Crispy Baked Falafel With Spinach
This Crispy Baked Falafel With Spinach recipe skips the frying pan and goes straight to the oven. They're baked to perfection with a crisp exterior while remaining tender within.
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Servings: 12 falafel
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried/uncooked/raw chickpeas soak these overnight, but don't cook them
- 2 TBSP olive oil
- 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 handful baby spinach
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1.5 TBSP tahini
- 1.5 TBSP freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
- A few cranks of cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Set an oven rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 375° F.
- Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; if you don't have parchment, you can lightly grease the baking sheet with 2-3 TBSP of olive oil.
- To a food processor or high-powered blender, add the soaked and drained chickpeas, 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, parsley, spinach, cumin, tahini, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Process until smooth. If you're using a high-powered blender as opposed to a food processor, this makes it a bit of a tedious task (I know because this is how I did it). Just be sure to have your accelerator handy to press the ingredients down. You may have to stop every couple of runs and, with a spoon, stir the mixture around. But within 5 minutes, you'll get the texture you're looking for.
- With a tablespoon, scoop out some of the mixture and shape the falafel into small patties, about 1 inch wide and 1/4 inch thick. (You can make larger patties if you'd like, but cooking times may vary.) Place each falafel onto your lined or greased baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until the underside of the falafel patties are a light golden brown. Then, carefully flip the falafel and bake for another 10-13 minutes, or until the falafels are lightly golden on each side.
Notes
Though this recipe only takes 30 minutes from start to finish, it calls specifically for dry chickpeas which you have to soak overnight. So take that into consideration when planning this recipe.