Healthy Air Fryer Falafel Recipe

Source video by Lirim Gula on YouTube. This recipe was adapted with strict source-fidelity rules and is marked for human review.

These falafel start with dried chickpeas soaked overnight (not cooked), then blitzed with shallot, garlic, parsley, coriander and warm spices. The mixture chills briefly, gets shaped into patties and air-fried until crisp outside and fluffy inside. A 5-minute tahini sauce with lemon, maple syrup and garlic finishes the plate. Makes roughly 10 falafel.

Ingredients

• dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in cold water then drained and patted dry, soaked overnight, drained, patted dry
• 1 wholeshallot, peeled
• 3 clovesgarlic cloves, peeled
• fresh parsley, leaves and tender stems
• fresh coriander, leaves and tender stems
• 1 tspground cumin
• 1 tspred pepper flakes
• 1 tspground coriander
• 0.5 tspgarlic powder
• 0.5 tsponion powder
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbspcornflour
• oil spray

• 75 mltahini
• 25 mlextra virgin olive oil
• 25 mlmaple syrup (or honey)
• 0.5 wholelemon, juiced, juice only
• smoked garlic paste (or 1 grated garlic clove)
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 25 mlcold water

Method

1. Drain the soaked chickpeas, discard the soaking water and pat them very dry with a clean tea towel.

   ~2 min

2. Add the chickpeas, shallot, garlic cloves, parsley and coriander to a food processor.

   ~2 min

3. Add the cumin, red pepper flakes, ground coriander, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and a generous grind of black pepper.

   ~1 min

4. Blitz in 30-second intervals, scraping down the sides in between, until the mixture is finely chopped but still coarse, not a smooth purée.

   ~3 min

5. If the mix looks too wet to hold its shape, pulse in 1 tablespoon of cornflour to help it bind.

   ~1 min

6. Cover and chill in the fridge for 30 to 60 minutes (around 45 minutes is ideal).

   ~45 min

7. Make the tahini sauce: whisk the tahini, olive oil, maple syrup, lemon juice, garlic paste (if using), salt and black pepper together. It will look thick and split at first.

   ~2 min

8. Add cold water 25ml at a time, whisking between each addition. The sauce will go pale and curdled looking before coming together into a smooth, silky pourable sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning.

   ~3 min

9. Scoop the chilled falafel mix into roughly equal portions (about 10) and shape into small patties or balls, pressing firmly so they hold together.

   ~5 min

10. Preheat the air fryer to 200°C.

    ~3 min

11. Spray the falafel with oil and place 5 at a time into the air fryer basket so it isn't overcrowded. Cook at 200°C for 10 minutes.

    ~10 min

12. Flip the falafel, spray again with oil and air fry for a further 4 to 5 minutes until deeply golden and crisp. Repeat with the second batch.

    ~5 min

13. Serve the hot falafel with the tahini sauce for dipping or drizzling.

    ~1 min

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