Healthy Baked Falafel Recipe

This is the best simple, quick, & easy baked falafel recipe! It comes together in a few minutes using canned or dried chickpeas and is sure to delight any crowd! Homemade, healthy, gluten-free, authentic dinner or snack.

I love this falafel recipe. We’ve been making them for over ten years. Our kids won’t eat them, but they are great for a date night. We also make them sometimes and bake some chicken nuggets for the kids.

How to Make Healthy Baked Falafel

1. Prepare the aromatics. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil or butter in a medium skillet. Sauté the onions and garlic until they are crisp tender.
2. Add the ingredients to the blender. Combine half of the onions and garlic, most of the chickpeas, parsley, eggs, salt and pepper, cumin, coriander, cayenne, baking powder, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in your blender, reserving about half of the onion mixture and a few handfuls of chick peas in a small bowl.
3. Liquify the ingredients. Pulse the ingredients in the blender until the mixture is smooth. You may need to add water to thin the mixture enough that your blender can process it, but add only a little water at a time. If you add too much water, you’ll ruin your chick pea mixture.
4. Add some texture to the batter. Once the mixture is smooth and well blended, remove most of it from the blender. Add in the reserved onions, garlic, and chick peas and pulse until just barely chopped. Add to the smooth mixture. This will give the batter a nice texture.
5. Prepare the batter for baking. Add breadcrumbs to the batter 1/4 cup at a time, until the batter is thick enough to hold its shape when formed into a ball. Don’t add more breadcrumbs that are necessary to get the right consistency.
6. Bake the falafel. Using a medium cookie scoop, form golfball-sized mounds of dough in a shallow baking dish. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until deep golden brown.

When you make these falafels, you absolutely must make the tzatziki sauce that goes with them. Having them without is like eating plain dry spaghetti noodles. Maybe you like dry spaghetti noodles, but I promise that they’re better with sauce. These are just like that.

This meatless meal pairs really nicely with these vegetarian side dishes:

• Garlic Roasted Asparagus with Parmesan Cheese
• Oven Roasted Red Beets with Low Carb Balsamic Glaze and Feta Cheese
• How to Roast Frozen Brussel Sprouts

Print Recipe

Healthy Baked Falafel Recipe

This is the best simple, quick, & easy baked falafel recipe! It comes together in a few minutes using canned or dried chickpeas and is sure to delight any crowd! Homemade, healthy, gluten-free, authentic dinner or snack.

Course

Gluten-free, Main Course, Main Dish

Cuisine

Mediterranean

Prep Time

20 minutes

Passive Time

30 minutes

Servings

servings

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 16 oz chick peas In the original recipe, I said that you would definitely want to use dried chick peas because they taste oh so much better. That requires soaking the dried peas overnight and then boiling them for an hour before beginning the falafels. Who has time for that? Not me, not at this stage of my life. So we use canned. You won't die, I promise.
• 2 cups water If you cooked your chick peas from dried, you should use the cooking liquid. Otherwise, drinking water will be fine.
• 2 medium onions chopped
• 2 cloves garlic pressed or minced
• 1 tablespoon parsley
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 cup plain breadcrumbs

Course Gluten-free, Main Course, Main Dish Cuisine Mediterranean Prep Time 20 minutes Passive Time 30 minutes Servings servings Ingredients 4 tablespoons olive oil divided 16 oz chick peas In the original recipe, I said that you would definitely want to use dried chick peas because they taste oh so much better. That requires soaking the dried peas overnight and then boiling them for an hour before beginning the falafels. Who has time for that? Not me, not at this stage of my life. So we use canned. You won't die, I promise. 2 cups water If you cooked your chick peas from dried, you should use the cooking liquid. Otherwise, drinking water will be fine. 2 medium onions chopped 2 cloves garlic pressed or minced 1 tablespoon parsley 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 3 tablespoons lemon juice 1 cup plain breadcrumbs

Instructions

1. Sauté the onions and garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until they are crisp tender.
2. Combine everything except the water and breadcrumbs in your blender, reserving about half of the onion mixture and a few handfuls of chick peas in a small bowl.
3. Pulse the ingredients in the blender until the mixture is smooth. You may need to add water to thin the mixture enough that your blender can process it. Add a little water at a time. If you add too much water, you'll ruin your chick pea mixture.
4. Once the mixture is smooth and well blended, remove most of it from the blender. Add in the reserved onions, garlic, and chick peas and pulse until just barely chopped. Add to the smooth mixture. This will give the batter a nice texture.
5. Add breadcrumbs to the batter 1/4 cup at a time, until the batter is thick enough to hold its shape when formed into a ball.
6. Using a cookie scoop, form golfball-sized mounds of dough in a shallow baking dish. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until deep golden brown.

Recipe Notes

When you make these falafels, you absolutely must make the tzatziki sauce that goes with them. Having them without is like eating plain dry spaghetti noodles. Maybe you like dry spaghetti noodles, but I promise that they're better with sauce. These are just like that.

You will need a medium cookie scoop and a shallow baking dish to prepare this recipe.

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