The Best Air Fryer Falafel
The Best Air Fryer Falafel
The authentic flavor and texture of falafel without deep frying! Dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, are combined with fragrant alliums, herbs, and spices, then air fried to create the PERFECT crispy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside falafel. Enjoy these gluten-free, vegan, oil-free, whole food plant based treats whenever the mood strikes!
The Best Air Fryer Falafel
Ingredients:
- 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, diced
- 1/2 bunch parsley, stems removed (about 1 cup, packed)
- 1/2 bunch cilantro, stems removed (about 1 cup, packed)
- 1 jalapeno pepper, diced (either remove seeds or leave out entirely if spice-sensitive)
- 2 Tbsp tahini
- 1/2 lemon, juice of
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
Instructions:
How to cook The Best Air Fryer Falafel
- In a food processor, combine all of the ingredients.
- Process until the mixture is well combined, but still a bit crumbly.
- Transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for at least 3 hours (or up to 2 days).
- Preheat your air fryer to 380 degrees F.
- Using your hands, form the batter into pingpong sized balls.
- Place the falafel balls in the air fryer basket. Don't allow them to touch.
- Air fry in batches on 380 degrees F for 12-15 minutes, carefully turning them over halfway through.
- Serve immediately. Enjoy with hummus, tahini sauce, pita, tabbouleh, salad greens, olives, pickled veggies, or whatever floats your boat!
Notes:
-If you, like me, don't have space in your tiny kitchen for a high speed blender AND a food processor (and you chose a high speed blender), read the recipe notes in the blog post below, where I detail how I successfully make these with my Vitamix.
Calories
132.91Fat (grams)
5.37Sat. Fat (grams)
0.69Carbs (grams)
17.30Fiber (grams)
4.20Net carbs
13.10Sugar (grams)
3.33Protein (grams)
5.77Sodium (milligrams)
943.84Cholesterol (grams)
0.00
About the Recipe:
I wasted nearly 27 years of my life NOT eating falafel. This delicious, accidentally vegan and gluten-free, deep-fried treat wasn’t introduced to me until my husband and I were hungry and stranded in SOHO, looking for meatless, gluten-free food. We stumbled into a hole-in-the-wall restaurant called TAIM, near the only NYC REI, and our strange new addiction was born.
If you, like me, were living under a falafel-free rock and hadn’t heard much about it until now, let me tell you about falafel. Though, keep in mind, I’m a white girl from Montana, so you may want to fact check my explanation. Falafel originated in the Middle East, with many countries claiming to be the responsible for its creation. They’re usually made with ground chickpeas (fava beans are sometimes used) and a combination of herbs, spices, and onions. The dough is shaped into balls and deep fried, then served in a pita or wrap. Falafel has become a popular street food, and can be enjoyed as a snack, entree, or appetizer.
Like many things, falafel has the potential to be life-changingly delicious or sorely disappointing. I’ve had both extremes and firmly believe that this recipe is near the “life-changingly delicious” end of the spectrum. It is a BIG deal for me to say that, because I have become a bit of a falafel snob and have disliked lots of restaurant falafel, the falafel at the Whole Foods salad bar, my friends’ attempts at homemade falafel, and my own falafel. But this recipe, I really like. However, I would never pretend that this oil-free version is better than the real deal. It’s just the best, healthy substitute I’ve made or found. But before we talk about good falafel, let’s talk about BAD falafel…
You’ll know you had bad falafel if: it was too salty. If it was too dry. If it was cake-y. If you bought it at a sandwich shop like Pita Pit or Subway. If it was too salty. Or if was bland.
GOOD falafel, on the other hand, is inescapably full of flavor. The herbs make it bright green on the inside. Because it’s made from dried, soaked chickpeas, it maintains a unique texture. It is crunchy on the outside, but a little moist and fluffy on the inside. It has just enough salt, but not too much.
My very favorite falafel here in Brooklyn is made with harissa (an African hot chili pepper paste). I didn’t feel like making fresh harissa to put in my recipe, so I tried using a jalapeno instead. That added the slight heat I wanted without all the extra work. If you don’t like spicy food (or don’t have a jalapeno on hand), feel free to leave it out.
While I love authentic, deep fried falafel (and still enjoy it as an occasional treat) I wanted to create an oil-free recipe that I could enjoy as often as I want. I serve it with whole wheat pita, some fresh tabbouleh salad, olives, pickles, fresh hummus, and tahini sauce. But you could use it to make a great sandwich or wrap-filling or salad-topping.
RECIPE NOTES:
First off, if you have a food processor, this recipe will be a bit time consuming (because of all the waiting around), but incredibly easy. Just process it until it looks like a kind of chunky dough that loosely holds together.
If you don’t have a food processor, but you do have a Vitamix (like me), you CAN still make this. But it’s going to be a bit more of a challenge. Here’s what you do: Combine all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Transfer half of the mixture to the Vitamix. Use the “pulse” setting on a HIGH speed to chop up the mixture, and use the plunger to distribute the mixture around. What we want to avoid is pureeing the bottom layers while leaving the top layers untouched. Once your mixture looks like the photo below, transfer it to another mixing bowl. Add the second half of the mixture into the blender and repeat. Then, stir the two batches together in the mixing bowl. Proceed with the remainder of the recipe as written.
3. Whether using a food processor or a Vitamix, be sure to transfer the mixture to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least three hours. The batter becomes easier to roll into a ball and the flavors meld together. While you can skip this step if you absolutely have to, I advise against it.
4. Form the falafel batter into pingpong sized balls. They will be pretty wet and won’t hold their shape terribly well. That’s okay! Put them in your preheated air fryer, directly onto the surface of the basket, and air fry for about 7 minutes. Then carefully turn them over and air fry for about 7 minutes again. They’re done when they’re a deep, golden brown.
5. I noticed that they take longer to crisp up once the dough is refrigerated. If you skipped that step, the falafel will bake in about 10 minutes rather than 15.
6. DO NOT STORE COOKED FALAFEL AS LEFTOVERS!!! They dry out and lose their crisp. Instead, air fry only as many falafel as you plan on eating. Save the batter in an airtight container in the fridge for later, up to three days.
So you see? You CAN make fresh falafel at home that rivals the flavor and texture of the deep fried version!
Enjoy these with a simple tahini sauce (tahini, water, and salt), hummus, pita, tabbouleh salad, olives, or whatever sounds good to you! Let me know if you’d like to see some full meal ideas for these! You can email me at notlikemama@gmail.com OR DM me on Instagram @notlikemama. Feel free to leave any questions or comments in the comment section below!
Did you make this recipe?? Let me know!! I love to see your versions of my recipes! Tag me on Instagram @notlikemama
Happy Cooking!
-Courtney