Tasty, crunchy and kid approved it’s also so simple to make.It uses freshly chopped herbs, cooked chickpeas and mild spices. The falafels are cooked in a little oil until golden and crunchy.
You can make them as bitesize balls or turn them into fun shapes using cookie cutters!
Summary
Prep: 20 minutes
Cooking: 10 minutes
Ages: Toddlers to Teens
Difficulty: Easy peasy
Makes: 10 falafels
What are the ingredients for falafel?
There’s a large variety of falafel recipes out there. But all include one key ingredient: cooked chickpeas. Alongside that they also have crushed garlic cloves and fresh chopped herbs such as parsley and sometimes mint.
How to make Greek falafels
This Greek falafel recipe is so simple and uses a few fresh ingredients. It’s even suitable for vegans. You blend together the cooked chickpeas, herbs, spring onions and parsley in a food processor. Then you empty it into a bowl and add some mild spices along with some flour and mix until you get quite a dense ‘dough’.
Shape the dough into balls or even into fun shapes like stars and hearts, using cookie cutters.
Fry them in about 1 cm of oil. (We’ve tried oven-baking them but they don’t end up as crunchy and can be quite dry so we much preferred the lightly fried version). And then serve them up with hummus, yogurt or a herby tzatziki.
Can you make falafel without a food processor?
We’ve made ours using a food processor as it blends the ingredients really thoroughly so we would recommend using one.
If you’re not using a food processor we would strongly advise you take the time to finely dice all the ingredients and to mash the chick peas. You want to end up with a nice dense dough at the end that has all the ingredients well distributed.
Can I use canned chickpeas for falafel?
We’ve made this recipe using both canned chickpeas and freshly cooked chickpeas. We prefer the taste of chickpeas that are cooked from scratch. These do take a long time to boil so we often make them in advance. But canned chickpeas work very well too. You may need to adjust the quantity of flour that you add, until you get the right dough consistency.
Crispy Greek falafel recipe
Ingredients
- 2 spring onions, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 15 grams fresh parsley leaves
- 550 grams cooked chick peas (about 3 ⅓ cups)
- 1 teaspoon mild paprika
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon mixed spice
- 2 tablespoons self-raising flour
- 240 mls vegetable oil (1 cup)
Instructions
- Blend together the spring onions, garlic and parsley leaves in a food processor.
- Add in the chickpeas and blend again.
- Empty the mixture into a mixing bowl and add in the paprika, turmeric and mixed spice along with 2 tablespoons self-raising flour.
- Mix it with your hands until it’s well combined.
- Take a ball of the mixture and press it together with your hands until it sticks together. The mixture should no longer be crumbly but instead it should be very dense.
- Place the ball on a floured, flat working surface and push it down with the palm of your hand to flatten it.
- Take a cookie cutter and cut out your chosen shape for your falafel. You can make these falafels in any shape you like, or simply keep them as round balls or patties too.
- Place the cut-out falafel on a plate to one side. Continue with the next ball until you’ve shaped all the dough.
- Pour 240mls (1 cup) vegetable oil into a frying pan. The oil should be about 1 cm deep in the pan so adjust the amount of oil to your pan size.
- Heat it on a medium heat until the oil is hot.
- Using cooking tongs pick up each falafel and place it in the oil. Continue adding them until the pan is full, with some space between each one.
- Cook for 3 minutes on each side, turning them over with the tongs, until completely golden and cooked through.
- Remove onto a plate lined with kitchen roll and move onto the next batch until you’ve cooked all your falafels.
- Serve up with some creamy hummus or Greek yogurt.
Crispy Greek falafel recipe – our step by step guide:
Blend the parsley, spring onions and garlic
Pop the garlic, spring onions and parsley leaves in a food processor. Blend them together well until they are in very small pieces.
Blend the chickpeas
Add the cooked chickpeas to the blender and mix until you get a thick dough.
If your mixer is small and you need to do this in batches you can. Empty the first batch into a mixing bowl and blend the second batch. Mix it all together in the bowl at the end.
Add spices and flour
Add in the paprika, tumeric and mixed spice, along with 2 tablespoons self-raising flour.
Mix it all until it’s well combined. We recommend using your hands as the dough is quite thick.
Cut out shapes from the dough
We recommend taking a ball of dough one at a time. Squish it with your hand until the dough sticks together. Then roll it into a ball.
Place it onto a floured work surfaced and press down on the ball to flatten it. Then cut out your shape.
If you prefer to make falafel balls then you can simply roll each piece of mixture into bitesize balls (about 1 inch wide) with your hands, and set them aside.
Fry in vegetable oil
Heat about 1 cup (240 mls) vegetable oil in a medium sized frying pan. You want to have about 1 cm depth of oil in your pan so adjust the amount of oil accordingly.
When the oil is quite hot, start lowering the falafels in, one at a time, using cooking tongs. Let them cook for a few minutes. Then, using the tongs again, turn them over and cook them on the other side.
When they’re all golden and cooked through, lift them out of the pan and set them aside on a plate. Move onto the next batch.
Serve them up
Serve them up while they’re still warm with some creamy hummus or a herby yogurt dip.
Enjoy this deliciously crunchy Greek falafel recipe
And the best thing about this recipe? Is that you can make it for dinner, and then use the leftover falafels to make a delicious falafel wrap for the kids’ packed lunches the next day. It’s a win win!
You might like:
Chicken and apple meatballs
Vegetarian sausage rolls with squash and goat’s cheese
Greek souvlaki – the best chicken kebab
Crispy Greek falafel recipe
Equipment
-
Food processor
-
Cooking tongs
Ingredients
- 2 spring onions chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 15 grams fresh parsley leaves
- 550 grams cooked chick peas (about 3 ⅓ cups)
- 1 teaspoon mild paprika
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon mixed spice
- 2 tablespoons self-raising flour
- 240 mls vegetable oil (1 cup)
Instructions
-
Blend together the spring onions, garlic and parsley leaves in a food processor.
-
Add in the chickpeas and blend again.
-
Empty the mixture into a mixing bowl and add in the paprika, turmeric and mixed spice along with 2 tablespoons self-raising flour.
-
Mix it with your hands until it’s well combined.
-
Take a ball of the mixture and press it together with your hands until it sticks together. The mixture should no longer be crumbly but instead it should be very dense.
-
Place the ball on a floured, flat working surface and push it down with the palm of your hand to flatten it.
-
Take a cookie cutter and cut out your chosen shape for your falafel. You can make these falafels in any shape you like, or simply keep them as round balls or patties too.
-
Place the cut-out falafel on a plate to one side. Continue with the next ball until you’ve shaped all the dough.
-
Pour 240 mls (1 cup) vegetable oil into a frying pan. The oil should be about 1 cm deep in the pan so adjust the amount of oil to your pan size.
-
Heat it on a medium heat until the oil is hot.
-
Using cooking tongs pick up each falafel and place it in the oil. Continue adding them until the pan is full, with some space between each one.
-
Cook for 3 minutes on each side, turning them over with the tongs, until completely golden and cooked through.
-
Remove onto a plate lined with kitchen roll and move onto the next batch until you’ve cooked all your falafels.
-
Serve up with some creamy hummus or Greek yogurt.
