Mini Falafel Bites
These mini falafel bites can be used as snacks, party appetizers or accompany a delicious mashed potato with salad meal. Check out the recipe below!
I am a huge fan of the Lebanese cuisine! It has so many amazing vegetarian and vegan meals and all the recipes have unique ingredient blends. Falafels are my top favorite and apparently, yours too! My healthy falafel recipe is my most popular recipe on the blog!
This time, I wanted to try something new. I followed the traditional recipe and transformed it into these mini falafel bites which can be served as crunchy snacks, protein-rich appetizers or even as a ‘topping’ on some mashed potatoes and/or salad.
I avoid deep-frying, so even though I fried these (to get that crunchy texture), I used very little oil on a non-stick frying pan. Alternatively, you can deep-fry them, just as in the traditional recipe, or if you want an even healthier version, you could simply bake them. They won’t end up so crunchy, but you could grease them individually with some oil and place them on a tray covered with parchment paper. This may do the trick.
I tried this mini falafel bites with a za’atar spice mix as well. I loved them! You could play with the ingredients and customize them to your liking. They go great served with some drizzled tahini sauce on top or some labneh (for those of you who eat dairy).
Hope you’ll like these mini falafel bites! Let me know what you think about this recipe in the comments section below. Enjoy!
P.S. If you want to eat delicious recipes like this every day, check out my custom meal plans!
P.P.S. I LOVE Lebanese cuisine. If you love it too, check out Ottolenghi: The Cookbook. His recipes are truly inspiring!
Mini Falafel Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup dry chickpeas soaked overnight
- 1 onion small, chopped
- ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 Tbsps flour I used chickpea flour
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 ½ tsp cumin
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- oil
Instructions
- Drain chickpeas.
- Add all ingredients in the food processor. Process until a rough paste is formed. Make sure you don’t over process. It doesn’t have to be smooth.
- Move to a bowl and cover with a plastic wrap. Let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour.
- Heat some oil in a non-stick pan.
- Note: I don’t deep-fry. I just add oil on the bottom of a pan and make the falafel bites a little flatter, not perfectly round, so they can cook evenly on both sides. You can also deep-fry, if you want.
- Cook each falafel bite on both sides, until crispy.
If you make this, please leave a review and rating if you liked this recipe! ★★★★★
Can these be made ahead and reheated
Sure!
Finally a recipe that uses dry chickpeas. It’s amazing! I keep wondering why didn’t I think of making mini falafel bites before?! They’re sooooo cute and tasty <3
Glad you liked it! 😀
Would this work with canned chickpeas?
Nope. The chickpeas has to be dry for this recipe. You just soak them overnight. You can try my other vegan falafel recipe if you want to use canned chickpeas: https://gourmandelle.com/chiftelute-de-naut-healthy-vegan-falafel/
Just to be sure.. you don’t cook the chickpeas??
Nope! Soak them overnight and it’s enough. The balls are really small so they cook while frying. This is how traditional falafel is made.
Thanks! I try it right now!! ?
I love falafel. Over the weekend, I tried a recipe from a Youtuber and it didn’t turn out right at all, they shrunk in the oil. Their recipe didn’t include flour, baking soda or onion.
Going to try it out again soon and this time around I’ll add in the flour and baking soda and see how they turn out.
Thanks for sharing.
Sabah || http://www.womanishaffairs.org
Let me know how they turned out!
I love falafels, I’ll try this recipe to cook the best ones ever :p hehe.
Let me know how they turn out! 😀
Would love to get recipes
Bev, check out my Recipes page. 🙂