Lean Pantry: Chickpea Falafel Patties

There’s two things I love about this recipe. First, it’s falafel. One of my all-time fave food – up there with pizza & burritos. The second reason why I love this recipe is because it’s a Lean Pantry recipe, which means it’s part of my unique repertoire of simple, nourishing, plant-forward recipes that utilize my perfectly curated kitchen stock list. Lean Pantry recipes make healthful, delicious, homemade and plant-centric meals a breeze. The Lean Pantry model is how I satisfy my need for super delicious food that’s also nourishing, meal-prep friendly and, more often than not, vegan. If this is a priority for you too, you’re going to love my Lean Pantry recipes!

This falafel utilizes soaked chickpeas, which means you’re starting from dry chickpeas, not canned. While I use canned beans sometimes, I mostly use dry beans when cooking for myself. Why? They’re more versatile, they’re cheaper & they’re far more eco-friendly (less packaging & less plastic!). I blend these soaked chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) with fresh onion, garlic, cumin, salt and olive oil. I then add any other mix-ins I’m feeeling, like fresh or dried herbs, before forming the batter into patties, searing them on the stove top and finishing them in the oven.

Chickpeas, onions, garlic, cumin, salt & olive oil are all ingredients that can be found on my Lean Pantry stock list. From there, you can add other flavorings, some of my faves being fresh parsley, dried dill, paprika and/or lemon zest. I love making a double batch of these guys and stashing them in the fridge for plant-forward yummy-ness all week long. They’re even delicious cold which means I’m usually eating them cold.

Ok, enough chit chat. Let’s get to that recipe, shall we??

Lean Pantry Chickpea Falafel Patties
Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

1 cup dry chickpeas, soaked*
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
1.5 teaspoons sea salt, fine-grain
1/4 cup olive oil (plus more for cooking)

Optional Add-Ins

1/4 cup packed fresh parsley leaves/tender stems
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried dill
1 teaspoon paprika (smoked paprika could be really good!)
2 teaspoons lemon zest

To Make

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add all ingredients to a food processor or high-speed blender. Blend until a smooth batter is formed (there will still be a visibly grainy texture). You will likely need to pause and scrape down the sides 1-3 times during the blending process.

Transfer batter to a bowl (this is just to avoid getting cut by sharp blender blades). Form batter into 8 patties. Note that the batter will be very wet & sticky, but should still easily form into patties. I like to transfer the uncooked patties to the fridge for an hour or so to firm them up. This is an optional step that makes browning them on the stove top much easier.

When ready to cook, heat a thin layer of olive oil in a skillet over medium to medium-high heat (I like using a cast iron skillet for this). Add patties to skillet, in batches if necessary. Cook for 5-8 minutes per side, or until golden. Flip gently as they’re still fragile at this point. Add more olive to pan between batches.

Transfer browned patties to a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Enjoy as a snack with Tzatziki sauce, as a pita sandwich filling or as a salad topper.

*soaking chickpeas – either soak chickpeas in cold water overnight in the fridge OR hot soak them by bringing chickpeas & water to a boil, boiling for 2 minutes, removing from heat, covering with lid and allowing to soak for about 2 hour

*I form the batter into 8 patties for simplicity’s sake, but form them into as many as you want (slightly adjust cooking time accordingly)))))))))))))))))))))