Try this Middle Eastern sandwich made with falafel that has been oven-fried to save calories. It is filled with chickpea and spice “meatballs.” Serve with cucumber slices, chopped tomatoes, lettuce, and pita pockets or wedges that have been grilled.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ¾ onion, diced
- ¼ cup packed chopped fresh cilantro
- ¼ cup packed chopped fresh parsley
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1 small lemon, zested
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 egg, beaten
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- ¼ cup seeded and minced cucumber, squeezed dry
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- salt to taste
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
Instructions
- Coat a 9×13-inch metal baking pan with cooking spray and 1 tablespoon olive oil and place inside the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). C
- Combine chickpeas, onion, cilantro, parsley, garlic, lemon zest, cumin, salt, red pepper flakes, and baking powder in a food processor. Pulse until minced but not yet pasty. Transfer to a bowl and stir in flour and egg until fully incorporated.
- Remove baking pan from the oven. Drop golfball-sized portions of chickpea mixture onto the hot pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven 15 to 20 minutes. Brush falafel with remaining olive oil and flip over. Continue baking until golden on both sides, 15 to 20 minutes more.
- Meanwhile, combine yogurt, cucumber, lemon juice, and garlic in a bowl. Season with salt and cayenne pepper. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
- Serve falafel with yogurt sauce.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 250 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 29 g |
| Cholesterol | 47 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 587 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 12 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Delicious and relatively quick and easy. My family liked them so much, I made a second batch the next night. I don’t have a food processor though. The first night, I tried the blender, but that didn’t work very well. The second night I just mashed the chickpeas with a fork and minced the other ingredients. I flattened mine to fit better in the pita. I made the yogurt sauce also.
Delicious!
Added extra cumin powder, substituted ground cayenne powder for red pepper flakes. Worked out well. I also didn’t make up the accompanying yogurt sauce as I didn’t have fresh cucumber nor plain yogurt, so instead made a sauce of four parts sour cream and one part (leftover) Alabama White BBQ Sauce. It went well with the Falafel.
Delicious! I made sliders, not golf balls. Next time, I’ll double the cucumber sauce.
Easy and good!
Easy to make and enjoyable to eat.
super good! i loved this. i am 13 years old in 2021, and this was easy to cook, healthy, and TASTY!
This is a tasty recipe. I may have made the balls too large because when I sprayed and flipped them, three of them broke apart. I. will try to mold them as patties next t time to see if that fixes the crumbling. I also will try adding some toasted sesame seeds to the mix next time. I was missing the Tahini taste, but not the calories. These taste just fine as is and I love the lemony flavor in them.
I made the falafel but not the sauce (already had that). It was easy and delicious.
No changes. Fairly easy recipe and great taste. Eat them before I thought to take a pic.
This was fairly easy to make and was tasty! I would add more spice next time but I used dry beans so it may have been a little light on salt. They were filling and I would definitely make it again.
Delicious and easy to make! Even my meat-eater husband enjoyed them!
Really good flavor, mine didn’t stay round but it’s to be expected for some flattening to occur on a baking sheet. Fits better in a pita anyway. I didn’t make the yogurt sauce because I had my own Tzatziki recipe. Judging by the measurements in this recipe, make more, you can never have enough yogurt sauce.
Made as written and these turned out excellent! No changes necessary.