BHA & BHT Free Vegan Falafel Bites
These crispy little bites are packed with fresh herbs, warm spices, and the satisfying depth that only comes from starting with dried chickpeas instead of canned. The ingredient list is refreshingly straightforward — whole foods like parsley, cilantro, cumin, and coriander do all the heavy lifting, with no preservatives or synthetic additives in sight. That matters more than you might think, since BHA and BHT are commonly snuck into packaged snack foods and even some cooking oils, making it genuinely hard to find a falafel you can feel good about. Here, you control every single component, from the chickpeas you soak overnight to the bright, garlicky tahini sauce you whisk together from scratch. The frying technique — working in small batches in a wide skillet — gives each bite a deeply golden crust that holds together beautifully without any stabilizers or additives to help it along. Finished with a drizzle of lemony tahini and a dusting of paprika, these are the kind of appetizer or snack that disappears fast, no matter who's at the table.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
For the falafel
- 1 ½ cups dried chickpeas
- ½ medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, loosely packed
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, loosely packed
- 1 ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
- ½ cup neutral oil (such as canola oil or avocado oil), for frying
For the tahini sauce
- ¼ cup tahini
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, finely grated
- 3–4 tbsp cold water
- ¼ tsp salt
For serving
- pinch of paprika (optional)
- lemon wedges (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Place the dried chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with at least 3 inches of cold water. Soak at room temperature for 8 hours or overnight, until the chickpeas have roughly doubled in size and are tender enough to pierce with a fingernail but still raw at the center. Drain and pat dry.
- 2
Combine the drained chickpeas, onion, garlic (for the falafel), parsley, cilantro, cumin, coriander, cayenne, and salt in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts, 15–20 pulses total, scraping down the sides as needed, until the mixture resembles coarse, slightly damp sand — no whole chickpeas remain, but the texture is not a smooth paste. Transfer to a bowl.
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