These falafel make such a versatile snacking food. Protein rich from the gram flour and chickpeas they can be added to wraps, Buddha bowls or simply eaten on their own. Make a batch of these at the weekend as a sure way to ensure you have healthy tasty snacks or lunches to turn to in the week,
What makes these falafel great!
Falafels are so versatile and super cheap to make. The basis of the recipe being sweet potatoes and a tin of chickpeas ,so combined will cost less than £1, making them a cost effective protein rich plant based option.
Whilst this recipe has gone with sweet potato (which incidentally adds a lovely moisture to the falafels to stop them from drying out) they also work well with other root vegetables. You can try carrots, beetroot or even parsnip, get create with whatever vegetables you have leftover at home.
Other notable great things about these falafels:
- Gluten free: as chickpeas, and therefore chickpea flour is naturally gluten free
- Baked: these falafels are oven baked opposed to being traditionally deep fried to keep them healthier and lighter in calories
- Protein rich: chickpeas are a great and versatile source of plant based protein, making them a nutritious power house of a snack option
- Soy free: for anyone that follows a plant based diet but has an allergy to soy, this recipe is for you
Recipe notes and adaptions
- You can also use oven cooked sweet potato as opposed to steamed. If you have used baked sweet potatoes for another meal and have some leftover. Simply scoop out the flesh and use the same weight in this recipe and it will work the same
- Don’t be shy with the spices and garlic, this is what gives the falafel their wonderful flavour
- Double each ball in size (6 in total) and flatten these slightly to make burger patties. Just consider, they are going to need a little longer in the oven to cook
- Given that chickpeas are the basis of the recipe, try to buy the best you can. Brands I have found to be good in the past are Mr Organic and Napolina
Other recipe suggestions
If you like these falafel, why not try out some of my other quick and easy savoury recipes:
Spiced Sweet Potato Falafel
Course: MainsCuisine: Snack, SavouryDifficulty: Easy12
servings10
minutes20
minutesThese protein rich, sweet potato falafels make such versatile snacking food and are perfect for batch cooking so you always have a healthy snack in the fridge.
Ingredients
1 Tin of chickpeas
30g Gram flour (also known as chickpea flour)
1 Small sweet potato, approx 200g, chopped and unpeeled
1 Onion, finely chopped
3 Garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp Tahini
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp Chilli flakes
1 tsp Ground turmeric
1 tsp Ground cumin
Lemon, juice of
Small bunch of coriander, chopped
Directions
- Steam the chunks of sweet potato for 15 minutes, or until soft
- While the sweet potato is steaming, add the oil to a frying pan and fry the onion and garlic together until softened
- Once soft, add to the frying pan the turmeric, cumin and chilli for a further couple of minutes until fragrant
- Preheat an oven to 200°c
- Place the chickpeas, steamed sweet potato, lemon juice, tahini and coriander in a food processor and pulse until you get a chunky mixture
- Stir in the chickpea/gram flour into the mixture and combine
- Tip the contents into a bowl and add the onion mixture from the frying pan and combine. Season with salt and pepper
- Divide the mixture into 12 and ball each into balls with your hands
- Place them on a lined baking tray and bake for 20 minutes
Notes
I can’t wait to hear what you think of these so please leave a comment below and tag me in your wonderful creations! I’m @fortheutterloveoffood on Instagram and use the hashtag #fortheutterloveoffood. I’m also on Facebook – please say hello!
