Lebanese Falafel Recipe
This authentic Lebanese falafel recipe is the best homemade vegan falafel. Serve it as a falafel wrap with tahini sauce for an amazing meal!
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry chickpeas must be dried chickpeas, cannot be canned
- 1 cup peeled, dried fava beans (or frozen) cannot be canned
- 1 large onion
- ½ cup fresh cilantro
- ¾ cup fresh parsley
- 2 teas salt
- 2 teas cumin
- 1 ½ teas ground coriander
- 1-2 Tbls flour all purpose
- 1 teas crushed red pepper
- ½ teas pepper
- 1 teas sesame seeds (optional, I don't use them)
- 1 teas baking soda
- 1 ½ cups oil for frying corn, peanut, or vegetable oil
- water for soaking the beans
Instructions
For soaking the beans
- In a large mixing bowl, add the dried beans and fill with cold water nearly to the top of the bowl *see note #1 below on beans
- Soak the beans for 18-24 hours, until they double in size and become softer
- Drain the beans of all of the water
For making the falafel mixture
- Add the soaked and drained beans to a food processor along with the coarsely chopped onion
- Pulse the beans and onion together until it combines and creates a coarse mixture
- Add the cilantro, parsley and spices (but not the baking soda) and process together until it becomes a grainy paste. It should not be completely like a paste, but it should still have some substance to it
- Chill the falafel batter in the fridge for at least 2 hours. The falafel mixture can be chilled for up to 3 days before forming into balls and frying. *see Note #2 on freezing falafel mixture
- After the batter is chilled, gently stir in the baking soda. Heat the oil in a frying pan medium-high heat until hot enough to fry (test a little batter to make sure it is heated up enough, but not too much)
- Form the falafel mixture into 1 inch balls right before dropping into the hot oil
- As you form the falafel patties, gently drop them into the hot oil about 4 at a time. Let them fry for 2-3 minutes on each side and flip it to make it even.
- The falafels should brown up nicely on the outside and have a fluffy green center
- With a slotted spoon, remove the fried falafel balls from the oil and drain on paper towels until all of the falafel mixture is done
- Serve the falafels in pita bread with falafel sauce (link to recipe in post). Falafel wraps are traditionally served with sliced tomatoes, pickles and falafel sauce.
Notes
- *Note #1- You can use all chickpeas or a mixture of chickpeas and fava beans (which is traditionally Lebanese), but make sure that you use dried beans. If you use canned beans, this recipe will fail and the falafels will not fry correctly.
- *Note #2- The falafel mixture can be frozen with one of these 2 methods
- Method 1- freeze the batter in a freezer safe bag for up to 3 months. Thaw the batter in the fridge for several hours. When it is thawed, add the baking soda and proceed to fry the falafel according to the directions above
- Method 2- Add the baking soda and prepare the balls. Place the balls on a cookie sheet and into the freezer until frozen. After they are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag. No need to defrost them before frying. You can fry them in the oil, just make sure they get done through all the way
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!