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Vegetarian kid-friendly Falafel is a Middle Eastern street food consisting of a small fritter made from ground chickpeas (garbanzo beans), minced garlic, and fresh parsley. Falafel can be eaten plain, with hummus and vegetables, or most frequently tucked into a pita and topped with condiments like hot sauce or a yogurt sauce similar to tzatziki. Prep Time: 8 hours Cook Time: 12 minutes Total Time: 8 hours 12 minutes Servings: 8 Servings of 4 (1-oz) falafel balls or patties Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

This Easy Air Fryer Falafel starts with dry garbanzo beans which I soaked overnight and then ground in the food processor with an onion, minced garlic, salt, cumin, coriander, parsley, and just a tiny pinch of cardamom.

Falafel is a Middle Eastern street food consisting of a small fritter made from ground chickpeas (garbanzo beans), minced garlic, and fresh parsley.

Falafel can be eaten plain, with hummus and vegetables, or most frequently tucked into a pita and topped with condiments like hot sauce or a yogurt sauce similar to tzatziki.

I prefer my falafel in a pita filled with fresh tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers and then topped with a dollop of hummus and drizzled with yogurt sauce.

If we’re being totally honest, falafel goes good with ranch dressing, too – just sayin’. Don’t judge!

To be fair, we first encountered falafel at a local restaurant and we’ve since eaten our fair – so much so that were inspired to create our own falafel at home.

You’d be surprised what you can learn just by talking to the servers and restaurant owners who are usually more than happy (and often proud) to share with your their techniques, and even sometimes their recipes!

This Easy Air Fryer Falafel starts with dry garbanzo beans which I soaked overnight and then ground in the food processor with an onion, minced garlic, salt, cumin, coriander, parsley, and just a tiny pinch of cardamom.

I then formed the mixture into small (1-ounce) discs and fried them in my Power Air Fryer with just a small amount of canola oil so the outside is crispy but the inside still has that moist, crumbly texture I crave.



I have also tried this recipe using canned chickpeas, but in my opinion, the recipe just doesn’t have the same texture as you get from using the dry chickpeas – and there’s also a slight change in flavor as well.

It’s my suggestion, to always start with the dry beans and soak them overnight.

I actually double this recipe and flash freeze the falafel for quick lunches (and snacks). They heat from frozen in just a few minutes.

To do this: Prepare the falafel according to recipe directions, but do not fry. Shape into small (1 ounce) discs and place on cookie sheet.

Place cookie sheet in the freezer (called flash freezing) and allow falafel to freeze.

Remove cookie sheet from freezer and place falafel into a freezer-safe bag or container. Place back into the freezer. Frozen uncooked falafel will last about 3 to 6 months in the freezer. Then just cook frozen falafel according to the recipe instructions.