The trick to the best falafel is actually to use raw, soaked chickpeas, rather than fully cooked. You can make these with canned chickpeas, but the results will be a bit of a creamier texture. We love the way the raw chickpeas result in a crispy outside, but keep a texture and bite in the inside.
Serve in a pita with all your favorite toppings. Some of my favorites include Israeli Salad, Green Tahini, Cabbage Salad and Schug.
Make these in an air fryer: Arrange about 9 falafel balls (depending on the size of your air fryer) in a single layer in your air fryer basket and air-fry for about 15 minutes at 370-380°F (187-193°C). Repeat this process until you use up all the dough.
Homemade Falafel
Servings
15 Servings
Ingredients
- 7 ounces dried chickpeas soaked overnight
- 1 small onion
- 5 cloves garlic
- ½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour or chickpea flour for gluten free
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil for frying
Instructions
- 1 Drain and rinse chickpeas, set aside. 2 In food processor finely chop all other ingredients. 3 Add chickpeas to processor and pulse just enough to mash and mix ingredients, but not too much that it becomes a paste. 4 Adjust seasoning to taste and let sit for at least 2 hours. 5 Heat frying pan with a nice layer of oil or use a deep fryer. 6 Roll about 15 balls from the batter and fry until browned on all sides. 7 Serve with all the fixings, we like Israeli salad, hummus, tahini, pickles, fried eggplant, fried onions, schug and pickled cabbages.
I have made this many time….delicious and the real deal
The very best falafels I’ve ever eaten is from a McDonald’s in Egypt – its their sauce that makes me crave for another but they don’t have them on the menu in The States. Do you know how to make that sauce?
They all get ground up but try and leave it coarse for better texture
So I wish I had known about the 2 hour wait time as I was running late into Shabbos and did’nt have any wait time but my boys tell they are good. My other question is should all of the chickpeas get ground up or should there be pieces of chickpea in the falafel ? Thanks so much.
We like to keep prep time for active time and unfortunately don’t have a place to put rest time, but I did add it to the Total cook time, so thanks for brining it up.
You should add in the 2 hours sitting into the prep time….
Great recipe. Reading other reviews, I added some cayenne pepper. I also made a Tahini sauce and the cucumber salad to go along with it.. It’s a keeper. Thanks
Oh Jean, it is fried, but filled with chickpeas, high fiber and protein goodness, you can afford that once in a while, especially if you round it out with lots of Israeli salad, you can even have it a salad and leave out the pita. The fixins usually include chopped salad and tahnia, sometimes, fried eggplant is added, pickles, assorted cabbage salads, spicy sauce, and really anything goes.
Any is right the best falafel is in Israel.
Still do it from scratch from dry chick pea
what are the fixings? Its been years since I last had falafel, and don’t go looking for it now since its supposed to be high in fat (fried), so I don’t know remember what goes with it.
I have just made these. Fantastic recipe. I did make a slight adjustment. I added a scant half teaspoon of chilli powder ( I am Indian ) and a little less pepper. Will make the Cold Cucumber Soup tomorrow and report back.
So what are “all the other fixings” I ate one in Bethlehem a few years ago but don’t remember…
Looking forward to trying the Falafel!
For sure it is hard to replicate falafel, but this is close. I have been told the best way to really get it right is to grind with a meat grinder instead of a food processor, but I don’t have one so haven’t tried it yet.
Cilantro is the same as coriander, but here we refer to coriander as the seed and the cilantro is the leaf.
Thanks for the recipe! I believe The only True falafel is the one I used to eat in Israel, now we will try how close to it we can get 😉 . What is cilantro, according to my dictionary it is same as coriander..? (my native tongue is finnish).
I want to add an update to this recipe. The flavoring is right on and you can still make it as is, but it is better if you can use dried chickpeas. The night before, just take 1 cup of dried chickpeas and soak them overnight, then follow the recipe as is, making sure to process them enough. You can also try adding sesame seeds if desired.