From Fryer to Oven: The Ultimate Guide to Baked Falafel

Soak The Beans For 12 Hours:

First thing’s first:  Separately soak the chickpeas and fava beans in water.  So you should have 2 different bowls completely filled with water.  Allow beans to soak for at least 12 hours.

Make Your Basic Falafel Mix:

Drain water out completely from the chickpeas and fava beans. Get rid of the water and set the beans aside.  Beans should be completely dried.  Get all your basic falafel mix ingredients ready for the food processor.

Combine both the chickpeas and fava beans in the food processor and start grinding at high speed.  You will need to stop a couple of times to stir the mixture around a bit with a spoon.  Be sure to fold the bits that get stuck on the walls of the food processor into the mixture.  It is perfectly normal for some bits to be bigger than others at this point.

Tranfer the chickpeas fava mix into another bowl leaving 3-4 tablespoons of this mix in the food processor.

Add the chopped onion, cilantro, and parsley to the food processor.

Run the food processor again on high speed till everything is well grinded.

Working in batches, start adding the chickpea fava mix back into the food processor with the rest of the ingredients, stopping occasionally to stir the mixture around a bit with a spoon to ensure ingredients are evenly distributed.  Texture will be a lot smoother but may still be a bit lumpy which is okay.

Prepare Your Falafel for Baking

In a small mixing bowl, combine all spice mix ingredients.

Add the spices and minced garlic to the Falafel mix.  We recommend you use your hand to mix the ingredients together.  We also recommend you taste the mix for salt.

In a small bowl, mix the 1/2 cup water and baking soda together and then pour over the Falafel mix.  Mix the baking soda very well into the Falafel mix.

Add the flour to the mixture and mix it very well.

Cover the bowl and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 370 degrees F.

Make Your Falafel’s Tahini Sauce:

Mix all Falafel’s Tahini Sauce ingredients together until well blended.  If your tahini is too paste like, you will need to add water till you reach a more liquid cream texture.  You may also choose to add more lemon juice and salt if you wish.  Set aside.

Bake Your Falafel:

Shape Falafel into ping pong size balls and then flatten them slightly so they take their round shape. Place falafel on greased baking pan, leaving an inch between each piece.

Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

Transfer to serving plate immediately.  Serve with pita bread, Falafel’s Tahini Sauce and other condiments such as chili sauce, chopped tomatoes, fresh mint leaves, and pickles.