remain uncooked.

What we need here is hot but not smoking oil for frying that is around 375 F or 190 C if you use a thermometer. Another age old way to check oil temperature is you drop a small bit it should rise and float immedietly. Tis is the right temperature for frying.

Step By Step method

Soak Chickpeas- Pick rinse and soak 1 cup chickpeas in plenty of water for 8-12 hours. Be sure to use a big vessel and plenty of water as chickpeas will double in size as they soak.

Make falafel Mixture– Before beginning the recipe, drain the chickpeas thoroughly. There should not be too much moisture in the chickpeas

To a blender jar add drained chickpeas, peeled and roughly chopped onions, peeled garlic cloves, ground cumin, coriander, pepper powder and salt to taste Also add rinsed cilantro and parsley leaves.

Pulse for few seconds until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Pick up a portion and try to make a ball to check consistency. refrigerate the mixture for 30 minutes.

Shape and fry- Make small balls from the prepared mixture.

Heat oil for deep frying. Once the oil is bubbling hot but not smoking, slide the balls in batches.

Flip gently and fry until crispy and golden brown in medium flame. it takes around 3-4 minutes for each batch. Using a slotted spoon, remove carefully from oil.

Drain excess oil and falafel is ready to serve.

Baking Instructions

If you prefer to bake the falafels instead of frying them here are the instructions.

While making the chickpea mixture add 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and mix well. Shape into balls.

Preheat oven at 190 C or 350 F for 15 minutes. Arrange the shaped balls in a greased baking sheet and brush all the balls with some oil.

Bake in the hot oven for 15-20 minutes. Flip the balls half way ad bake till crispy and golden.

Ways to serve falafel

As snack with dip– Most easiest way is to serve this as evening snack with any creamy dip like sour cream dip, tahini sauce or yogurt dip. Here I made a quick vegan yogurt dip with cashew curd.You can serve with tahini sauce or hummus.

falafel salad- My most favorite way to serve this snack. make a quick middle eastern salad of cucumber tomato salad with parsley. Just before serving toss the falafels and serve immedietly. You can also do this with kachumber, avocado salad.

Pita sandwich- stuff these balls in warm pita pockets along with a salad and dip like hummus.

Make Ahead, Storage & Freezing Notes

You can store the falafel mixture in refrigerator for 3 days. Store in airtight containers.

The shaped falafels can be frozen for 20 days. Shape the patties, line in a tray and freeze till they turn hard. Then transfer to freezer safe container and store.

I suggest you serve fried falafels immedietly for best taste. They will remain crispy for 2-3 hours.

I hope you will try this falafel recipe and enjoy as much as we did. Please give a star rating★in the recipe card below. Follow us onPinterest,Instagram,Facebook for more recipes and ideas.