The Flavour Master Himself: Ottolenghi's Falafel In An Air Fryer

These falafel are bold, herb-packed, and satisfyingly crisp thanks to the air fryer. Made with soaked chickpeas and a well-seasoned spice blend, they hold their shape beautifully and don’t skimp on flavour. Serve warm in flatbread, over salads, or with a swirl of tahini for dipping.

Image of flatbread on a chopping board with salad and chunks of falafel

Print Recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 30

Soaking time 12

Total Time 12 35

Course Lunch, Main, Snack, Starter

Cuisine Inspired by Middle Eastern Flavours

Servings people

Calories 257

Ingredients

Ingredients for Step 1

250 g chickpeas | dried; soak overnight in a large bowl in plenty of water; cover the bowl with a plate
1½ litre water | water to soak the chick peas

Ingredients for Step 2

90 g brown onion | unpeeled weight; peel and dice the onion neatly into 1 cm dice
1 unit fresh garlic clove | grated

Ingredients for Step 3

¼ tsp chilli flakes
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground green cardamom
½ tsp dried lime | ground
½ tsp baking powder
15 g plain flour
¾ tsp salt
12 g fresh parsley | fresh; finely chopped; use other herbs if you prefer: coriander and chive will work well

Instructions

1. Prepare the chickpeas

Put the chickpeas in a large bowl, have a quick look at them and remove any dark brown ones or anything else you see that's not chickpea! Just have a quick visual check. Cover with the water. The bowl needs to be plenty big enough to allow for lots of water. There should be a great deal of water for the chickpeas. I use a dinner plate to cover the bowl and I leave the bowl in the fridge overnight for at least 12 hours.
250 g chickpeas, 1½ litre water
Tip the soaked chickpeas into the sieve to drain off the soaking water. Rinse the soaked chickpeas with fresh water from the tap.
Tip the drained and rinsed chickpeas into the food processor. Pulse the processor repeatedly to break up the chickpeas into small pieces.

2. Add the onion and garlic

Add the diced onion and roughly chopped garlic to the processor.
90 g brown onion, 1 unit fresh garlic clove, 12 g fresh parsley
Pulse the processor repeatedly to break up the onion into smaller pieces, and to thoroughly mix the chickpea, onion and garlic.
Keep processing the mix. Right so, let's explain how the mix should be. Imagine your perfect falafel. It will have texture but won't be lumpy or need too much chewing. You wouldn't want a smooth paste with the texture of hummus. So be thinking about that as you pulse 😀

3. Add the spice mix and fresh herbs

When your mix is processed, put all the spices, flour, baking powder and salt into a small bowl and mix together.
¼ tsp chilli flakes, ½ tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp ground coriander, ½ tsp ground green cardamom, ½ tsp dried lime, ½ tsp baking powder, 15 g plain flour, ¾ tsp salt
Tip the spice mix into the processor and pulse again to mix.
When you're confident that the spices are thoroughly mixed into the chickpea/onion/garlic mix (you can see that it looks consistent and even), add the parsley (or other herb), and pulse to mix, or mix with a spoon.
Incidentally, I ask you to chop the herb and add it at the end so you don't run the risk of putting the herb in and then over-processing either the mix or the herb. Preparing the herb separately gives you total control.

4. Make falafel and cook in the airfryer

The mix makes around 30 balls.
First of all, weigh 20g of mix onto a plate so you can see how much 20g is. Then press it firmly into a ball and roll it around between your palms. Once you've done one ball, you'll know how much mix is involved and you won't need to keep weighing the mix. Form the balls! 👌
You could cover them and put them into the fridge now if you don't have time to cook them.

5. Pre-heat the air fryer

Pre-heat your air fryer. I press the 'Air-fryer' button, then the time to 5 minutes and temperature to 200 ℃.

6. Spray the falafel

You want oil on the falafel before cooking in the air fryer and I've found the best method is to use plenty of cooking oil spray on the balls before you cook them. Kindly note: just spray the balls you are cooking (you'll probably be cooking in two or three batches).
I put the ones I'm going to cook onto a separate tray, spray thoroughly, roll them around and re-spray.

7. Cook the falafel

Place the oiled falafel into the air fryer and cook at 200℃ for 10 minutes.
Open the drawer every 2 or 3 minutes and roll the balls around to ensure uniform browning.
Continue to cook in batches.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 257kcalCarbohydrates: 44gProtein: 13gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 0.4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 535mgPotassium: 620mgFiber: 12gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 336IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 125mgIron: 5mg

Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on specific ingredients used. Nutrition is per serving. Information is for the main recipe, not optional accompaniments.