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Falafel Waffles

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Instead of frying your falafels, waffle them! You get crispy exteriors and soft interiors without the mess. It’s a perfect Meatless Monday or Lenten meal too.

Falafel waffles on pita bread with tomatoes, cucumbers and a drizzle of tahini yogurt sauce.

This past week has been so much fun.  I love all of the lemon, yogurt and chickpeas we have been eating.  And then there’s the homemade pita.  

Mmmmmmm, so many homemade pita!   While we were at it, I figured this would be the perfect time to venture a little bit farther on our international culinary tour.

This recipes uses a lot of those same flavors but is a bit more Middle Eastern in nature.  Maybe it is Middle Easter/Midwest fusion?!  Either way, ever since I read the description of Waffled Falafel Sandwiches on Food Lust People Love, I have been interested to give them a try.

I bought a bag of dried chickpeas a while back, but had never got around to doing anything with them.  This seemed like the perfect chance to use them before they turned permanently into pea gravel!

platter filled with homemade pita and a pile of falafel waffles.

 This recipe is based on hers.  She spent a fair amount of time in the Middle East and even had a favorite falafel guy.  

If the recipe is good enough for her, it’s good enough for me!  She also said how the waffle iron got the edges nice and crispy, but left the centers soft without having to fry.  Sold!

 I don’t fry at home (I don’t like the mess and don’t want to get into the habit anyway) so this seemed like the perfect method for me.  Besides, it is just fun to say falafel waffles.  I think it’s worth making them just for that!

Bowl of ground chickpeas and spices ready to be made into falafel.

I did scale up the recipe a bit, mostly because I wanted to go ahead and use the whole pound of chickpeas.  I also turned down the fresh herbs.  

I have a little dude who is a pretty adventurous eater, but isn’t a fan of green herbs.  He will pick them out of anything.

They are ground up into these, but I didn’t want the flavor to be too strong where he wouldn’t give them a chance.  You can certainly double what is in this recipe and have delicious results.

Plate with crispy falafel waffles, vegetables and a drizzle of dressing ready to eat.

We put our falafel waffles on homemade sourdough pita and drizzled on some yogurt and tahini sauce.  It made for a delicious sandwich.

However, I think I liked them even better just picked up and dipped in the sauce.  The leftovers heated well and made a great lunch.  The leftover pita became flatbread pizzas.  Good stuff all the way around!

Falafel waffles on pita bread with tomatoes, cucumbers and a drizzle of tahini yogurt sauce.

Falafel Waffles

Carlee
Instead of frying your falafels, waffle them! You get crispy exteriors and soft interiors without the mess. It’s a perfect Meatless Monday or Lenten meal too.
5 from 2 ratings
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Course Dinners
Cuisine American
Servings 12 waffles
Calories 157 kcal

Ingredients
 

  • 1 pound dry chickpeas soaked for 8-24 hours
  • 1 small onion
  • cup fresh parsley
  • cup fresh cilantro
  • 5-6 cloves garlic
  • 3 teaspoons cumin
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs

Instructions
 

  • Drain and rinse chickpeas. Place in food processor and process until they are small crumbles.
    1 pound dry chickpeas
  • (At this stage I removed some of the chickpeas because the batch was a bit big for my food processor.) Quarter the onion and rough chop the cilantro and parsley. Add them along with the spices to the chickpeas in the processor and process until fine.
    1 small onion, ⅓ cup fresh parsley, ⅓ cup fresh cilantro, 5-6 cloves garlic, 3 teaspoons cumin, 1 teaspoon cayenne, ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, ½ teaspoon salt
  • Add the eggs and pulse until mostly smooth. (At this stage I added back in the reserved chickpea crumbles and processed until completely mixed in.)
    2 eggs
  • Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
  • Preheat waffle iron. Spray with non-stick spray. Form a small ball of falafel mixture into a patty and place on the waffle iron. Close and cook. You will want to leave them in for about a minute past when the ready light comes on so they have a nice crisp golden exterior and are cooked through.
  • Hold in a warm oven until all of the mixture is used and then enjoy!

Nutrition

Serving: 1falafel waffleCalories: 157kcalCarbohydrates: 25gProtein: 9gFat: 3gSaturated Fat: 0.5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.003gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 119mgPotassium: 384mgFiber: 7gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 312IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 56mgIron: 3mg
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Recipe Rating




Helene

Tuesday 7th of March 2017

My family LOVES chick-peas and especially falafel. I will be pulling out my waffle iron and giving this a try!

Carlee

Wednesday 8th of March 2017

You definitely should! They are so much fun to eat!

Amy

Sunday 5th of March 2017

I love this recipe. One year for Christmas I asked Santa for a case of chick peas, they are one of my favorite! Thanks for the fun recipe.

Carlee

Monday 6th of March 2017

I love them too! I bought a case at Aldi when they had their organic ones in stock, now I wish I would have bought two or three. They are gone and it will likely be fall before they have them again!

Big Rigs 'n Lil' Cookies

Friday 12th of August 2016

I am intrigued by this recipe. I can't say that I have seen dried chick peas in my stores, but I will be keeping an eye out for them.

Carlee

Friday 12th of August 2016

They are a little hard to find here too. I found some when I was out of town. Our Aldi gets them sometimes too, but it's one of those seasonal things that comes and goes.

Unknown

Monday 8th of August 2016

This sounds so good. And I'm really excited because they're vegetarian and gluten-free. This is definitely going on my list of recipes to try. Not only would they be great with the sauce but I would love to turn them into the bread for a sandwich or even a hamburger. I know I said vegetarian, but my daughter is vegetarian, I still enjoy a meat product every once in awhile! This sounds like fun! And I do like saying Falafel waffles!

Carlee

Tuesday 9th of August 2016

It's super fun to say, isn't it? I love the idea of using them as the bread for a sandwich. Time to make them again. Maybe with a lamb burger?! Let's make this happen! We need to riff off each other more often!

Nicole The Professional Mom Project

Wednesday 3rd of August 2016

Such a fun idea. Everything is better when turned in a waffle ;)

Nicole | The Professional Mom Project

Carlee

Wednesday 3rd of August 2016

Isn't that the case though? I have a slight waffle obsession going now!