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
- Author:
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes (plus 4-hour soaking time)
- Yield: 12 falafels 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Middle Eastern
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).
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Stephanie
Wow, I tried your recipe for the first time and these falafels are amazing. I doubled the recipe. The fisrt ones I ate were in a pita with romain lettuce and plain greek yogourt. It might seems plain, for a pita sandwich, but it was soooo tasty! Thank you!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Stephanie!
Debra Zantman
Hi Kate,
I made a trip to Whole Foods last night to buy dry organic chickpeas. I had never used them before. I soaked them for 19hrs in the refrigerator. I made the Falafel tonight for dinner. DELISH!! The mixture was nice and moist and when i flipped them not a single one fell apart. The taste was great! I now can enjoy Falafel more often at home. Thank you so much.
Kate
Hooray! I’m glad you enjoyed it, Debra. I appreciate your review.
DAVE
I would “feel awful” if I didn’t write a 5-star review for these crispy nuggets. I made them exactly as the recipe calls for. I was a bit worried that the patties were too moist when forming them, but they turned out GREAT after baking. I left them in the back of the oven a bit longer to brown properly…like 5 minutes or so. They are perfectly crispy and SO much better for a salad than the hard, fried versions. Awesome, light and full of flavor..!
★★★★★
Kate
Hooray! I’m happy you loved them, Dave.
Aliosha
I made these falafels and we loved them. The only difficult part was shaping them… mine looked like cookies! But the taste is to die for.
★★★★★
Peggy
This is so good – made the felafel salad and dressing and absolutely loved it. Put it in a pita for my husband and he loved it too. Will definitely make it often!
★★★★★
Kate
Great to hear, Peggy! Thank you for your review.
Steph
I’ve had fantastic luck with this recipe (thanks Kate!) with canned chickpeas + a bit of chickpea flour to help dry out the mixture. I can go from plugging in the food processor to sliding a tray in the oven in less than 10 minutes. No soaking (or advance planning) needed!
★★★★★
Hannah Brown
What ratio did you use of canned chickpeas to chickpea flour?
Maria Gutierrez
This is the most amazing recipe for falafel. I loved the oven way! I made it today and my home is smell free! Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Maria! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
Eva
I doubled the recipe but it only made 12 patties. Maybe the 2 tbs measurement was too big? Also, I shouldn’t have doubled the salt. My mistake. The sauce to go with them is also delicious.
★★★★
Stacy
Question– I did not measure my beans before soaking. Do you have the proportion for soaked chickpeas?
Kate
Hi! Pre saoked. I hope that helps!
Kristin
Amazing falafel recipe! This falafel recipe is spot on. They were not dry, stayed together when cooked, tasted great and the are crispy despite being baked. I served them with pita bread, tzatziki, hummus and romaine lettuce. Highly recommended.
★★★★★
Lisa
Hi, I love the way the falafels are fried on the oiled baking sheet. I haven’t been sticking strictly to this recipe, but applying the idea of adding enough oil to the mixture and the baking sheet plus a lot of fresh herbs makes a big difference with any recipe. I’ve got four kids so not frying them the traditional way saves so much time, oil and nerves. :)
★★★★★
Tammy
Wow! Great falafel. I made it this recipe for dinner tonight and the falafel came out perfectly — firm and tasty. I had my doubts when, half-way through cooking, they were still pretty moist and floppy and hard to flip over, but I ended up baking them about 10 minutes longer than the suggested time and they came out golden and perfect. Thanks for another delicious recipe.
Mabel Miller
Made these excellent falafels countless times. I include whatever is around – spinach, dill, hot peppers, spring onions – always great. A small ice cream style scooper makes prep easy. They freeze well. Thank you !
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Mabel! I’m happy you enjoyed them.
Bree
Hi Kate! These were excellent! Falafel is my favorite food and I have never attempted to make it. The flavor was amazing and I will for sure being making this again and again. I do have a question, however. I soaked my chickpeas for 8 hours and when I formed the patties I had a hard time getting them to stick together and flipping them was tricky. Perhaps, I made the mixture too wet somehow? I love this recipe and can’t wait to make it again so any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
★★★★★
Sarah Schtakleff
Thank you for an amazing recipe! We make these at least once per week and they come out perfectly every time.
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, Sarah! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
Nona
My first try at falafel. So good!!! I made your tahini sauce recipe with it. Yum!
★★★★★
lisaannjohnson
This is the most awesome dinner I have made in a long time… and NO meat since it is Good Friday! Thanks!!
lisa j.
Jacqueline
They are super yummy! I just struggle with them sticking to the pan and then I try to get them off and they fall a part a bit. :( Tips?
★★★★★
Kate
Hi! I’m sorry to hear that Are you sure there is oil getting under the patties? That should help. Let me know how it turns out next time!
Cheryl Kline
Truly awesome recipe, the falafels with your Tahini sauce. I usually don’t write reviews, but just wanted to let you know that I’ve prepared several of your recipes and they have always been TOPS. Thank you.
Kate
I’m glad you did! Thank you for your review.
Judy
Absolutely amazing!!! It definitely makes a difference not using the canned chickpeas and baking them not frying. Thanks!!!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
Upali Peiris (Mr.)
A huge thank you Kate from Singapore. Wonderful recipe. Delicious. Being a vegetarian and a health conscious person, I loved the baking part instead of deep frying. I also just brushed a bit of olive oil on the baking tray instead of a 1/4 cup. Thanks again. Cheers