Hey guys ♥️

I hope you’re all doing well!

I’ve been testing these out for a while now to try to create a perfectly balanced, crunchy, delicious oven baked falafel. After a LOT of testing – which translates to a lot of eating – I think I have a really special recipe to share with you all today.

I have two varieties – the more traditional basic (in a good way) falafel and my personal favorite, spiced falafel that I came up with while messing about with different herbs and spices. Here’s how to make both!

The base for these is the same either way.

Start by soaking two cups of dried chickpeas – Now this is a REALLY important step. Do not use canned or cooked chickpeas here – they won’t work; if you do use cooked chickpeas they turn into patties that don’t hold together and don’t crisp up!

The chickpeas need to soak for a minimum of 5 hours. I sometimes soak them for much longer – often because I forget that I had planned on making the falafel and make something else instead then make the falafel later or the next day. Yes, I am very much ALWAYS all over the place and forget many things. My life is currently very busy and I often have far too many ideas to actually follow through or even remember everything 😂 If you do soak the chickpeas for too long however, they won’t turn out as crispy. The sweet spot, I’ve found through trial and error is 5-8 hours.

Traditional Falafel Ingredients:

2 cups dried chickpeas (soaked for a minimum of 5 hours)

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

Large handful fresh parsley (approx 1/2 a cup – packed)

2 tablespoons gram flour (gram flour is chickpea flour; you could use any flour you like – I’ve made these using spelt flour many times before and they turned out great)

2 tablespoons olive oil + more for baking

1/2 teaspoon salt

Spiced Falafel Ingredients:

2 cups dried chickpeas (soaked for a minimum of 5 hours)

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons gram flour

2 tablespoons olive oil + more for baking

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon hot paprika

1/2 cup mixed herbs – my favorite combinations is basil, chives and mint – so yum!

1/2 teaspoon salt

Method:

As you can see from the ingredient lists above, the difference here is simply the addition of spices and the use of different herbs. Feel free to experiment and find your fave 🥰

To make the falafel, add all the above ingredients into a food processor. Blend everything together until everything is chopped finely but before the ingredients turn into mush!

Then use a spoon or ice cream scoop to divide the batch and form into balls using your hands. Flatten each falafel onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Once you’ve used up all your ‘batter’, drizzle some olive oil over the falafel and bake for 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees.

Note: baking time will depend on the size of your falafel. I normally make 12-14 falafel using the above ingredients and bake them for around 25 minutes. Bake for longer if you make less than 12 and for less time if you make more than 14.

These are best served hot out of the oven – otherwise they lose a bit of their crips.

My absolute favorite way to eat these is by using them in falafel wraps with some crisp fresh veggies and some tzatziki!

Recipe for my tzatziki is linked here in case you’d like to check it out 😉

That’s it from me for today; I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this and try these out for yourselves – don’t forget to tag me in your creations ❤

If you like this, don’t forget to ‘like’ it – it helps let me know what you guys want to see more of!

If you have any questions or requests for future blog posts, please leave them in the comment section below. Don’t forget to click on the ‘follow’ button below to stay updated on all the content I share here. Also, I do share a TON of recipes over on my fac ebook and instagram pages

Sarah’s Healthy Eats – @holisticnutritionninja

As always, if you do try them out, please let me know 🙂

Thank you for taking the time to be here and read this ❤

Until my next post, be well xXx