No need to soak dry chickpeas overnight for this quick recipe, which is gluten free and lower carb if you substitute ground almonds or almond flour for wheat flour, as I do. All you need is an air fryer to make delicious, crispy, healthier falafel.
Ingredients
- chickpeas: 1 can (15.5 ounce can, drained)
- yellow onion: 1 piece (chopped)
- fresh cilantro: 0.5 cup (chopped)
- fresh parsley: 0.5 cup (chopped)
- almond flour: 2 Tbsp
- garlic: 3 clove
- ground cumin: 2 tsp
- cayenne pepper: 1 tsp
- baking powder: 0.5 tsp
- coarse salt: 0.5 tsp
- ground black pepper: 0.5 tsp
- baking soda: 0.25 tsp
- pinch ground nutmeg: 1 piece
- sesame oil cooking spray:
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
-
Pour chickpeas into the basket of a large air fryer. Cook at 220 degrees F (104 degrees C) until mostly dry, about 15 minutes. Check after 10 minutes of cooking; all liquid should be evaporated and chickpeas should still be squishy, not toasted or hardened. Turn air fryer off.
-
Transfer chickpeas to a food processor. Add onion, cilantro, parsley, almond flour, garlic, cumin, cayenne, baking powder, salt, pepper, baking soda, and nutmeg. Process on medium-high speed until a chunky paste forms.
-
Refrigerate mixture to let flavors develop and to enable more drying, at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 hour.
-
Form mixture into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place in the air fryer basket and spray with sesame oil spray; be careful, falafel will be delicate.
-
Set the air fryer to 320 degrees F (160 degrees C) and cook for 10 minutes. Coat with more sesame oil if desired, increase temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and cook until outsides are toasted, about 10 more minutes.
