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
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.
The flavor was wonderful but ours turned out super dry. I did have to make it in the Ninja blender and couldn’t get a smooth consistency though they held together well. My hubs just suggested more olive oil in the mixture. I also made the suggested sauce which was fabulous! Helped with the dryness LOL.
I’m sorry to hear that! Unfortunately, sometimes the chickpeas can vary.
any mention of cooking these in an air fryer for a crispier texture?
Hi Heather, I didn’t test those methods and think this is a great result! I did several tests to get these just right. :)
No worries .. I’m dealing with a broken oven so looking for alternative cooking methods for Superbowl Sunday haha
Powered through to make a double batch of these using my 1.5 cup food processor! Was worth it, they’re quite yummy. Thanks, Kate.
Would like to make. I can buy fresh raw chickpeas in the grocery store. Do you think they would work?
Hi JoAnn! You don’t want to use dried and then soak them? I’m not sure I can help you. I don’t have a recipe for that.
Okay, I made this yesterday. Most disappointing. The patties do NOT stick together. What I was going to bring as a “gift” of sorts to someone in need, has now morphed into crumbles which I will use on MY salads.
Awesome recipe! These were super easy and super tasty. I made a batch for a dinner party last night and they were so good I had to make more today.
I’m glad you loved it, Becky!
I found using toasted sesame oil instead of olive oil worked a charm! I also made the mixture as a base, then tried different flavours mixed in all of which turned out great (chilli powder in one, sultanas in another, and sweet potato in the third). Thanks for the recipe.
Falafel Is The Best Dish i love how you make the way and how you write the recipe
Made these last night and they were amazing! I’ve tried making baked falafel before but found them to be incomparable to the falafel I loved. Not the case with these! These will definitely be on regular rotation now.
Thank you!
I’m glad you love these, Angel! I appreciate your comment and review.
I was really excited about these and soaked the chickpeas for 5-6 hours but my falafels still turned out so dry and hard. Maybe I overcooked/baked them. Will try again and see if I have better luck!
Good flavor. Maybe a little too much cinnamon. Give a scant pinch. The patties stuck to my pan despite a quarter cup of olive oil.. I will use nonstick pans next time.
I’m sorry this recipe wasn’t perfect fo you, Jordan! I appreciate your feedback.
SO DELICIOUS! When I formed the falafel patties I was nervous because the mixture was pretty wet and suuuper delicate but I trusted the process and they came out amazing! Not wet at all. Crispy. Wonderful. Our pita was not opening very well for pockets so we made a falafel pizzas of sorts… just piled everything on top of a warm pita and went at it with a fork and knife. I have leftover chickpeas so will likely make this again in a couple of days. And every week from now on lol Great recipe. Chef husband loved it too
Hello from South Africa. We’re looking to cut down on meat and this falafel recipe is very useful. Enkosi (thank you!)
I really love the flavor of these and the ease of recipe creation. Not sure if it was user error but my falafels didn’t hold together the best post-baking.
Hi Kate,
Going to try this (I’ve never made falafel). I always read comments for a recipe before attempting to address any pitfalls. Looks like sufficiently soaking the chickpeas is the only tough part. I’m curious how soft do you want the chickpeas to be? Like can you mush between your fingers soft? Less? Thanks!
Hi Adrieann! Great question. They won’t be complete mush, but soft so they are workable. If that make sense? There will still be some texture when you blend.
I have not made this specific recipe, but I have used your oven cooking method for falafel. So good, gets them crispy like I like, but without the mess of cooking on the stove. Thank you!
I love your site! I have tried a few recipes so far And the have ALL been amazing! Even my partner is looking at the recipes even though a big meat eater. Looking forward to making these in a bit!
Thank you for sharing this great recipe. Appreciate it!
I love the falafels…taste awesome and very easy to make!
Excellent recipe. I love falafels and have eaten many so I know a good one. This recipe is fantastic. Thank you!
hi!
Just found your site and about to try this falafel recipe, looks really easy.
I did have a question about nutrition, its listed as 20g fat for only 3 patties, is this correct?
Are these greasy? In the video for this recipe, it didn’t look like the patties absorb all the oil on the pan. They looked crispy but not greasy.
(I’m guessing the nutrition took the 1/4 cup oil called for in the recipe and then just divided it by the 12 portioned patties)
Thanks in advance for any input!
Hi there! You’re right, the fat content is probably somewhat inflated because it’s hard to know how much oil stays on the pan vs. sticks to the falafel.
This recipe is wonderful and was a huge hit at home across 3 generations. I stress tested it for future use by frying some, oven baking some, freezing some before -frying/baking and doing it a few days later. They tasted excellent regardless.
Awesome, as usual! Everyone loved them. I made the dressing you suggested serving them with, it was very good! I think I just need to go ahead and buy your cookbook since I’ve been making your recipes almost daily!
I have used this recipe many times and love it. The only thing I change is instead of the 1/4 cup of oil on the pan I use parchment paper. I double the recipe for leftovers to snack on with a little sour cream. Thanks for this recipe.
Thanks for sharing, Amy!
What a crap recipe. No measurements for use outside the USA, totally inauthentic recipe, how the hell you get cinnamon in there I have no idea… and baked? Srsly? Baked? Totally useless recipe.
Hi Joe, I’m sorry to hear this recipe frustrates you.
I always love your recipes. I cook exclusively from your site and cookbook. Unfortunately, this recipe didn’t turn out. I followed step by step. I used dried chickpeas and soaked overnight. The mixture won’t form a ball. I feel like I wasted so much food. :(
Oh no! I’m sorry to hear that. One variable that it could be is chickpeas and their freshness. I appreciate your feedback!
I have a very similar recipe, but to shorten the “soak” time for the chickpeas, cook dried ones in the instant pot half way (under low pressure for 15 minutes, wait 5 minutes and pressure release them). Sometimes I bake them, sometimes I fry them. Tasty either way. When I need a bit of flour, I use chickpea flour.
Thank you for sharing, Carrie!
These were great – the only substitution I made was to add dried cilantro as i didn’t have fresh (put in about 2 tbsp). They were my first home-made falafels but it is not the last time I make them! Delicious!
Well, we finally nailed falafel thanks to your recipe and a few notes from another recipe :-) Couple of comments and notes from my trials: the cinnamon was a bit too much for the flavor we wanted, my hubby suggested mint instead or for me less cinnamon. It definitely ruled the flavors. I did add a sprinkle of cayenne to spice it up a bit! We have a terrible food processor, so I took note from another recipe to process the chickpeas separately into a bread crumb-like texture. Then process the other ingredients. That slurry was still too wet, So I did have to add in about 1 cup of chickpeas.
BUT…they smashed together and baked beautifully! They were green in color, super flavorful. YUMMMY
*Of course I also made homemade tzatziki (your recipe) also great. We don’t have lemons-which I do feel this recipe craves real lemons. But lime will have to do! We live in the tropics of Central America we don’t have access to this cuisine and now I can make it anytime with confidence.
Hooray! I’m glad you finally had it. I’m sorry you didn’t love all the spice combinations. But, I’m happy you were able to adjust to your taste and that they turned out great for you.
Loved this recipe. Came out perfectly. The only change I had to make was to swap fresh coriander for fresh mint, as that was all I had. I think it might have been a bit dry without the lovely tahini sauce.
One word. DELICIOUS!
Thank you, Annelies!
This turned out great! Excellent with a tahini yogurt sauce!
This falafel doesn’t taste like falafel at all. poorly balanced flavors, no crispness, floury and mushy inside. Definitely missing frying oil. Would not recommend even to vegans.
i just love it :) was the greats falafel i taste :)
Loved this recipe too. I ended up baking some and frying some on the stove with a little EVOO. They were both very good.
Has any one used a blender to make these as I don’t have a food processor here?
Hi Sue! If you have a higher power blender, that may work. However, there may not be enough liquid for it to process correctly. Let me know how it works for you!
No it does not work as the blender is just the wrong tool for the job. I will have to wait till we get home to enjoy these again. Thank You!
It really turned out great! crispy on the outside and fluffy within!
Thanks a lot for the recipe
Hello!
I bought dried Desi chickpeas by mistake. Will these still work for this recipe or do I need the Kabuli type?
Thank you!
Hey Rashell! I’m sorry, I’ve never worked with Desi chickpeas, so haven’t tried them with this recipe. They may or may not work. The Kabuli type will work!
These falafels were so easy and so tasty!! We had them for dinner two nights ago and my husband loved them so much that he decided to heat leftovers up for breakfast. we found that falafels aren’t the best breakfast food, but they are great for lunch and dinner! :) Thank you for another great recipe
This is hands down one my husbands favourites and he’s super picky. These are fairly easy to make! I use a cookie scoop to portion them out. Its a perfect recipe. I didn’t make any modifications. I did soak my chickpeas for about 12 hours.
I ended up making homemade pita with this recipe!
hi…wondering if the !/4 cup of olive oil goes in the mix or just the spoonful and the rest is for coating the baking sheet?
thank you !!!
Hi! You only use the 1 tbs in the recipe. The other goes on the baking sheet.
A total disaster. Despite following the recipe and quantities as outlined, the mixture ended up so dry that it was impossible to shape them. I ended up with a tray of a crumbly mess.
I tried this recipe, unfortunately the Falafel remained very hard. I soaked the chickpeas for 4 Hours, because I didn’t have more time and some were stilll hard to bite after remaining in the oven. Was the soaking time not Long enough or do you have any other solution for this Problem? The actual taste was quite nice.
Hi Jana! I’m sorry to hear that. Sometimes the chickpeas just vary and only way to get around it is soaking for longer, unfortunately. That’s what it sounds like here.
Yum! My boyfriend is from Egypt and he LOVES these! He was so excited when we were eating them and said that they taste a lot like the authentic Egyptian ones (other than how Egyptian falafels use fava beans). We are definitely adding this to our weekend favorites. Thank you for all of your great recipes!
Would I be able to substitute the fresh herbs for dried ones? I realized I forgot the fresh parsley and cilantro when I went to the store yesterday, and I’m trying to limit my trips out of the house. Thanks!
Hello! I haven’t tried it in this one, but check out this post https://capital-fly.pro/food-storage-tips/%3C/a%3E on how to substitute. Let me know!
Made Falafel today! Wonderful! My husband’s eyebrows went up with the first bite. Did not have Cilantro, but used Culantro from my herb garden. Used a little less olive oil on pan to bake. Soaked beans more than 12 hours and after adding fresh water brought them to boil on stove while I chopped the other ingredients. Had no problem with them holding together. Made the recommended tahini dressing and it zinged! Thanks for recipe!!
Turned out great.
Made this recipe today for the first time and it is AMAZING! It will definitely become a staple for my family! Thanks and I look forward to trying more of your recipes! Thanks a ton!
I’m glad you all loved it and it will be a new staple for your family, Fran. I appreciate your review!
Delicious! a little bit dry but I guess that’s how it’s supposed to be :)
Mmm, I’m going to try this with potato flatbread, A good meal cooked completely from scratch
Thank you for the recipe. The falafel were delicious but I would like to warm people as I got very bad food poisoning from the chickpeas. I followed the advice and presoaked the beans for 12 hours, however I do not have a food processor and my blender didn’t fully break down the chickpeas which meant there were still some entire beans in my finished falafel. They tasted great! But the following morning I started vomitting and continued all day. I can’t say 100% that it was a result of the chickpeas but my guess is because they weren’t broken down properly in the blender they were still poisonous. Be careful!
I normally love all of Cookie and Kate’s Recipes but unfortunately this one fell flat for me today. The cinnamon was too strong for the falafel and I felt like while you weren’t deep frying it, there was still a lot of oil used. With that said I have had baked falafel before, and this was the least dry of all of them.
I’m sorry to hear that, Vanessa! You can try to reduce the cinnamon, if you want to make these again. I appreciate your feedback!