Crispy Oven Baked Falafel From Canned Chickpeas

This recipe for healthy Oven Baked Falafel is a great weeknight meatless option. Learn how to make crispy baked falafel from canned chickpeas without the deep-frying!

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Homemade Baked Falafel

Falafel perhaps one of the most common Middle Eastern foods found throughout the world has continued to gain popularity as a favorite street food worldwide.

Most commonly deep fried I have learned to make my own baked version at home! Which means you can have this delicious meal at home without being loaded with extra oil!

I feel as though I have been working on this recipe for a long time. I wanted to achieve the same goodness of the deep fired version in a healthier homemade baked version, so it took a lot of playing around.

So first thing was deciding on the chickpeas to use. Traditional recipes for falafel will use dried chickpeas that were soaked overnight. I wanted the convince of canned chickpeas, so it took a bit to figure out the right levels of liquid to add to the patties I was able to achieve a good texture.

During recipe development the next hurdle I needed to cross was how to make the falafel still crispy on the outside while still being baked. In order to achieve this some oil still needed to be used but no worries it is no where near the amount that even pan frying would use!

Once I had troubleshooted these issues I am finally ready to share!

How to make Crispy Falafel at home in the Oven

First you will need a special tool for this recipe, a food processor.

If you don’t have one in your kitchen yet I highly recommend it! They make home cooking so much easier! Plus you can make a ton of other goodies besides falafel like Hummus, Salsa, Pie Crust, and even Homemade Peanut Butter.

You can find a large variety of food processors on Amazon!

I also find an ice cream scoop in this recipe to be super helpful, it happens to be the perfect size of the amount of filling you will need to make a patty!

Besides that everything else should be fairly simple like a sheet pan, measuring spoons, spatulas, ect.

Now that you have your supplies these are the ingredients you need:

• chickpeas, drained & rinsed
• onion
• parsley
• cilantro
• garlic
• lemon juice
• cumin
• kosher or sea salt
• baking soda
• all-purpose flour
• spray cooking oil (olive oil or other neutral tasting oil work best)

For a detailed list of ingredients continue down towards the bottom of the page.

Now you are ready to make oven baked falafel!

Begin by preheating your oven to 425ºF. Using the spray oil grease the baking sheet and set aside. 

Now in the food processor add the roughly chopped onion. Pulse 5 to 6 times to mince the onion. Transfer the minced onion to a clean tea towel/dish rag. Over a bowl or sink ring the towel around the minced onion draining as much liquid out as possible. Transfer the minced onion back to the food processor. 

Add in the parsley, cilantro, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, salt, baking soda, & all-purpose flour to the food processor along with the onion. Pulse 6 to 8 times to mix everything. Add in the chickpeas. Continue to pulse the food processor until everything is incorporated and minced, stopping to scrape down the sides if necessary. 

Now to make falafel patties scoop about 3 tablespoons of the mixture into your hand and form a patty, then lay it down on the sheet pan. (Or if you happen to have an ice cream scoop use that to easily measure out balls of the falafel mixture, then forming patties.) Continue to make patties with the rest of the mixture. 

Using a spray oil lightly oil the tops of each of the patties (about 1 short spray on each). Transfer to the oven and bake 10 minutes. 

Very carefully flip each of the falafel over (they might still seem loose at the point so be careful so they don’t break apart). Bake an additional 10 minutes until the falafel patties are golden brown. Serve immediately.

Most falafel is served sandwich/ wrap still in a pita pocket or with naan bread with filling such as lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, olives, tahini, or whatever you like. These can also be eaten as a snack or on a mezze platter. You could also enjoy as a salad topping or part of a ‘buddha’/grain bowl.

Questions, Tips, and Tricks

Is falafel healthy for you?

Traditional falafel while still filled with classically healthy ingredients are deep fried, giving them a high fat content.

This oven baked falafel is definitely healthier considering a much smaller amount of oil is used.

Plus this falafel is filled with delicious ingredients like chickpeas which are filled with protein, dietary fiber, and folate. Making it a great choice for a vegetarian meal.

Can I use chickpeas I made from dried beans?

Yes! You will need approximately 3 cups worth.

Can I use gluten-free flour instead of all-purpose?

Yes. The flour in the recipe is for binding purposes so a gluten-free flour blend should work as a substitute.

Can these be frozen?

Yes absolutely they freeze well! So make a full batch and save some for later!

Traditionally falafel comes in ball form why are these in patties?

Great question, because we want to recreate the crispy outside that comes from deep-frying I wanted to maximize the amount of space on the falafel that becomes crispy. In order to get the majority of the falafel crispy it must come in contact with the hot sheet pan, so by making patties more of your falafel has that wonderful crunch.

Looking for some more meatless options? You might like these:

• Broccoli Cheese Baked Potatoes
• Red Lentil Tacos
• One-Pot Black Bean Taco Spaghetti
• Slow Cooker Black Bean Tortilla Soup
• Easy Vegetarian Slow Cooker Refried Beans

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