I have long adored falafel from restaurants, but thought it was going to be complicated to make at home. Honestly, now that I’ve tried it, it is soooo easy. I make these baked falafel lettuce wraps with lemon aioli on weeknights!
The only downside to this recipe is that you cannot use canned chickpeas. You must soak dried chickpeas for 8-24 hours, which requires some advanced planning.
Most baked falafel recipes use a sheet pan. I prefer a cast iron to bake the falafel in because the cast iron benefits from the oil instead of becoming a mess to clean. You can use what you have or prefer.
I am not a big fan of tahini, so I serve my falafel with lemon aioli instead of tahini sauce. Hummus would be another good alternative. However, if you love tahini, then by all means make a homemade tahini sauce!
Variations to the Baked Falafel Lettuce Wraps with Lemon Aioli recipe:
- Make it vegan: use vegan mayo inplace of mayo and yogurt, or try hummus instead.
- Herbs: Most falafel recipes use all parsley, or a combo of parsley and cilantro. I use all cilantro because I have it in my fridge more often. I also love cilantro, so it is a win-win for me. Use whatever combo of cilantro/parsley that you love.
- Equal Sized: After processing the chickpeas, I like to divide the mixture into 6 equal portions on a plate (see picture above). This allows me to keep the falafel more equal in size.
- Wrap: Bib lettuce made a great wrap for these, but you can use any lettuce or green that you have. You also stuff them into pita or flatbread if you prefer.
- 1 cup raw chickpeas, soaked for 24 hours
- ½ cup onion, diced
- 1 cup cilantro, packed (stems and leaves)
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp each: salt, cumin, and coriander
- ¼ tsp black pepper (or more to taste)
- 5 TBS olive oil, divided
- 12 small bib lettuce leaves
- 3 TBS each: mayo and Greek yogurt
- 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- In a food processor, combine chickpeas, onion cilantro, garlic, salt, cumin, coriander, black pepper and 1 TBS olive oil. Process 30 seconds, scrap down the sides, then process another 30 seconds.
- Transfer the mixture to a plate and divide into 12 portions. Form each portion into a small pattie, about ½ inch thick.
- Pour the remaining olive oil into a large cast iron skillet (15 inch) or over a baking sheet, turning to coat. Place the patties in the oil and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Flip and bake another 10 minutes, or until golden on each side.
- Meanwhile prepare the lemon aioli by mixing together the mayo, yogurt, and lemon juice until smooth.
- Serve falafel in the lettuce leaves with a drizzle of the lemon aioli.
