American🍞 Bread & bakery

The Best Homemade Falafel Recipe

Name: The Best Homemade Falafel Recipe
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 225 g dried chickpeas; 1000 g water (for soaking); 100 g red onion, chopped; 10 g garlic; 25 g jalapeño, chopped; 12 g salt; 5 g ground cumin; 2 g ground coriander; 2 g ground turmeric; 25 g parsley, stems removed; 25 g cilantro, stems ok; 2-3 liters high smoke point oil (for frying, e.g. peanut, canola, or grapeseed); 10 g baking soda (for speed-soak method); 150 g tahini paste (pourable style); 20 g lemon juice; 3-4 g salt (for tahini sauce); 1 garlic clove, chopped (for tahini sauce); 100-130 g water, as needed (for tahini sauce)

⏱ 90 min🍽 Serves 6

A well-tested recipe for falafel that's shatteringly crisp on the outside and tender, fluffy on the inside, packed with fresh herbs and spices. The key is controlling the chickpea particle size, and it's served with a quick homemade tahini sauce.

Adapted from a video by Brian Lagerstrom

The BEST Homemade Falafel Recipe

Watch on YouTube

Ingredients

dried chickpeas225 g
water (for soaking)1000 g
red onion, chopped100 g
garlic10 g
jalapeño, chopped25 g
salt12 g
ground cumin5 g
ground coriander2 g
ground turmeric2 g
parsley, stems removed25 g
cilantro, stems ok

Steps

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1
Soak dried chickpeas in about 1000g water for at least 12 hours (preferably 24). If you forgot to soak ahead, use the speed-soak method: add the chickpeas and 10g baking soda to boiling water, cover, and bake at 180°F/80°C for 90 minutes.
2
Drain the soaked chickpeas for 1-2 minutes, then pulse in a food processor 25-30 times, scraping down the sides halfway through, until the texture resembles finely chopped garlic — avoid over-processing.
3
Transfer the chopped chickpeas to a mixing bowl. Then blend the onion, garlic, jalapeño, salt, cumin, coriander, turmeric, parsley, and cilantro in the processor for about a minute until you get a smooth herb paste.
4
Stir the herb paste into the chopped chickpeas until combined. Test by squeezing a handful — it should hold together; if too crumbly, pulse again for 10-15 seconds. Chill the mixture for 30 minutes to let it absorb excess moisture.
5
Remove the chilled mixture and divide into 15-17 portions of about 40g each, rolling and gently compacting them between your palms into balls.
6
Pour 2-3L of high smoke point oil into a heavy-bottomed pot, about 2 inches deep, never filling more than halfway up the pot, and heat to 350°F/175°C.
7
Make the tahini sauce: combine tahini, lemon juice, salt, and chopped garlic in a tall container, blend with an immersion blender until thickened, then slowly stream in 100-130g water and blend until smooth and pourable.
8
Once the oil reaches 350°F, carefully lower the falafel balls in one at a time, frying in batches of about 8 to keep them from touching. Don't disturb for the first 2 minutes, then gently agitate or turn them. Fry a total of 6-7 minutes until deep reddish-golden brown with no visible green on the surface.
9
Transfer the fried falafel to a wire rack to drain and cool, then repeat with the remaining balls. Pile them up, drizzle generously with tahini sauce, and serve.

The Best Homemade Falafel Recipe

Ingredients

Steps

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