Oven Falafel

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups Dried chickpeas, soaked 12 hours, drained, NOT cooked
• 1 Yellow onion, quartered
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 1 cup Flat-leaf parsley, packed
• 1 cup Cilantro, packed
• 2 tsp Ground cumin
• 1 ½ tsp Ground coriander
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 2 tbsp All-purpose flour
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 3 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 Whole wheat pita
• ¼ cup Tahini
• 1 Lemon
• 2 Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 Cucumber, diced

Method

1. The night before, cover the dried chickpeas with several inches of water. Canned chickpeas are already cooked and will give you falafel-flavored hummus that falls apart in the oven — this is the one substitution that cannot be made.
2. Heat the oven to 425°F with a sheet pan inside. Pulse the drained raw chickpeas, onion, garlic and herbs in a food processor to the texture of coarse sand — stop before it turns to paste.
3. Pulse in the cumin, coriander, baking powder, flour and salt. Chill the mixture 20 minutes; it holds together far better cold.
4. Form 16 flattened patties. Balls stay raw in the middle in an oven; disks do not.
5. Brush the hot pan with a tablespoon of oil, lay the patties on it, brush their tops, and bake 15 minutes. Flip and bake 8-10 more until deep brown and crisp.
6. Thin the tahini with lemon juice, a pinch of salt and cold water, whisking — it will seize and then loosen — until it pours. Serve in warm pita with tomato, cucumber and plenty of sauce.

Notes

✨ The restaurant touch

Whisking cold water into tahini makes it seize into a paste before it suddenly turns pale and creamy. Keep going past the panic point.

🧒 For the kids

Serve them as nuggets with the tahini sauce for dipping and skip the pita entirely.

🥡 Leftovers

The raw mixture freezes for 3 months. Shaped patties bake straight from frozen, adding 5 minutes.

Per serving

Computed from USDA FoodData Central values. A planning tool, not medical advice.