Easy and Most Delicious Falafel Recipe

by Abbas Jahangir · Published June 22, 2021 · Updated December 18, 2023

The traditional falafel recipe comes from the Middle East and has chickpeas as the basic ingredient. It is becoming more and more popular in our country as plant-based food is in the spotlight. ‘How to Make Falafel’ should not be missing in our series of blogs.

The basic ingredients are dried chickpeas, wheat flour, onion, garlic, ground coriander. The recipe can be expanded further. Soak the chickpeas for at least 12 hours. Put everything in the blender and mix together. Make flat balls, fry both sides for 4 minutes.

There are many falafel recipes in circulation that have a number of ingredients in common. However, since we like the easy yet tasty, we start this blog with a falafel recipe with 5 ingredients. A more extensive recipe is also discussed later in this blog. This is for the real hobby cooks.

Chickpeas are the main ingredient for falafel. We also have a blog about preparing chickpeas. ” How to Prepare chickpeas? tells you all about it.

The first recipe is easy yet delicious to make with few ingredients you probably have on hand.

Falafel Recipe

Making falafel is one thing, the ingredients are another. You can search any recipe on the internet for ingredients for falafel, but there are a few basic ingredients that each falafel is made with. These basic ingredients are mentioned in the first recipe and a more extensive recipe is given afterwards.

Basic Falafel Recipe

The ingredients for the basic falafel recipe are 5 in total, they are:

125 grams dried chickpeas
1/2 large onion or a very small onion, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tbsp flour, preferably wheat

Before you can get started, the dried chickpeas must first be soaked. Place the dried chickpeas in a large bowl with plenty of water and add the chickpeas to the bowl. Let the chickpeas soak for at least 12 hours. So you can’t continue until the next day. You have to take this into account.

We prepare the falafel as follows:

Measure all ingredients and put it on your kitchen counter.
Place the soaked chickpeas in a colander and let them drain.
Then the chickpeas go into the blender along with the coarsely chopped onion, crushed garlic, coriander and wheat.
Also add a little salt, with a salt-free diet you leave this out.
Mix everything together very well.
Stop mixing and remove the mixture that sticks to the glass. Put this back in the mixer and mix again.
Remove an amount from the mixer with a spoon and make balls that you flatten a bit.
Place the frying pan on the heat source and heat a good layer of sunflower oil in it.
Put the falafel balls in the oil and fry each side for about 3 -4 minutes.

The falafel is ready and can be served with whatever you have in mind. Serve it, for example, with a pita bread and garlic sauce. Or roll the falafel in a wrap with lots of lettuce and a spicy sauce. In short, enjoy your meal.

Extensive Falafel Recipe

Do you like a challenge, do you enjoy cooking or do you have another reason to cook tasty and healthy, then you can also use the recipe below. It has more ingredients and therefore more refined taste. But yes, more work! These are the ingredients:

175 grams dried chickpeas.
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp ground coriander
3 tbsp wheat flour
1/4 lemon and the juice of that
Salt and pepper

The preparation also proceeds as described above in the basic recipe. In short it comes down to this:

Soak the chickpeas in plenty of water for at least 12 hours. Put them in a colander and let them drain. Then everything goes into the blender and add salt and pepper to your liking. Mix everything together very well. Scoop a little out of the mixer with a tablespoon and make flat balls. Fry the balls for 3-4 minutes on both sides. As mentioned, the detailed description above.

These are the falafel recipes and how to prepare it. You can use the falafel in many ways in your dishes, including in a salad.

Falafel Sauce

What is falafel without sauce. You can keep it simple and delicious by making garlic sauce or tahini sauce.

Garlic sauce is easy to make yourself by using vegan mayonnaise. Put vegan mayonnaise in a bowl and add water. Stir this together. The sauce should be thick enough to just run off your spoon. Add the crushed garlic cloves, a little parsley and chives to taste. Mix this well and taste. Try to make the sauce the day before, because then the herbs can soak into the sauce.

For the tahini you will need the following:

8 tablespoons of tahini
7 tablespoons of water
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tsp fresh parsley

Put all these ingredients in the blender and mix the ingredients together well. Serve it in a nice bowl on a plate with falafel.

Several questions about falafel are answered below.

Gluten Free Falafel

Gluten-free falafel is no problem to make. All ingredients are gluten free, except the wheat flour. When you replace the wheat flour in the above recipes with gluten-free flour, you have gluten-free falafel. It’s that easy.

Making Falafel Vegan

The falafel made according to the above recipes are vegan. Actually, every falafel should be vegan, because only vegetable ingredients are used. So yes, falafel is vegan. You can make the sauce vegan. See above for falafel sauce.

Making Falafel With Canned Chickpeas

Falafel can be made with canned chickpeas. I just don’t recommend doing it. The canned chickpeas have been in the liquid for a long time. It’s not like dried chickpeas that you have to soak them before using. These chickpeas are not soaked, but soaked. The result is that the falafel becomes very limp due to the moisture of the canned chickpeas.

If you want or can’t help but use canned chickpeas, add about one and a half times as much wheat flour as stated in the recipe. This creates more bonding. Note, do not use too much flour, because then it will become a flour ball again.

Making Falafel In Oven

Falafel can also be baked in the oven. The crust will then be less crispy, but the big advantage is that you don’t have to use oil for frying.

Place the falafel you made on baking paper on the baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and place the baking tray in the oven. The falafel balls are ready to be served after about 15 – 20 minutes. Tasty falafel without a lot of fat!