Sometimes the falafels end up smelling a bit stale and sometimes smell meaty(shared oil?). The stale oil bothers me more than anything else and I always think of fixing some up at home. Its one of those things that are easily available, but really the home made falafels are tastier, fresher and healthier! These falafels are baked, crisp on the outside, moist inside, and delicious and can be frozen for use later.
I use lentils and split peas in these falafels. What I like about lentil Falafels is that they come together really quickly and also cause less gas issues 😉 . Chickpeas are wonderful if you cook them from scratch at home after an overnight soak. The canned chickpeas are notorious though, as are most canned beans. If you are wondering about the bloating because of all the beans and lentils you have been consuming, I will tell you, that this was not much of a problem back in India. We ate much more beans, lentils, split peas, every single meal. Everything got digested well mainly because of zero use of canned beans and lentils. Everything was always soaked overnight, always cooked from scratch and had ingredients to help reduce all the gaseousness, like Asafetida (Hing) or Carom seeds – Ajwain Seeds added during cooking. All the centuries of knowledge of eating beans and lentils is all there deep rooted in the way of cooking. solutions just need to be found and implemented. 🙂
Baked Lentil Falafels!
More Mediterranean options on the blog
Chickpea and Split pea Falafels. use all chickpeas to make a chickpea Falafel. Also see step pictures on this post for the falafel mixture and pre and post baking pictures.
Mediterranean thin crust Pizza with almond feta, olives, mushrooms.
More Bowls.
Herbed White Bean, garlicky collard, Pepita Parmesan Bowl
Quinoa cauliflower bowl with Almond butter Sriracha sauce
Falafels are very filling, allergen friendly and with lentils, practically ready in 40 mins.
what is your favorite Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, or inspired meal?
- 1/4 cup lentils any brown lentils, whole masoor or spanish brown
- 1/4 cup yellow or green split peas
- 2 cups water
- 1/3 cup chopped red onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1/4 packed cup cilantro
- 1/4 packed cup parsley
- 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1/2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds or coriander powder
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper/ or black pepper or to taste I also added 1/2 a Serrano chili pepper
- 2 teaspoons oil optional
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
- 1-2 Tablespoons chickpea flour
- 1/3 cup tahini
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 tsp fresh parsley or 1/2 tsp dried
- 2 to 3 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 to 4 Tbsp water
- 1/4 tsp salt
- a generous dash of cayenne and black pepper
- Long white Radish made into ribbons with a peeler or radish slices
- Cucumber slices
- Torn Lettuce
- pickles optional
- cilantro and sesame seeds for garnish
- Wash the lentils and split peas. Drain, add to a deep pan with 2 cups of water. Cook on medium-high heat for 18 to 19 minutes. (15 mins if the lentils and split peas were pre-soaked for half an hour)
- Drain and cool slightly. Add to a food processor. Add all the ingredients except chickpea flour and pulse to make a coarse mixture. Transfer to a bowl. Add chickpea flour as needed to make the dough less sticky. If the dough is too sticky. chill for a few minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F / 200ºc. Grease hands and shape the dough into 1 to 1.5 inch balls. Place on parchment lined sheet. Brush oil on top. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden crisp on the outside.
- Meanwhile, Prepare the veggies and make the Tahini sauce. Blend everything under Tahini dressing. Taste and adjust tang and salt. Add more lemon juice if needed.
- Assemble the bowl with lettuce, cucumbers, Radish ribbons and other veggies. Drizzle generous amount of tahini dressing. Serve with warm falafels. Garnish with black and white sesame seeds and cilantro(optional). Or make a wrap in a pita. Add lettuce, pickles, radish, falafels and tahini dressing and make a snug wrap to carry.
- The falafels can be stored for upto 3 days in the refrigerator. Reheat in the oven if needed before serving.
Nutritional values based on one serving
Yeah I need to make this pronto.
awesome. use whole lentils Lynsi. I posted red lentils when i clicked publish. corrected that 15 mins after publishing, 🙂
Good to know! Thanks!
these falafels looks so delicious, richa! i will definitely have to try lentils next time!
i love lentils!
These look fantastic! I’m wondering if you expand a bit on the ingredients you mention to lessen gas? Are these available in Indian groceries and how much would you use?
Love your recipes!
both are available in indian store or online. I will link up the amazon links in the post. asafoetida is usually added to the tempering. Carom seeds can be added while cooking the beans in pan, pressure cooker or slow cooker. 1/8 to 1/4 tsp per cup of beans depending on the gas scale of the beans. more for kidney beans, less for chickpeas.
added the amazon links. they will be cheaper in an indian store.
AH – I’ve seen falafel recipes all over the place, but still haven’t made them! They sound AMAZING! Pinned these and can’t wait to try them with my husband this weekend. Excited to jump on the falafel bandwagon!! 😉
Yay! Falafel without the guilt since they are baked. I am sure they will be more delicious than most restaurants since these have much more good stuff in them (why won’t restaurants season their food more?).
My favorite Middle Eastern dinner is a combo plate of Muhambra (roasted red pepper puree), baba ghanoush, tabouli, hummus. I’ve not yet tried making grape leaves.
I usually bake my falafels, far healthier that way, and just as tasty – but there used to be a fantastic falafel fast food van in Paris, on Rue des Haches, if memory serves me right, that we used to visit almost every night for supper, they were so good! Mind you, that was before I discovered I couldn’t eat wheat:) Yours look great. I didn’t realise asofetida was good for reducing gas issues – I buy it for the flavour!
It is used for flavor and the gas management properties 🙂 if you notice, it is largely used in beans and lentil Indian dishes and not much with veggies. 🙂 though it definitely should be added to broccoli. 😉
its almost like you were reading my mind as I have been searching to make lentil based burgers!!! I got to your website when you were a guest on Chocolate covered Katie and I must say, you have made me a cook for the first time in my life!!!!!!!!!! Your recipes are SO GOOD, so easy and best of all Vegan, gluten free. I have finally started eating well all thanks to you. THANK YOU! I will try this tonight as I have all the ingredients. THANK YOU!!!
yay! so glad you discovered me in CCK! I am so happy you started cooking and are loving the recipes <3 xoxo
Yummmm! This looks amaaaazing!
Falafels with lentils sound like a dream – I love it! I often prefer baked homemade falafels to the fast food kind!
This look soooo good! I love Falafel. Really need to make them again.
Gorgeous Richa! Great to see you at the potluck 🙂
Richa,
Can I use brown whole masoor and chana dal?
Thanks
yes, i you can. soak both for an hour before using. the chana dal takes too long to get tender and will taste raw and hard if you cook it just for the 20 mins.
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I cooked these for dinner for my family the other day. I think there’s a missing ingredient in the sauce recipe, because it came out really thick and globby and not saucy at all. But I added water to it, blended, and ended up with a yummy sauce. And the falafel came out great!! Thanks for the recipe!!
oh yes, good catch. its missing 3 to 4 Tbsp water. thanks!
I made these into burgers and served them on buns tonight. We loved them.
sounds like one fabulous meal!
Doubled the recipe to last me a week. Mine came out very green because I added extra cilantro and parsley (didn’t want to waste it). I bought a ready made tahini sauce from Trader Joes and just added water and olive oil to it until it is more of a light salad dressing consistency. I serve the falafels warm over salad greens and use the tahini sauce as dressing. Really delicious and I will be keeping this recipe for future use to serve in pita sandwiches. Thanks!
awesome! i make them into pita wraps some days too!
I made this tonight. The flavor was wonderful. My husband liked it better than the garbanzo bean falafel. Also I put 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in thr tahini and thought it could use the third teaspoon of lemon. I added it and it curdled. I added a little water and it was fine. All around delicious.
awesome! maybe add a tsp or so more after the 2 Tbsp. i like it with 2 Tbsp, but hubbs likes it more lemony, so he just drizzles lemon juice before eating 🙂
What brand of tahini do you use in your recipes? Thanks!
Achva brand, unsalted tahini.
These look delicious! Can you substitute regular flour for the chickpea flour? I would rather not buy a new bag of flour if I could use what I have instead! 🙂
These look delicious! Is it possible to substitute regular flour for the chickpea flour? I’d rather not buy another bag of flour if I could use the flour I have already! 🙂
yes you can use any flour 🙂
Awesome 🙂 I didn’t mean to post the same question twice!
These turned out amazing! I went international with it and topped them with my famous guacamole. So good! Thank you for the recipe- will definitely be making these again.
Hi Richa,
Would you freeze these before or after baking them?
Best, Jessica
before baking. reheating them will continue to dry them out. they are best baked once.
Thank you! Love this recipe.
Love your recipes! Quick question: how long will the tahini dressing last in a mason jar in the fridge?
Thanks!
3 to 4 days.
This looks amazing Richa – love falafel!
Just tried this today with chana dal and moong dal, it was delicious! Made a fair amount with little effort. I have a big bunch sitting in the freezer for yummy dinners later this week!
Awesome!!
Hi Richa,
sometimes it’s hard to figure out which typ of lentils etc. are the right kind. But yellow split peas is obvious. So my question is, if you do have an idea why my yellow split pea package calls for 30-40min cooking time (without pre soak), while yours only need 18 to 19min?
Hi Tom,
Any brown lentils will do. Indian brown, spanish brown or other brown. they might need 5-10 minutes of cooking time here and there depending on the type and age of the lentils.
For the falafels, the lentils and split peas are cooked to somewhat less than al dente and then blended and baked. Cooking them to al dente or till they are fully cooked, can end up making the fafafel balls pasty or mushy. This is same method often used to make regular chickpea falafels. Chickpeas and/or fava beans are boiled for about the 2/3 or 3/4 of the usual cooking time, then used to make the falafel. (traditionally, the chickpeas would just be soaked for 24 hours, drained and used. soaked chickpeas have the softness close to chickpeas cooked to 3/4 of the cooking time).
You can cook the split peas and lentils till your preference. If either of the split peas or lentils are too soft, mash them with a fork instead of in a food processor.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for this detailed answer! 🙂
One time I tried “traditional” chickpea falafel, but I’m sure they wasn’t tender enough after baking (ok, not so traditional because of baking then frying^^). When I try them again, should they be as soft after soaking, that I easy could crush them, right?
Baking will dry out the falafels more compared to frying. so the crust can be harder. Keep the mixture a bit more moist than the frying version and bake till just crisp. You can add some tahini to the mixture if it needs moisture.
Yes the soaked chickpeas should be soft enough to get mashed with a little force within your fingers. 1 whole day soak is usually enough.
Can you make these ahead of time and freeze?
Yes, shape them and freeze in airtight container or ziplock. Thaw, pan fry or bake and serve.
Made this for dinner tonight! Came together easily and was delicious and filling!
Looks amazing Richa!
I made these recently and everyone loved them! Even my 15 month old. 🙂 Just one issue we had was that the tahini dressing tasted bitter and I ended up just making hummus the following day so it didn’t go to waste. Any recommendations on how to balance that out when I make it again?
It probably depends on the tahini brand (tahini has an inherent bitter profile which is pleasing bitter in general, some brands have a more prominent flavor). it could also be garlic. sometimes the blending causes the garlic to get bitter. you can use 1/2 tsp garlic powder instead.
What an amazing recipe! Thank you for sharing it. Just one question, how many falafels are included in be “one serving” chart? Just making sure I get my daily protein amount.
Thanks again!
3 to 4 balls depending on the size.
Hi, do you ever substitute anything for the chickpea flour. I have a friend with a chickpea allergy that would love these? She’s also allergic to Potatoes and Fava Beans ( and she’s Indian and Vegetarian ironically.)
regular all purpose flour or any other grain flour will work, or breadcrumbs
Thank you. Ah I should have specified that I was hoping for a gluten free one. Would tapioca or almond work? Or do you think Oat is a better option?
a mix of tapioca and oat would work better than almond.