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Vegan Falafel Burgers

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5 from 3 reviews

These easy vegan falafel burgers have all your favorite Middle Eastern flavors of classic fried falafel but in burger form! They are perfectly crispy and dark golden brown on the outside with a light, tender, seasoned chickpea center! Sandwich them with fresh veggies in a pretzel bun and drizzle with dill yogurt sauce for the best vegetarian dinner ever!

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • l lb. dried garbanzo beans
  • 1 small red onion, roughly chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup loosely packed fresh parsley
  • 1 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro
  • 4 teaspoons cumin
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3–6 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • Kosher salt
  • fresh cracked pepper
  • vegetable oil for frying

Serve with:

Instructions

  1. Add garbanzo beans to a large bowl. Pour water over the garbanzo beans until they are covered by at least a few inches of water. They will nearly triple in size so you want to make sure there is enough water to cover them as they expand. Soak for 8-12 hours. 
  2. Drain water from chickpeas. 
  3. Add onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, cumin, baking powder, 3 tablespoons flour, and a couple large pinches of salt and pepper to a food processor. 
  4. Pulse until everything is well minced, scraping the sides as needed. Transfer to the large bowl. 
  5. Add half the soaked garbanzo beans to the food processor and pulse until well minced, scraping the sides as needed. Transfer to the large bowl with the herb mixture. 
  6. Pulse remaining garbanzo beans until well minced and add to the large bowl. 
  7. Mix garbanzo beans and herb mixture together. 
  8. Refrigerate for 1 hour or overnight. 
  9. Heat a large pan over medium heat. 
  10. Add about 2-3 inches of vegetable oil depending on the size of the pan. 
  11. Use hands to gently form a large burger patty. 
  12. Carefully flip burger patty onto a large spatula and gently slid the patty into the hot oil. 
  13. If you’re having trouble getting the burgers to stick together, please see the notes section below. 
  14. Continue making burgers and adding them to the hot oil in batches of 3-4 at a time, depending on the size of your pan. 
  15. Fry falafel burgers for about 3-4 minutes on each side or until the outside is a deep golden brown and very crispy. A slotted spoon or a second spatula is helpful when flipping the falafel in the hot oil. 
  16. Transfer to a paper towel lined platter to soak up any excess grease. 
  17. Serve burgers in a pretzel bun garnished with sliced tomato, cucumber, and onion along with crumbled feta and a drizzle of yogurt sauce. 

Equipment

Notes

Use a heavy bottom pan for frying. The heavy bottom of the pan will help distribute the heat more evenly and maintain temperature throughout the frying process. I like to use either this 3.3 Quarter Enameled Cast Iron Pan or this 4.3 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven for this type of shallow frying.

If you don’t have a candy or meat thermometer, you can test the heat of the vegetable oil by adding a drop of water to it. If it sizzles immediately the oil is warm enough. BE CAREFUL when doing this – don’t add more than a drop of water as the water will cause the oil to spit and spatter.

The falafel mixture is going to be very crumbly. This is normal! It will hold together more once formed into a patty but will still fall apart easily so you have to handle the burger patties very gently. Once the patty hits the oil and starts to fry it will hold together very well.

Use a spatula to finesse the falafel patties it into the hot oil. I find it easiest to form a patty and hold it on one hand, then place a large spatula upside down over the patty and gently flip the patty onto the spatula. Then slide the patty off the spatula and into the hot oil. It’s easiest to make one patty at a time, immediately frying it in the oil after forming it. You can cook 3-4 patties at a time depending on the size of the pan you’re using.

Your oil may start to get too hot as you cook the falafel in batches. If the falafel is getting dark golden brown on one side in less than 3 minutes, turn the heat down just a bit. Alternately, if the falafel is taking longer than 4 minutes to cook on each side, you may need to turn the heat up a bit.

If you’re having trouble getting the mixture to stay together, try adding more flour. Depending on the day and how much moisture is coming from the herbs, garlic and onion mixture you might need just the 3 tablespoons, or you might need all 6 tablespoons.

Find it online: https://midwestfoodieblog.com/vegan-falafel-burgers/