Crispy Falafel
This crispy baked falafel recipe is so easy to make and tastes incredible! Serve your falafel in pita sandwiches or salads. Gluten free.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
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Raise your hand if you love falafel! I’ve gone back into the archives to highlight my all-time favorite homemade falafel recipe. Making falafel at home can be tricky, but this recipe is easy.
Six reasons to love this healthy falafel recipe:
- These falafels are golden brown and crispy on the outside. The insides are tender, delicious, and full of fresh herbs.
- They’re baked instead of fried, so they contain significantly less fat than fried falafel. And your house won’t smell like fried food for days. Winning!
- Once your chickpeas are sufficiently soaked, the falafel mixture comes together in no time. If you have someone to help shape the patties, they’ll come together even faster.
- These falafels are gluten free and vegan, so they’re a great party appetizer.
- These falafels freeze well, so they’re a fantastic protein-rich option to keep on hand for future salads and pita sandwiches.
- On that note, this recipe is easily doubled! See recipe notes.
Are you convinced yet? Let’s make some falafel!
How to Make the Best Homemade Falafel
Bake it, don’t fry it. I say this because frying requires a lot of sizzling hot oil, and that scares me. I also don’t have a good vent over my oven to take the fried food smell far, far away. Plus, you can use a reasonably amount of heart-healthy olive oil in the baked version.
Coat your rimmed baking sheet with olive oil. That way, you get a fried effect in the oven, and you don’t have to brush the little falafels individually with olive oil. Winning!
Use dried chickpeas, not canned. Canned chickpeas do not work for falafel. They’re far too wet. If you try to use canned chickpeas instead of dried and soaked chickpeas, you’ll end up with sad falafel pancakes. Some recipes try to counteract the wetness by adding flour, which significantly dulls the flavor and makes the texture more doughy.
Soak the dried chickpeas for at least four hours. If your chickpeas aren’t sufficiently softened, you’ll have unpalatably tough pieces of chickpea in your falafel. There’s just no workaround here.
Choose your dried chickpeas wisely. Try to buy your dried chickpeas from a store with high turnover, because old chickpeas need longer to soften. If you have options, pick the chickpeas that are the smallest, since they’ll soften faster.
Watch How to Make Crispy Falafel
Falafel Serving Suggestions
Serve falafel as an appetizer, wrap it into a pita sandwich, or add it to salad for a protein-rich topping. Falafel goes great with any of the following ingredients:
- Pita bread, warmed or toasted (tear it up for pita “croutons”)
- Fresh greens (such as spring greens or chopped romaine)
- Tomatoes, sliced
- Bell peppers, cut into strips
- Cucumber, thinly sliced
- Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
- Raw red onion, thinly sliced, or quick-pickled onions
- Feta cheese, crumbled
- Sauce: Something creamy like tzatziki, hummus, or tahini sauce, and maybe a spicy sauce like zhoug or shatta, too
Here’s a tahini dressing recipe that goes great with this falafel, too:
- 1/4 cup tahini
- Zest and juice of 1 small lemon
- 1 tablespoon white miso
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
- Pinch of cayenne
- 1/3 cup water
In a small food processor, combine all of the ingredients and blend well. You can also whisk the ingredients together by hand in a small bowl, just note that you’ll need to chop the fresh herbs and zest more finely than you would if you were using a food processor.
Please let me know how you like these falafel in the comments! I hope you love them as much as I do. ♥
Crispy Falafel
This homemade falafel recipe is absolutely delicious, and remarkably crispy! Be sure to allow 4 hours soaking time for the chickpeas, preferably overnight. Then, the falafel mixture is super easy to make in a food processor. Recipe yields 12 to 13 falafels (see notes on how to double).
Ingredients
- ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup dried (uncooked/raw) chickpeas, rinsed, picked over and soaked for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator
- ½ cup roughly chopped red onion (about ½ small red onion)
- ½ cup packed fresh parsley (mostly leaves but small stems are ok)
- ½ cup packed fresh cilantro (mostly leaves but small stems are ok)
- 4 cloves garlic, quartered
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon (about 25 twists) freshly ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- With an oven rack in the middle position, preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour ¼ cup of the olive oil into a large, rimmed baking sheet and turn until the pan is evenly coated.
- In a food processor, combine the soaked and drained chickpeas, onion, parsley, cilantro, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Process until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Using your hands, scoop out about 2 tablespoons of the mixture at a time. Shape the falafel into small patties, about 2 inches wide and ½ inch thick. Place each falafel on your oiled pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, carefully flipping the falafels halfway through baking, until the falafels are deeply golden on both sides. These falafels keep well in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for several months.
Notes
Adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook.
Make-ahead option: I haven’t tried this, but the original recipe notes that the uncooked falafel patties can be refrigerated on a parchment-lined baking sheet, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up to 2 hours before baking.
How to double this recipe: Preheat the oven with two oven racks near the center of the oven. Double all of the ingredients. If you have a large food processor (guessing 11+ cup capacity), you can mix all of the ingredients at once. Use two baking sheets, and swap their positions (top to bottom, bottom to top) when you flip the falafel halfway through baking.
Recommended equipment: I love my 11-cup food processor (affiliate link).
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Can I leave out the cilantro and just double the parsley? I’m one of those peeps for whom it tastes like soap.
Sure, if you prefer!
ALTHOUGH! I recently read that cooked cilantro tastes much milder to folks with that genetic trait that makes cilantro taste soapy to them. The cilantro in this recipe is cooked, so it might be worth a try. Me, I kind of feel that some recipes don’t taste “right” without cilantro!
Hi! I came across this recipe after having soaked my chickpeas. What would be the quantity of soaked chickpeas to use? Thanks in advance! Nathalie
I’ve read that chickpeas triple in size after soaking or cooking.
HI Kate, when I googled felafel recipes your recipe popped right up and sounded perfect. When I tried to get the amounts for ingredients and other instructions, there were so many pop up ads I couldn’t get any information. But it said to buy your book to get the recipe, so I did. BUT THE RECIPE isn’t in your book. And on this site I see a video of how to make the felafel, it looks delicious, but again, NO RECIPE! I feel cheated. Please send me the recipe with ingredient amounts! Thank you, Linda Burchfiel lindaburchfiel@gmail.com
Hi Linda, I’m sorry to hear you are frustrated by the ads. You can always exit out of them or choose to not allow ads in your browser. I’m delighted you enjoyed this recipe.
Made this probably about 20 times and today was the first time I messed it up, so it’s almost foolproof! Here’s a reminder to make sure your chickpeas have drained properly….
This was my first attempt at making falafel and the only thing I changed was to add some coriander. They turned out perfect! I used garbanzos from Rancho Gordo soaked for 8 hours. I had some on a salad tonight and plan to make the tahini dipping sauce tomorrow. Pretty sure I can polish these off in no time – no need to freeze the leftovers. Thanks so much for a fantastic recipe!
You’re welcome, Christy! Thank you for your review.
Yum! I made these today and they are delicious! Wish I could leave a photo for you. Made the tahini sauce and a tzatziki sauce.
Can you use canned chickpeas instead of soaking?
This recipe is best as written. I hope you try it!
I think this has the potential to be a good recipe, but one very important note was left out of the recipe. The chickpeas need to be soaked at least overnight, and one should check that they are sufficiently soft by pinching one between your fingers. I made this after soaking the chickpeas for eight hours, and my falafel had a texture equivalent to biting into rocks.
Hi Jeanne, I’m sorry to hear you had issues. I provided a note you may need to soak longer. I appreciate your feedback.
Hi, I’d love to bake my falafels but I think the coat of olive oil under them will burn and fry the food anyway in the oven, creating smoke and fried oil… I fry with just a shallow layer of oil that reaches the middle of the patty, max 5 at a time in a small pan, I don’t get much smell. Actually it is the only think I fry. I make other kinds of vegie burghers in the oven but the falafel is too dry to stay together so I don’t risk that… Thanks for your recipes of middle eastern food, do you do Muhammara too? I also cook my chickpeas from dry in a pressure cooker, after soaking them overnight with baking soda, the skins just float up and one can rinse them away very easily…
Yummy falafel recipe! The instructions said a 1/2 cup each, packed fresh parsley and cilantro, so I really, really crammed it in the half measuring cup and the result was a much greener color the the picture her and, man, they are great! I love that these are baked and not fried. I made a second batch that’s cooking off right now and I’m going to freeze them as you directed so I’ll have on hand. Will definitely make again. Thanks!
Great to hear, Stephanie!
Came out great! Have been looking for a good falafel recipe for a long time. This is the best! Only issue I had was the volume was a bit much for my little food processor. Will make it in 2 batches next time.
I’ve made this recipe several times. Just tried it in my new air fryer. Worked great! I put parchment paper on the grill plate and had no issues with sticking. Fried them at 400 for 20 mins. Flipped halfway through. I like them nice and crispy, but if you prefer less crispy then a lower temp would be better.
Very tasty in a wrap or salad with tzatziki, tomato, cucumber, red onion, feta, and pickles!
That sounds delicious, Sherri!
I made these falafels yesterday. The recipe is perfect! Definitely the best falafels I have ever made. But I was too impatient to bake them so I fried them instead. They turned out beautifully.
I will bake them the next time and leave a comment when I do.
These were so good and easy to make – wouldn’t change a thing!
That’s great to hear, Jill!
Absolutely delicious recipe! Have made it about 15-20 times and the flavor is always fantastic. Small issue – the falafel is consistently not moldable. I cannot get them to hold a shape or form. Rather they crumble when applying them to the sheet pan. Any suggestions on what I’m doing to cause this?
I’m sorry to hear that. How long are you soaking the chickpeas? Are your chickpeas old?
The chickpeas are recently purchased from the store and my soak on them is 24+ hours. I sometimes add a small amount of flour and that firms them up but it minimizes the flavor quite a bit. Maybe the soak time is too long? Thanks for your help – I use your website often and have purchased your book as a gift to a friend. She was quite happy to receive it!
Did the seem to have some give? That will be the test. If they are still really hard, then they aren’t quite soft. Unfortunately, dried beans can sit on store shelves for awhile and can vary. Thank you for your support, Ryan!
Thank you for demystifying falafel for me! Easy and delicious. I sprinkled sesame seeds on top before baking. This recipe is absolutely a keeper!
Great to hear you enjoyed it, JBF!
Do you preheat the baking sheet with the oil on it before placing the falafels on the sheet?
No need to preheat. I hope you love this recipe, Karen!
I recently tried boiled peanuts for the first time, and it occurred to me how similar their texture was to chickpeas, so I had the idea to try a boiled peanut falafel. I used this recipe, substituting raw peanuts in place of dried chickpeas that I then boiled for almost 3 hours before processing with the other ingredients. Believe it or not, the falafel turned out great! It honestly mostly just tastes like falafel but with a hint of nuttiness, almost as if it was cooked with peanut oil. Anyway, had to share my findings – thanks for a great recipe!
How long do you think these would stay good in the freezer after being cooked?
Hi Liz, Typically food is good for 3-6 months before it starts to deteriorate.
Yummy! Didn’t have all ingredients so modified flavours slightly. Turned out really well
Love it. It came really well
I love this recipe, but I do find the falafel a little dry. Any tips to make them a bit less dry?
You could try to bake less next time. Or try soaking your chickpeas a little longer next time.
Do you freeze it after it’s baked and how do you warm it up after it’s frozen?
Yes, best frozen once baked. I recommend to thaw in refrigerator then gently warm up.
These are so delicious, we decided we needed to invest in a food processor and we’re on our second batch this week.
Thank you!
You’re welcome, Mara!
Hi kate!
These look delicious! I was wondering if you could make these in a blender rather than food processor?
Thanks!
Sure, just follow the instructions on consistency!
This is my absolute favourite falafel recipe! I do find that the falafel mixture gets watery by the end of making the balls. To combat this… I first put the onion through the food processor and then squeeze out the water in a produce bag with holes. I also dab the balls a bit with a paper towel if there is too much moisture.
Love this recipe!
These came out so good! I added extra garlic and used ghost pepper salt. Thank you!!!
You’er welcome Jennifer!
This recipe was so easy to follow and it turned out absolutely delicious! Loved the advice about the pickled onions- I thought it really made the dish!
That’s great to hear, Madonna!
Our falafels are falling apart. Any trick to make them stay in patties?
Oh no! What did you decide to do?
I just made these for the first time and was astounded at how well they turned out. The seasoning is perfect and I can’t wait to try them on pita with hummus and/or tahini sauce (all of which I am out of). They are a little dry and crumbly, so I’m wondering what I can do to make them bake up a little moister without turning them into glop. Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome, Dan!