Recently, I’ve been trying to work two vegan or vegetarian meals into our week; I always feel kind of bloated and gross when I consume too much meat, and it saves money to not buy so much meat! Win win! The only problem is that I sometimes struggle with creativity to come up with vegan meals – we’ve done plenty of roasted veggies with rice, veggie fajitas/tacos, and beans and rice – and I was wanting to spice it up. Then I remembered many years ago making a baked falafel recipe, and decided to try my own!
Falafel is a Middle Eastern street food – a patty of sorts – made from ground chick peas, herbs, and spices. I looked up recipes for inspiration, and saw that most of them used dried chick peas that they then soaked. Well I don’t have the time for that, nor do I have a health food store close by to try and find any. So I went the canned chick pea route…and totally failed. The first time I made this recipe, my falafel was mush. I then attempted to fry these little bean balls, hoping to bring a some crispy life to them, but they completely disintegrated in the oil. Total disaster! But I wasn’t going to give up!
A big part of why I started this blog was to show that healthy food and convenience can be synonymous. So while baking falafel and using canned chick peas may not be traditional, it’s a heck of a lot simpler than running around town hunting down dried chick peas, letting them soak for hours, then making a mess with hot oil in your kitchen by frying them. In fact, it’s as simple as combining ingredients in a blender or food processor and lopping blobs onto a baking sheet. Sounds sexy, huh? 😉 Convenient, tasty, healthy, and even loved by my toddler! It took her a few tries, but now she loves eating “waffles”. If you need a break from meat, I hope you give this Baked Falafel a try!
Baked Falafel
Serves 6-8, depending on patty size.
Ingredients:
- 2 cans of chick peas, drained and rinsed
- 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
- 1/4 of a yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup of cilantro
- 1/3 cup of parsley
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- Juice of one large lemon
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- 3 tbsp oat flour
- 1/2 tbsp coconut flour
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 F
- Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor
- Pulse until semi-smooth
- Spoon large patties of the mixture onto a prepared baking sheet (greased, parchment paper, or a silicone liner)
- Bake for about 25 minutes
- Flip each patty, and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, until both sides are brown
- Serve warm
- as a salad topper (delicious with my Dairy free Garlic Herb Ranch)
- as a burger/sandwich (with a side of my Oven Baked Fries)
- topped with a tomato/cucumber salad
For more vegetarian meals, check out my Slow Cooker Potato and Kale Soup or Creamy Tomato Basil Soup to lighten up your weeknight meals, and for another chick pea recipe, check out my Classic Garlic Hummus. My cooking philosophy after becoming a mother is to KISS (keep it simple, silly!) and keep it healthy. If you’re looking for healthy yet simple recipes that fit into your busy lifestyle, whether that be slow cooker recipes, one pan recipes, easy baked goods, or quick meal prep ideas; I’ve got you covered! KISS…and enjoy your pinch of crazy!
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