Packed with fresh herbs and spices, this crispy baked falafel recipe is bursting with flavor. Stuff it into a pita wrap with all the fixings, and enjoy!
I’ll never forget the first time I tried falafel. Stuffed into pita bread with fresh herbs, crisp veggies, and a big slather of hummus, it was crispy, rich, and bursting with earthy, aromatic flavor. I devoured the entire wrap in minutes, amazed at the medley of tastes and textures dancing across my tongue. Falafel has been one of my favorite foods ever since. I still order it out to eat whenever I get the chance, but these days, I more often make this homemade falafel recipe.
What Is Falafel?
I’m getting ahead of myself. What is falafel, anyway? In case you’re not familiar with this traditional Middle Eastern dish, falafel are fried balls of ground chickpeas or fava beans seasoned with herbs like parsley and cilantro and spices like coriander and cumin. They’re a popular street food throughout the Middle East and Europe (if you’re ever in Paris, make a stop at L’As du Fallafel), where you can find them stuffed into pitas brimming with fresh veggies, herbs, sauces, and pickles.
I’m not a fan of frying at home (to be totally honest, the hot oil scares me!), so instead of deep frying falafel myself, I prefer baking it. It still comes out deliciously crisp, so I think it rivals any fried version. I hope you love it too!
Falafel Recipe Ingredients
To make this baked falafel recipe, you’ll need these key ingredients:
- Uncooked dry chickpeas – When I was first working out how to make falafel at home, I learned that traditional falafel is made with dried, NOT canned chickpeas. In fact, the chickpeas are never fully cooked before the falafel is formed. Instead, you’ll soak them overnight, then grind them up to form the falafel balls. Trust me, you don’t want to use canned chickpeas here! Your falafel will turn to mush.
- Shallot and garlic – They add a delicious savory bite! You can also use yellow onion in place of the shallot.
- Lemon zest – It’s not traditional, but I love the brightness it adds to these patties.
- Cumin, coriander, and cayenne – For warm, aromatic flavor and a kick of heat.
- Sea salt – It punches up the rich flavor of the herbs and spices.
- Baking powder – A pinch gives the balls the perfect light texture.
- Cilantro and parsley – I use a good amount to make my falafel bright green and flavorful. There’s no need to toss the herb stems for this recipe – blend them straight into the falafel mixture along with the leaves!
- Extra-virgin olive oil – It helps the falafel become nice and crisp in the oven.
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
How to Make Falafel
The first step to this method for how to make falafel is soaking the chickpeas. You’ll need to plan ahead here. The chickpeas need to soak for 24 hours, or at least overnight, before you form the balls. Drain and rinse them before proceeding with the recipe.
Once the chickpeas soak, pulse them together with the other ingredients. Add the chickpeas to the food processor with the shallot, garlic, herbs, spices, lemon zest, baking powder, olive oil, and salt.
Process until the ingredients are finely ground, but not pureed.
Next, form the falafel balls. Scoop up the chickpea and herb mixture with a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop, then use your hands to form it into balls or patties. If they’re not holding together, give the mixture a few more pulses in the food processor.
Finally, bake! Arrange the patties on a parchment-lined baking sheet, and drizzle them generously with olive oil. Seriously, don’t hold back on the oil here! We’re not frying, remember, so a good drizzle of oil is essential for helping the balls bake up nice and crisp.
Transfer the pan to a 400°F oven. Bake for 14 minutes, then flip and bake until the falafel is golden brown and crisp. That’s it!
Best Falafel Recipe Tips
- Used dried, NOT canned chickpeas. Really, canned chickpeas will NOT work! They’ll throw off the ratios in this recipe, and they’ll make the patties too wet and mushy. In order to achieve the light texture of traditional falafel, you MUST use dried chickpeas here. Soak them overnight (but don’t cook them!) before making the recipe.
- Drizzle the patties generously with oil before baking. Because we’re baking falafel here and not frying it, we’re automatically using much less oil than we would in a traditional falafel recipe. But oil is an important ingredient in falafel. It helps it become crisp on the outside while staying moist inside. To achieve this delicious balance, you need to drizzle your patties generously with oil. Don’t hold back!
- Don’t pack your patties too tightly. It’s tempting to really pack the patties together tightly, but doing so will make them tough and dense. Form the falafel balls gently, and if your mixture isn’t holding together, pulse it a bit more in the food processor until it sticks together. If it’s still too crumbly, pop it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes before shaping and baking the patties.
- Make a double batch, and freeze the extras. These guys keep well in the freezer, so go ahead and make a double batch to have on hand for salads, bowls, or wraps. To reheat frozen falafel, pop them in a 400°F oven for about 10 minutes, until they’re crisp and heated through. For more make-ahead meal ideas, check out these 31 Healthy Freezer Meals and these 60 Healthy Meal Prep Ideas.
Serving Suggestions
My favorite way to serve falafel is in a pita wrap. I stuff it into the pita bread with a slather of hummus or a drizzle of tahini sauce, veggies like chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, and/or lettuce, pickled onions, and fresh herbs. Other sauces and spreads are great here too. Try using tzatziki instead of the hummus, or drizzle on cilantro lime dressing instead of tahini sauce.
Not in the mood for a falafel sandwich? Serve the patties on a salad or grain bowl instead, or add them to a mezze platter. They’re fantastic with few dips or spreads, like muhammara, baba ganoush, or homemade labneh, and a salad or two. Try pairing them with any of these:
Round out the platter with lots of fresh pita bread!
More Favorite Vegetarian and Vegan Dinners
If you love this crispy baked falafel recipe, try one of these tasty vegetarian or vegan meals next:
- Best Shakshuka
- Ratatouille
- Stuffed Zucchini Boats
- Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
- Best Veggie Burger
- Easy Black Bean Burger
- Best Vegan Meatballs
- Or any of these 60 Easy Dinner Ideas or 85 Best Vegan Recipes!
Falafel
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked chickpeas, soaked 24 hours, drained, rinsed, and patted dry* (see note)
- ½ cup chopped shallot or yellow onion
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves and stems, patted dry
- 1 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves and stems, patted dry
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
For serving
- Pita bread, use gluten-free pita if needed
- Hummus
- Diced veggies, tomato, cucumber
- Fresh herbs, chopped parsley, fresh mint
- Pickled Red Onions
- Tahini Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large food processor, place the chickpeas (note: the chickpeas will have expanded during the soak time, be sure to use ALL of them here), shallot, garlic, lemon zest, cumin, coriander, salt, cayenne, baking powder, cilantro, parsley, and olive oil. Pulse until well combined but not pureed. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Use a 2-tablespoon scoop and your hands to form the mixture into 12 to 15 thick patties (be careful not to pack them too tight or your falafel will be dense). If they're not holding together, give the mixture a few more pulses in the food processor.
- Place the patties on the baking sheet. Drizzle generously with olive oil (this is the key to making these moist and crisp since we're not frying) and bake for 14 minutes. Flip and bake for 10 to 12 minutes more or until golden brown and crisp on the outside. During the last few minutes of baking, wrap the pita in foil and warm in the oven.
- Assemble pitas with a slather of hummus, diced veggies, falafel, herbs, pickled red onions, and generous drizzles of tahini sauce.
Notes
Do you soak the chickpeas at room temperature, or do you put in the fridge? Thanks!
Hi Meghan, I usually soak them in the fridge.
Can I make these ahead of time and refrigerate until cooking? Have you tried using the airfryer? Thanks, I can’t wait to make them
Hi Kate, I think that should be fine. I haven’t tried them in the air fryer, but I think they’d turn out well (not exactly sure of the time and temp without trying).
This was absolutely delicious and very easy to make with a good processor. I doubled the recipe and hit 18 quite large falafels. The smell while they were baking was heavenly!
I’m so glad you loved them!
I really want to make these tonight but only have canned chickpeas! What will the difference be in the result? Thanks!
I found these easy to make and delicious. I baked them in my ninja flip, they came out crispy. I soaked the chickpeas for 10 hours.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Just quick wondering how to get the nutritional information for your recipes – especially calories? Do you have those somewhere on your website?
Thank you! Have your cookbooks and love your recipes!
Me too – looking for nutritional information on this!
Hi Jen, I’m sorry, we don’t calculate nutrition info but you can plug the ingredients into a site like my fitness pal.
These were by far the best falafels I’ve ever had…and I usually purchase falafels at two local family owned Mediterranean delis known for their falafel wraps!!!!
I just purchased your newest cookbook, arrived yesterday and I’m very excited to start cooking.
Thank you!!
Hi there- looking forward to making these! Wondering: could the baked falafel be frozen to store longer and reheated later? Just wondering if I can make a big batch, given I have more than 1 cup of dry chickpeas, and freeze the leftovers… please let me know!!
Hi Nicole, yep, they freeze great! Bake them as instructed, freeze them and then you can reheat them in the microwave if you want them quickly (they’re not as crisp, but still great on a salad)… or bake them in the oven drizzled with a little olive oil until they’re warmed through and they’ll crisp back up.
Just made this for dinner. It was amazing. I am planning to make it again tomorrow as I have more chickpeas (I soaked 2 cups worth overnight). Awesome recipe 🙂
Hi! I am super excited to make this but have a question – you say 1 cup uncooked chickpeas soaked overnight. Is this 1 cup of the dry unsoaked? Or 1 cup worth once the chickpeas have soaked and expanded?
Hi Rachel, one cup dry before soaking. Then you’ll use all of the expanded chickpeas in the recipe.
These were amazing! Easy to make, great texture and very tasty. It took at LOT of blending before the dough finally held together but we didn’t give up or give into the temptation to add additional liquid, and it did work.
I’m so glad you loved the falafel!
Very delicious! Loved that it was NOT dry and baked! Made homemade bread to serve it on too!!
I’m so glad you loved it!
Such flavor! What a delicious recipe. The falafel had a great crunch and paired with lettuce parsley and bell peppers the crunch was not lost in the mix. Most importantly was the Tahini sauce, it was just so delightful to the palate. One important thing: don’t forget you need a food processor. I tried a blender and failed. So I mashed and chopped until it was the right consistency to hold together and what a success! My wife peaked in half way through preparing and turned up her nose. After dinner she raved!
I’m so glad your falafel turned out so well!
I had half of the recipes ingredients left since the mashing was so time consuming. The next day I bought a new food processor and it made life so much easier. I pulsed down to a better texture and it was even better the second day. Ive fallen in love with your site as we are trying to have a more vegan diet.
I’m so glad you’ve been loving the recipes!
I never ever leave comments on recipes, but dang, this is THAT good. I’ve spent years trying to make falafel at home and have always failed. This recipe worked perfectly, and tastes delicious. I’m done struggling with the deep fryer and will come back to this again!
Hi Rachel, I’m so glad you loved it!
This is an amazing recipe! I don’t deep fry so I was looking for a recipe for falafel to bake. The flavors are spot on so I won’t change anything next time I make them, and there will be many next times! The lemon zest compliments the other flavors. The texture is meat-like and the patties held together well.
Now I’m thinking about other ways I might innovate with soaked, raw, ground chickpeas. Add to veggie patties or veggie loaf? Make breakfast patties flavored with traditional sausage seasonings? How about Italian meatballs to serve with spaghetti and tomato based sauce? This opens up a whole new world for someone who eats Whole Food Plant Based (vegan with minimal processed foods). Thank you for this great recipe!
Hi. My patties turned into little dry mounds because I could not get things to hold together. The mixture was quite wet. I even pulsed a few more times but it didn’t seem to help. I must have done something wrong but I can’t figure it out. Any ideas?
Delicious! Do you have nutritional values for the falafel?
They were delicious, easy to follow recipe. I put olive oil on the parchment paper before putting them on, worked well
Loved this recipe. I want to do it again for tonight but forgot that I need to soak the chickpeas for full 24 hours. Can I soak them for less? Say 4 hours?
I don’t think 4 will be enough – I’d say 8-12 would be the minimum but I’m not sure I’ve tried it that early.
You can do a quick soak. Place the chickpeas in a pot, cover with water up to 2” above chickpeas, bring everything to a boil. Boil for 1 min, remove from heat and let sit for 1 hour. After the hour, drain and rinse the chickpeas.
It works great if you forget to soak ahead of time (like I always do)
I followed the recipe and I am so glad I did. These are some of the best falafels I’ve had in a long time and pretty simple to put together which is always a bonus. They felt a bit delicate and I was worried they’d just crumble but after baking they were perfect! I had no idea the secret was soaked chickpeas instead of canned but it definitely makes a huge difference in texture.
Hi Stephanie, I’m so glad you loved the falafel!