Homemade Crispy Falafel Recipe

The secret to our falafel recipe is soaked dried chickpeas and a mountain of fresh green herbs. They are shatteringly crisp on the outside and remarkably tender inside.

While it may be tempting to reach for a can of chickpeas, for our favorite falafel recipe, you’ll use soaked, dried chickpeas. Canned beans are too soft with too much moisture, which means you’ll have mushy fritters that fall apart. By using soaked (but uncooked) chickpeas with lots of cilantro, parsley, and mint, you’ll get a light, tender, emerald-green center with a golden, crunchy shell.

We first fell in love with falafel when walking through the Marais district of Paris, where I ordered a falafel sandwich from L’As du Fallafel. We loved their falafel so much that we ate there almost every day and came home determined to recreate it. I think we nailed it! I love tucking these into our homemade pita with creamy hummus, veggies, pickles, and this delicious tahini sauce.

Key Ingredients

• Chickpeas: Canned chickpeas don’t work here. I know other recipes say they do, but for the best authentic falafel, you want soaked dried chickpeas. This means that you need to soak your chickpeas overnight. Note that we will only soak the beans and do not cook them before making our falafel mix. For more about dried chickpeas, see this guide about soaking dried chickpeas.
• Garlic and Herbs: We love green herbs, and they work incredibly well here. We use garlic, green onions, and lots of fresh herbs like parsley, cilantro, and mint.
• Spices: Our falafel mix isn’t overly spiced, but we do add ground cumin, ground coriander, ground cardamom, black pepper, and salt. Cayenne pepper is also optional for a little heat.
• Baking Powder: Adding it to your falafel mixture makes the center slightly more tender, airy, and light.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make the Best Falafel

Tip 1: Use dried chickpeas. Are you tired of me telling you this yet? Our falafel recipe below does not call for canned beans. Instead, we’re going to add them to a large bowl and soak them overnight, covered with water.

In the morning, the chickpeas will have almost tripled in size and softened a bit. They will still be hard, but no longer dried. These beans—soaked, but still firm—are perfect for making falafel. You do not need to cook them before using them in your falafel mix.

Tip 2: Make the falafel mix in a food processor. We need to finely chop the chickpeas and herbs, and a food processor works wonders.

Combine the soaked chickpeas and other falafel ingredients in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped, stopping before it purees into a paste. You’ll know it’s ready when it looks finely chopped and you can press it together into balls (not like dough, but they should hold together).

I recommend watching our video in the recipe below, where you can see the texture you’re looking for.

Tip 3: Chill before cooking. Chilling the falafel mixture helps bind ingredients before you cook them, so we prefer to refrigerate the mix for 15 minutes, then form it into balls. Then, after making my balls, I pop them back into the fridge for 30 minutes or so to help them hold together for frying.

Tip 4: For the best homemade falafel, fry it. For the crispiest, most authentic falafel, fry them in oil. I know frying isn’t for everyone, but trust me, it’s worth it! It’s not as messy or complicated as you might think. If you prefer, I’ve included baking and pan-frying options in the recipe, but just remember that frying is the way to go for that perfect golden-brown and crispy outside texture.

The photo below shows deep-fried falafel on the left. It is moist and tender inside, with a golden, crisp outside (this is also the lightest texture). In the middle is pan-fried falafel, which is less crisp on the outside but still moist and tender inside, although not nearly as airy and light as deep-fried. On the right is baked falafel, which is less crispy with a less tender, bright green center.

Serving Suggestions

The classic way to enjoy these is tucked into warm, pita bread with some hummus and a handful of crunchy pickles. Sometimes we’ll add a chopped cucumber and tomato salad or a drizzle of tahini sauce. Straight tahini works, too!

For a more expansive spread, arrange the falafel on a mezze platter alongside smoky baba ganoush, tangy labneh, and briny olives. They’re also lovely for topping salads, and I love them with tzatziki.

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