These crispy baked almond-mint falafel are crunchy on the outside with a soft center and loaded with herbs. Chickpeas, garlic, onion, fresh mint, lime and caraway seeds make this falafel recipe incredibly delicious. They make a gorgeous vegetarian and vegan dish, perfect as a snack or a midweek meal.
Hands up if you love falafel. I like this popular Middle Eastern street food a lot. In fact, just around the corner from my home is a great falafel place where they make gorgeous deep-fried falafel. Oh, they taste fantastic. Crispy on the outside and tender and fluffy inside. Lovely. They are so good, also meat lovers will love them.
Making falafel at home can be tricky, but it can be really easy as well. Just like this falafel recipe. Wink. You are going to make them again and again. The mixture is made of canned and drained chickpeas, garlic and onion and spices. I used fresh mint leaves, caraway seeds and lime juice to give this falafel that special flavour.
They look like those amaretti cookies, right? Wink. But no worries, they are real falafels. Slightly golden brown and crispy crust protects a tender, flavourful inside. Another great thing about this falafel recipe is that these falafels are baked instead of fried. Yeah. You are probably more familiar with the deep-fried falafels. They taste amazing, I know. But frying also means a lot of sizzling hot oil and oil scattered all over the kitchen and a lot of cleaning afterwards.
Bake instead of frying
Therefore, bake them instead of frying them. They taste great, too. And, since they contain way less fat and calories than the fried ones, you can eat more of them. Wink. Simply form small falafel balls and bake them. They will rise and flatten a bit at the bottom, but they will look gorgeous. If you decide to make them in a disk form, make sure to reduce the baking time.
Additionally, a great thing about falafel is that you can add any herb you like, you can make them spicy and you can make them colourful. You might like these gorgeous pink beetroot falafel I’ve made some time ago.
If you are wondering what you should serve falafel, here are just some ideas. I love them in a salad or served with a creamy dip. But falafels can be served in many other ways, too. For instance, as a party snack, as a side dish, in a piece of pita bread or simply plain. These baked falafel are a great healthy meal packed with fiber.
Ingredients for about 20 crispy baked almond-mint falafel:
- 400 g chickpeas (canned)
- 3 garlic cloves (chopped)
- 1 medium onion (chopped)
- 20 g mint leaves
- 200 g ground almonds
- 1 tsp of caraway seeds
- sea salt and pepper
- 2 Tbsp of olive oil (or more)
- 1 lime or lemon
- plain Greek yogurt
To begin, preheat the oven to 200º C. Peel and chop the garlic and onion. Then, in a food processor, combine drained chickpeas, garlic, onion, mint, salt and pepper, olive oil, lime juice, ground almonds and caraway seeds. Blitz for 30 seconds or until smooth. If the mixture seems to dry, simply add a splash of cold water and blitz again.
Furthermore, using a spoon, scoop out about two generous teaspoons of the mixture at a time. Then, using your hands (slightly wet), shape them into balls and place them (2-3 cm apart) onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper
Once the sheet is full, put it into the oven on the middle rack and bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top and bottom.
Finally, serve the crispy baked almond-mint falafel with some greek yogurt mixed with fresh mint and some drops of lemon juice. They make a wonderful light snack, lunch or midweek dinner.
Enjoy.
