These home-made green vegan easy falafels are the perfect filling for a simple but delicious falafel wrap!
In amongst all the smoothie bowls and baked goods, it sometimes becomes a bit lost that I actually have a heritage rich in traditional foods.
I can’t wait to share this Lebanese childhood favourite recipe of mine! (Side note – for another Lebanese inspired recipe check out my Fattoush salad in a jar Recipe!
Although falafels are becoming more and more popular in the west, it might interest you to know if you don’t already) that falafels actually originate in the Middle Eastern region.
Depending on where exactly you get them they are made slightly differently with some differing ingredients – although most are made up of a base of chickpeas, broad beans (otherwise called fava beans) and a mix of onions, herbs and spices.
For these particular home-made easy falafel, I have even used the traditional cooking method:
Frying in oil!
So, whilst this isn’t the healthiest option (don’t worry I will be writing up a healthier version soon!), if you cook them right, then the oil will crisp the outside and the falafel will not absorb any excess oil!
Within this recipe, I’ve really decided to go all out and re-create an absolute favourite meal from my childhood in a delicious vegan traditional falafel wrap with chopped salad and a home-made tahini dressing.
This is one of my absolute favourite ways to eat falafels and hopefully you enjoy it as much as I do.
However, if you’re not in the mood for a wrap then here are some other options.
Ways to eat falafels:
- A Pitta sandwich (the ‘usual’)
- Falafel burgers
- As a taco filling
- Within a salad bowl or buddha bowl (perfect for meal-prep!)
- A mezze platter with hummus, olives, salad, dips/sauces and some ‘bread’.
- Falafel tabbouleh
And there are so many many more ideas. So, please let me know in the comments below, what are your favourite ways to eat falafels?
If you’ve never made home-made falafels before then you may be fooled into thinking that they are actually quite hard to make, especially as getting the perfect texture is key.
You want a lovely moist interior with a delicious, crisp outer layer. However, it is actually super simple to create this recipe!
A few tips for perfectly cooked falafels:
- For this recipe, I’ve mentioned used dried chickpeas and broad beans and soaking them overnight – don’t be tricked into trying to use pre-soaked, tinned beans. Using them would result in the wrong texture and difficulty with cooking.
- FRY them! Okay, I know this isn’t the healthiest method and it’s all about ‘baking’ falafel these days but you HAVE to try frying them at-least once for a perfectly crisp exterior but a lovely soft, moist interior.
Plus it’s not as daunting as it seems. Simply heat a few inches of oil in a heavy pan until it is bubbling softly, using a special scoop or a spoon/fork gently lower them into the oil and fry on each side for around 3-4 minutes, till golden brown in colour. - To test if the oil is hot enough then simply drop a tiny bit of the falafel mix into the pot. It should start to sizzle immediately and colour within a minute!
- Only cook 5-6 at a go! If you over-fill the pan then it will affect the cooking times and can possibly end up in falafels that are too oily.
- It’s also worth noting – these are best made fresh to retain optimal crispiness so don’t leave them sitting out for too long!
So, without further ado – here’s the recipe!
What’s needed:
For the falafels:
- Split broad beans and chickpeas
- Fresh parsley and coriander
- Onion and garlic
- Salt and Falafel spice, which consists of cumin, black pepper, ground coriander, cayenne pepper (optional)
- Baking powder and sunflower oil for frying
For the falafel wrap:
- pita bread
- ready falafels
- pink pickles (recipe on my Instagram Highlights)
- lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and onion
- tahini dressing
For the Tahini dressing:
- Natural yogurt or plant based yogurt
- Tahini
- Lemon and garlic
- Cumin and salt
The steps:
Wash the beans and chickpeas and then leave them to soak them in cold water over night. You can keep them soaking for up to 24 hours.
As written above, this will give you optimal texture so DON’T be tempted to swap these with pre-soaked, canned beans/chickpeas!
Drain and rinse well the soaked chickpeas and beans when you are ready to proceed with the falafel recipe.
Blend all the falafel base ingredients in a food processor/blender until you obtain a smooth uniform mixture. They should have a beautiful green colour.
It’s worth noting – you can prepare the mixture in advance and store covered in the fridge for up to 4 days!
When you are ready to fry the falafels, add 1 tBsp baking powder to the mix and incorporate well in a large bowl.
The baking powder should only be added at the last moment before frying. This adds an ‘airiness’ to the mix that is needed for the perfect texture.
Heat up a few inches of sunflower oil in a saucepan over medium high heat until it bubbles softly. Using a falafel scoop or a spoon/fork, form the falafel balls/patties and carefully dip them in the hot oil to deep fry them.
After 3-4 minutes, carefully turn them over. The falafels are ready when they become golden-brown in colour. Lay on a piece of paper towel to drain off any excess cooking oil, although there shouldn’t be much!
To prepare the tahini sauce, mix all the dip ingredients together well and set aside.
Prepare the rest of the wrap ingredients by chopping the veggies.
I like to create a variety of textures so I love to grate/julienne my cucumber, roughly chop lettuce and thinly slice the various other bits.
To create the wrap, open a traditional pita bread, lay the veggies and a few falafel balls on it, then add some tahini dressing. You can also drizzle a little extra lemon juice.
Roll the bread. Enjoy your falafel wrap (sandwich)! Definitely one of the most delicious ways to eat falafels!
The detailed recipe for this authentic falafel wrap:
Homemade Easy Falafel wrap
Ingredients
For the falafels:
- 2 cups split broad beans
- 1 cup chickpeas
- parsley
- coriander
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1.5 tBsp falafel spice 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp ground black pepper, 1 tsp ground coriander, pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
- a pinch of salt
- 1 tBsp baking powder used only before frying
- sunflower oil for frying enough to fill up your saucepan
For the wrap:
- pita bread
- ready falafels
- pink pickles recipe on my Instagram Highlights
- tomatoes
- cucumbers
- tahini dressing
- onion
Tahini dressing for the wrap:
- 1 cup yogurt natural or plant-based
- 1/2 cup tahini
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/8 tsp cumin powder
- a pinch of salt
- filtered water in case the dressing is too thick
Instructions
- Blend all the falafel base ingredients in a food processor/blender until you obtain a smooth uniform mixture. They should have a beautiful green colour.**
- When you are ready to fry the falafels, add 1 tBsp baking powder to the mix. The baking powder should only be added at the last moment before frying. This adds an 'airiness' to the mix that is needed for the perfect texture.
- Heat up a few inches of sunflower oil in a saucepan until it bubbles softly. Using a falafel scoop or a spoon/fork, form the falafels patties and carefully dip them in the hot oil. After 3-4 minutes, carefully turn them over. The falafels are ready when they become golden-brown in colour. Lay on a piece of paper towel to drain off any excess cooking oil, although there shouldn't be much!
- Prepare the rest of the wrap ingredients by chopping the veggies. I like to create a variety of textures so I love to grate/julienne my cucumber, roughly chop lettuce and thinly slice the various other bits.
- To create the wrap, open a traditional pita bread, lay the veggies and falafel on it, then add some tahini dressing. Roll the bread. Enjoy your falafel wrap (sandwich)!
Definitely one of the most delicious ways to eat falafels!
Notes
Nutrition
To save this Vegan falafel wrap recipe for later:
They look SOOOO good, reminding me of my time in Beirut – I’ve been missing the Lebanese food so much ever since. Just prepared my first Makdous and can’t wit for them to be ready. The Falafel are the next thing I’m goin to try, much more to come. Thank you so much, especially for those beautiful pictures!
Thank you so much for your comment, Ricarda. Glad you are trying the recipes. 🙂
Hi. Hope you are well! Can you make the falafel without fava beans and use all chickpeas? My husband doesn’t like fava beans so I am hoping I can still make it without them. Thanks so much.
Hi Maya, Thank you I am well. Yes of course you can, fava beans are completely optional! You can use the recipe from the baked falafel version which doesn’t use fava beans! Here is the link: https://www.alphafoodie.com/easy-vegan-healthy-baked-falafel/ hope you’re gonna like them, they have a lot of positive feedback from my instagram followers :).
Hi! Love your blog I want to know if the food processor you use for this particular recipe is the Nutramilk used for plant-milks, or if they created a special add-on food processor?
it is the Nutramilk yes 🙂 I’ve found that it’s come on handy for WAAAAY more than just nut milk and butter recipes 🙂
Hi ,I’m trying to find the recipe for pickled Vegetables and can’t find it.Can you please advise?thanks a bunch
Neda
Hi Neda, sorry about that, this is the recipe for the pickled turnips (https://www.alphafoodie.com/simple-pink-pickled-turnips) and this is the recipe for the pickled cucumbers (https://www.alphafoodie.com/homemade-easy-pickled-cucumbers-recipe), hope you like it 🙂 x
The yummiest falafel ever, you can bake or fry and it’s delicious!
Thank you so much Kostantina, so glad you like them :).
Perfect recipe. Worked and tasted super yum! Thanks Samira x
Thank you so much Claire, so glad you liked it 🙂 x
These were absolutely delicious!! Really easy and quick to make and not dry like the store bought ones!! I’ll definitely be making them again 🙂
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed them! I definitely can’t be doing with dry falafels <3
I made this falafel twice so far, always perfect and fluffy, I live the blog the way it says everything from the nutrition to storage, thanks for sharing your hard work x
Hi Mahshid, thank you so much for the feedback, so pleased you’re finding the posts helpful 🙂 xx
Thank you for such a delicious recipe! I didn’t have purple potato and I took purple carrot, added lemon to it and it turned out to be some kind of crazy blue color. It looks like you can’t eat it.
Ooh, thanks for the tip! I love making cray colored food with all-natural ingredients!
Can I airfry threm?
Hi Melissa, I personally never tried but I think it should work. I also have a new great version that’s baked and it got a lot of positive feedback from my instagram followers, here is the link: https://www.alphafoodie.com/easy-vegan-healthy-baked-falafel/
I am going to make these really soon. I have a doubt though: you talk about adding baking powder and sometimes you say baking soda. Which one is to use??? Baking powder or baking soda??
Whoops, thank you for pointing that out. There’s a single mistake where I’ve noted it as baking soda instead of powder – it’s baking powder that you need 🙂
Any brand tahina you recommend?
I actually make my own. You can search my 2-ingredient Tahini recipe on my blog. Alternatively, I don’t think it matters too much with many store-bought versions. I’ve tried a few before and haven’t had issues with any of them 🙂
This recipe I will def try, also what brand of mixer/food processor is that? It looks powerful!
I’ve used a variety of food processors/ mixers over time that I’ve been happy with. Right now I actually use the Nutramilk for lots of my food processing needs ( there’s a link to it in the shop section of the site, with a £50/$50 discount code).