This easy Air Fryer Falafel recipe is made quicker and lighter with canned chickpeas, and no deep frying! I’ll show you how to make and shape falafel balls and air-fry them so they’re crispy and golden. Perfect for serving with hummus or stuffing into pita bread!
Easy Air Fryer Falafel
Falafel is a delicious Middle-Eastern vegetarian dish made with chickpeas, a mix of onions, and different herbs and spices. They are shaped like Mediterranean Meatballs, but there’s no meat in them (for that, I point you to my Turkey Kofta Kebabs!). I wanted to create an air fryer falafel recipe that was quick and easy, made from canned chickpeas rather than dried. They come out great in the air fryer, so delicious and easy to make. You can see more air fryer recipes here.
Why You Should Make Falafel In the Air Fryer
Falafel is so versatile! It’s typically served with other vegan-friendly foods such as pita bread, salad, and pickled vegetables. Or you can serve them over Hummus or Baba Ganoush, with couscous, or over rice. You decide! Air frying falafel is a quick and mess-free way to make them at home.
- Quick: You’ll need to refrigerate the uncooked falafels for a couple of hours, but the preparing and cooking them is quick and easy.
- Crispy outside, flavorful inside: The air fryer gets these crispier that the oven, with a golden exterior and tender, flavor-packed filling.
- Meal prep them: I love making big batches of air fryer falafel to store and use in meals throughout the week. They go in everything from wraps to salads and meal bowls.
- Meat-free: Falafel is both vegetarian and vegan. They are made from 100% plant-based ingredients, including chickpeas, herbs, spices, and onions.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Here are the ingredients for this easy falafel recipe. See the recipe card below for the exact measurements.
- Chickpeas: Make sure to rinse and drain the canned chickpeas. If you’re using dried chickpeas, you’ll need to soak them.
- Onion: Cut into quarters. I use yellow onion, but a white onion would also work.
- Fresh herbs including roughly chopped garlic, parlsey, cilantro, and scallions. If you dislike cilantro, use extra parsley instead.
- Spices: Cumin is a key spice for authentic falafel flavor, and I also season my falafel balls with red pepper flakes and salt.
- Baking powder makes the center of the falafel extra tender and airy.
- All-purpose flour to help bind the ingredients, plus more for dusting.
- Olive oil spray: Avoid aerosol sprays, like PAM, when greasing the air fryer as they can damage the non-stick coating on the basket.
How To Make Falafel
Here are the steps to make homemade falafel in the air fryer. See the recipe card at the bottom for printable directions.
- Prepare the chickpeas. Rinse, drain, and pat the chickpeas dry with paper towels.
- Blend the other ingredients. Next, add the onions, garlic, herbs, and spices to the food processor. Blend for 30-60 seconds.
- Add the chickpeas. Now, add the chickpeas and pulse 2-3 times, until it’s blended but not puréed. Lastly, add the baking soda and flour and pulse 2-3 more times.
- Chill. Transfer the falafel mixture to the fridge and let it chill for up to 3 hours.
- Shape the falafel. When you’re ready, divide and shape the mixture into 12 even-sized balls. You may need to flour your hands if the chickpeas become too sticky.
- Air fry. Spray the air fryer basket with oil, and cook the falafels into batches, at 350ºF for 14 minutes per batch. Turn the falafel halfway through so they’re golden brown on all sides.
Don’t Overblend
The challenge using canned chickpeas is the inside comes out too soft, almost like a mashed potato texture. So I reworked the recipe a few times to get them just right. The trick is to blend all your other ingredients first so you don’t over-process the chickpeas, and just pulse them a few times at the end. A few spritzes of olive oil before air frying makes them crisp on the outside and tender inside. The results are perfect!
What to Serve With Falafel
The traditional way of serving falafel it is to stuff two or three pieces in a pita, along with lettuce, cucumber, tomato and a dollop of tahini. But it can also be eaten hot or cold as an appetizer or as part of a main course salad or Buddha Bowl.
Sides
Serve your falafel with any of the following sides.
Proper Storage
- Refrigerate. Refrigerate the falafel in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Freeze. You can freeze the uncooked falafel balls for up to 6 months. Defrost them in the refrigerator overnight before air frying.
More Air Fryer Recipes You Will Love
Air Fryer Falafel
Ingredients
- 1 (15.5 ounce can) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 small yellow onion, quartered
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped parsley
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro
- 1/3 cup chopped scallions
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 tablespoons all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- olive oil spray
Optional for serving:
- hummus, sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, pita, tahini, etc
Instructions
- Dry the chickpeas on paper towels.
- Place the onions and garlic in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, scallions, cilantro, cumin, salt, and red pepper flakes.
- Process until blended 30 to 60 seconds, then add the chickpeas and pulse 2 to 3 times until just blended, but not pureed.
- Sprinkle in the baking powder and the flour, scrape the sides of the bowl down with a spatula and pulse 2 to 3 times.
- Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate, covered, 2 to 3 hours.
- Form the falafel mixture into 12 balls, if it’s too sticky add some flour to your hands and your work surface.
- Preheat the air fryer 350F.
- Spray the falafel with oil. Cook 14 minutes, in batches until golden brown, turning halfway.
