Crispy and delicious vegan falafel. Simple, flavorful, filling, and restaurant quality. Served with a delicious tahini sauce!
We lived in Dubai for 9 years and one of the major perks was the availability of falafel! Pretty much every shopping mall would have a place to buy a quick and easy (and totally delicious) falafel.
And with a special request or two (to leave off the yogurt sauce for instance) it could be entirely vegan.
Since we’re not in Dubai anymore and it’s not quite as easily available now, we needed a quick and easy recipe to make restaurant quality falafel at home.
And this is it! This vegan falafel recipe is super easy, super quick and super delicious. Served with a fabulous tahini sauce your falafel cravings will be entirely satisfied.
And if you love delicious vegan wraps then also check out our vegan gyros!
Is Falafel Always Vegan?
Falafel is almost always vegan. But they’re often served in a wrap and the sauces added may not be vegan as they are sometimes yogurt based. But the falafels themselves are vegan.
How To Make Vegan Falafel
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Drain canned chickpeas and dry them on paper towels. Add the chickpeas to the food processor along with chopped onion and crushed garlic and process until roughly chopped.
- Add finely chopped cilantro and parsley, white sesame seeds, salt, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, coriander powder and cumin and process again until roughly mixed.
- Add in all purpose flour and process briefly.
- Roll the mixture into balls and place them onto a parchment lined baking tray.
- Use a small square of parchment paper and the bottom of a glass to gently flatten the balls.
- Place into the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up.
- Add olive oil to a frying pan and when the oil is hot, add in 4 falafels (providing your pan is big enough). Fry until crispy and browned on each side, about 3 minutes each side.
- Place the falafels onto paper towels to absorb excess oil.
- Repeat for the second 4 falafel.
Recipe Tips
Dry the chickpeas on a paper towel. It’s important that you drain the canned chickpeas really well, and ideally also dry them off more using paper towels. We’re not using a lot of flour in this recipe so making sure the canned chickpeas are well drained and dried off keeps your falafel from being too wet inside.
Place into the freezer to set for 20 minutes before frying. This enables them to be really firm and maintain their shape perfectly when frying.
Make sure the oil is hot before adding the falafels. When the falafels go into the frying pan they should be sizzling. This helps to seal off the falafel so they hold their shape really well and don’t stick to the pan.
Make them gluten-free. You can easily make these falafels gluten-free by using a gluten-free all purpose flour blend that is meant to replace regular wheat flour.
Bake them instead. You can also bake these falafel. Place them on a parchment lined baking tray and bake at 350°F for 15 minutes then flip them and bake on the other side for 10-15 mins.
How To Serve Falafel
Serve your falafels in pita breads with lettuce, sliced cherry tomatoes, pickles, and hummus, with a drizzle of tahini sauce over the top.
Another great sauce option is vegan tzatziki which also pairs well with falafel.
Storing and Freezing
Leftover falafel keeps very well in the fridge for 4-5 days.
They are also freezer friendly and can be frozen before frying or after. Check out this article from The Spruce Eats with lots of tips on freezing and reheating falafel.
More Delicious Chickpea Recipes
- Vegan Chickpea Burgers
- Vegan Chickpea Curry
- Vegan Chickpea Salad
- Vegan Meatloaf
- Chickpea Meatballs
- Vegan Tuna (made with chickpeas!)
Vegan Falafel
Ingredients
For the Falafel:
- 15 ounce Can Chickpeas drained, or 1 and ½ cups cooked chickpeas
- ½ Medium Onion White, Yellow or Brown, Chopped
- 3 Cloves Garlic Crushed
- ⅓ cup Cilantro Finely Chopped
- ⅓ cup Parsley Finely Chopped
- 2 Tbsp White Sesame Seeds
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Ground Black Pepper
- ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- ¼ tsp Coriander Powder
- 1 tsp Cumin
- 2 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
- 4 Tbsp Olive Oil Divided, For Frying
For Serving (Optional):
- Pita Breads
- Lettuce
- Cherry Tomatoes Sliced
- Pickles Sliced
- Hummus
- Tahini Sauce
Instructions
- Drain canned chickpeas and dry them on paper towels. Add the chickpeas to the food processor along with the chopped onion and crushed garlic and process until roughly chopped.
- Add the finely chopped cilantro and parsley, white sesame seeds, salt, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, coriander powder and cumin and process again until roughly mixed.
- Add the all purpose flour and process briefly.
- Roll the mixture into balls and place them onto a parchment lined baking tray.
- Use a small square of parchment paper and the bottom of a glass to gently flatten the balls.
- Place into the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up.
- Add 2 Tbsp olive oil to a frying pan and when the oil is hot, add in 4 falafels (providing your pan is big enough to fit all 4). Fry until crispy and browned on each side, about 3 minutes each side.
- Place the falafels onto paper towels to absorb excess oil.
- Add the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil to the pan and when hot, add in the remaining 4 falafels and cook until browned and crispy.
- Serve with pita breads, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, pickles, hummus and tahini sauce.
Notes
- Dry the chickpeas on a paper towel. It's important that you drain the canned chickpeas really well, and ideally also dry them off more using paper towels. We're not using a lot of flour in this recipe so making sure the canned chickpeas are well drained and dried off keeps your falafel from being wet inside.
- Make them gluten-free. You can easily make these falafels gluten-free by using a gluten-free all purpose flour blend that is meant to replace regular wheat flour.
- Bake them instead. You can also bake these falafel. Place them on a parchment lined baking tray and bake at 350°F for 15 minutes then flip them and bake on the other side for 10-15 mins.
- Storing: Leftover falafel keeps very well in the fridge for 4-5 days.
- Prep time includes the time spent chilling in the freezer.
- Nutritional information is for falafel only and excludes anything they're served with.
- This recipe was first published in May 2017 but has now been updated with better photos and an improved method.
Can you sub out the chickpeas and all purpose flour for chickpea flour?
No, that wouldn’t work the same at all.
Will these work with dried herbs haven’t got any fresh on hand? Thanks
Hi Tahira, I think it would work if you omit the fresh parsley and cilantro but it wouldn’t be as tasty.
These are fabulous! I didn’t have parsley so I just left it out. I’m not a fan of cilantro, but keep getting it from my CSA so finally tried out this recipe. This is now my my go-to every time I get cilantro. Thanks so much!
Awesome Jessica! Thanks so much for the great review!
Awesome, healthful and so colourful. I’m definitely making these tonight.
I just made this recipe and it’s aaaamazing! Thank you!
So happy to hear that Diana! 🙂
Can these be baked?
Yes, bake on a parchment lined baking tray at 350°F for 15 minutes then flip them and bake on the other side for 10-15 mins.
Hello! I’m about to do the Falafels tomorrow, but I alrready have the chickpeas soaking, dotes it make any difference if the chickpeas are not canned? Looks delicious by the way 😉
Hi Claudia, as long as you use cooked chickpeas it should be fine, you would use 1 and 1/2 cups of cooked chickpeas to replace a can.
Yummy, I used cornmeal instead of flour everybody love them.????
Made these and they were phenomenal. Incredible recipe. I will be making them again and again……….Brilliantly easy too…..
Fantastic! So glad to hear that Heidi. Thanks for the wonderful review. 🙂
WOW! These were amazing! My whole family (including my picky 2 year old) LOVED them! So easy, and delicious!
I made them with a “honey” chipotle sauce and a vegan tzatziki sauce, in homemade tortilla wraps, with a toasted buckwheat, roasted capsicum, roasted beetroot, spinach salad.
THE BEST!!! (Now a weekly dinner!)
Sounds totally delicious! Thanks so much for sharing and the awesome review! 🙂
Could you replace the flour in this recipe with vital wheat gluten to make them lower in calories and higher in protein?
I haven’t tried that but it might be great! 🙂
Holy SMOKES this was
1) as easy as you say
2) absolutely deeeelish
3) worth repeating, doubling (for more)
You should rename them Disappearing Vegan Falafals
I made my own hummus (husband’s recipe) for topping, chopped up cucumber and tomato with slivers of lacinato kale fresh out of our garden.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Awesome Sarita, hahaha, yes they disappear fast! So glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thanks for your great review! 🙂
Hi Alison,
Is freezing them required if you were to bake them instead of frying them?
Thank you
Hi Verity, you probably could skip it! 🙂
We loved these! I baked them instead of frying and they turned out great, perfect amount of spice. I added a little more sesame seeds, cumin, and coriander, to taste. And the sauce is fabulous! Can’t wait to use the sauce in other leftovers this week. Thank you for such an easy, delicious recipe.
Thanks for sharing Kelly! Great to hear about your adjustments and so glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂 The sauce is definitely very versatile!
Hello! Is it okay to use rice flour instead of all purpose flour? So it’s GF?
Hi Dorothy, in my experience using a single type of flour like rice flour doesn’t work great for binding, I would rather use a gluten free all purpose flour blend. All the best! 🙂
At what temperature and for how long would you recommend baking these? Thank you!
Delicious falafels! One of my favourite foods!
me too Anna!