Falling for Falafel

I consider myself to be a falafel snob. Anywhere I go that serves it, I don't even bother looking at the rest of the menu. My favorite used to be from Daphne's (5+ years ago), and then they changed the recipe and they lost me.

Ever since then I've been searching for a good recipe/restaurant. Some places have come close, but not quite what I was looking for.

And then, I discovered Chrissy Teigen's recipe. The hunt is over, I'm in love. My mom and sister both love it too and my dad, who doesn't like falafel, chooses to eat the dough raw (ew, I know).

I follow the ingredients to a T, but after that I don't follow her baking instructions. When I tried it her way, they weren't great, plus we like them small so we can fit a few of them in our bowl/tortilla/naan/pita.

To view her entire recipe with her baking instructions: https://cravingsbychrissyteigen.com/cravings/oven-baked-falafel-sandwiches/

Below is her recipe with my baking instructions. We double the recipe for 4 people and have leftovers for a couple of days.

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Falafel - Recipe courtesy Cravings by Chrissy Teigen

Ingredients:

• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained but not rinsed

• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped onion

• ¼ cup all purpose flour, plus more as needed

• 5 cloves roughly chopped garlic

• ½ cup packed fresh parsley leaves and tender stems

• ½ cup packed fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems

• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• ½ teaspoon ground coriander

• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• ¼ teaspoon chili flakes

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2. Prepare a baking sheet with a medium amount of olive or avocado oil. I say this because too much oil and they are greasy and take longer to cook. Light oil and they're a little dry and cook faster. I use just enough that I can see the glistening oil all over the pan.

3. Combine the chickpeas, onion, flour, garlic, parsley, cilantro, sesame seeds, salt, cumin, coriander, pepper, and chili flakes in a food processor and process until the mixture looks like fine crumbs, 20 to 25 pulses. Pinch a bit of the mixture together between your fingers; if it holds together you’re good. If it crumbles, add another tablespoon of flour to the processor and pulse 5 more times. 

4. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop all of the dough out onto the pan. You only need small spaces in-between.

5. Gently press the dough so that they become a thick patty. See pictures for reference.

6. Lightly brush each patty with oil to keep them from drying out.

7. Bake 20-30 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom. I recommend you do a quick check at the 15 minute mark to see how they're progressing.

8. Flip and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until you reach desired crispness.

9. Enjoy! We like them with tzatziki, hummus, and crumbled feta. Serve over rice (we used Israeli couscous this time!) or with pita/naan/tortillas :)