Baked Falafel Recipe

I love falafel. So very much. But I really hate frying things. The smell of oil, the mess, the flesh wounds. Just not a good situation. And the flesh wounds might not let you enjoy your yummy falafel. Baked falafel is obviously the answer.

And so I present to you: yummy baked falafel.

Step 1: What you'll need:

• 15 to 20 oz can chickpeas, drained OR 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked for 24 hours and drained
• 1/2 onion
• 6 tablespoons of chopped parsley and/or cilantro (I'm doing about 2/3 parsley, 1/3 cilantro)
• 2-3 cloves garlic, depending on your taste
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons coriander
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• pinch of cayenne
• couple tablespoons of olive oil - for the falafel and for the baking sheet!
• salt and pepper to taste

You'll need a food processor too.

It is important to note that I am using cooked chickpeas, which is fine - but if you'd like to get all traditional, simply soak a cup of dried chickpeas in fridge for 24 hours and use those. I'll be doing that next time to see the difference.

The falafel will be baked at 400 degrees F - 10 minutes for first side, 15 minutes for the second.

Step 2: Preheat and prep!

Turn the oven on to 400 F.

Roughly chop the herbs, onions and garlic.

I know most people are like "LOL WHY?" but my food processor hates big pieces. I bet yours does too. So be nice to it.

Step 3: Process!

Throw EVERYTHING in the food processor.

You'll want to pulse it, scraping down the sides until everything is finely processed and combined, but not pureed. If you're having problems getting it to come together, add a tiny bit of olive oil to get it going.

The mixture should be slightly wet and hold together well.

Taste everything at this point and adjust seasonings as needed. :)

Step 4: Oil the baking sheet and form patties.

I got 10 patties out of the mixture. I started with balls about two inches wide and then flattened them. I like having them flat because they're easier to eat in a pita and they cook better in the oven. :)

You can do bigger or smaller, but you might want to adjust the cooking time. Just play around with it.

Step 5: Cooking!

After ten minutes, take them out and carefully flip them. They'll be starting to brown and should be pretty firm.

Put them back in for fifteen minutes.Once I took them out, I flipped them so you guys can see how lovely and brown they get.

The outsides should be crusty, and the insides should be nice and soft.

Step 6: Serve!

Great with yogurt or sour cream, hummus (my recipe can be found here!), tahini sauce, guacamole, or tzatziki. I always put cucumber and red onion in mine. A little mint & tomato is good too.

Hopefully I'll have a recipe up for tzatziki soon. :)

Comments

[skadiddle]

Great post! I'll have to try soaking the dried chickpeas overnight. My mother can't have anything that's high fat, so this is perfect. I used to love getting lunch at an Israeli falafel place when I lived in NYC --- the chopped tomato, onion and tahini sauce (with garlic and lemon) took it over the top. I would switch the amounts of cumin and coriander (maybe 2/3 tsp. of the latter) and substitute Spanish smoked paprika for the chili powder. Putting smoked paprika in the tahini sauce rather than in the falafel would also be a good thing. Flatbread rather than pita is a great substitution (maybe a little messier). I also want to try Emeril's falafel made with fava beans rather then chickpeas.

[bloman]

I was also thinking that smoked paprika would be epic in this recipe. Flatbread is definitely better than pits bread to me too :)

[bloman]

Genius! I plan to try this soon...

[yourtablecloth]

Baked Falafel Recipe That looks so good!

[billbillt]

Very tasty..We loved this..Bravo!!..

[Spookeriffic]

I've had a lonely can of chickpeas in my cabinet waiting for my inspiration to maybe make hummus or something, but I think I'll make this instead! Thanks for posting it - I have much more confidence in my baking skills than my frying skills :)

[gtrachel]

This is so exciting! I have the same love-hate thing with falafel and frying -- love falafel, hate frying stuff. Question, though -- can you really make it without cooking the chickpeas? I habitually buy my chickpeas (and all their bean brethren) dried and soak them before cooking, but... even after soaking for 24 hours, they're still, like, not really edible? I'd really like to know how it goes if you try it.

[jessyratfink]

I totally forgot to update! I made them with the soaked chickpeas a couple weeks ago, and they were slightly drier, but they held together much much better! The texture was awesome! The flavor was slightly different, too, but just as good.

My food processor is also kinda old and abused, so it didn't process them as finely as I'd hoped. I think if I do it next time, I'll process in smaller batches to get smaller pieces so they cook a little more evenly and maybe stay a little more moist. :)

[gtrachel]

Cool! I will definitely have to try it that way.

[jessyratfink]

You definitely can! I know that's how they're traditionally made. :)

I'm guessing once you've cut them into tiny bits and cooked them they're very edible... but we shall see. I hope to do it sometime soon. :D

[mikolynn]

Hi! Nice recipe!
But if you never come to spain (or maybe Italy and Greece also) you can eat Falafels fried with (lots cheapest than in USA) olive oil, and... Smells GOOOOOOOD, and tastes BETTER! ;)

[aristide202]

Falafels are fairly popular in italy since falafels are more related to middle east kitchen habits like tahina and hummus , I make fried falafels, that's quite a dietary problem and surely messing. I agree baking it's a good untraditional alternative .

[jessyratfink]

When I lived in Louisville, KY they were two amazing places to get falafel like that... oh I miss it!

[leftfootleashed]

I wish I'd thought of this! I love falafel, but hate frying too. These actually look better than fried ones :-)

[T3h_Muffinator]

This looks heinously tasty, and easy too! What are your thoughts on making balls instead of patties, though?

[jessyratfink]

You might need to up the cooking time because they'll be thicker, but I'm sure you could get it with a little trial and error. :)

[chefsea]

Very nice presentation!

[garnishrecipes]

Fantastic! I'm with you and gtrachel- frying stuff is not my favorite. I'm excited, these are ingredients I keep in the house on a daily basis.

Also, the photos... so gorgeous!

[jessyratfink]

Thank you very much. :D