BHA & BHT Free Vegan Falafel Skewers with Tahini Sauce
These vibrant skewers are a crowd-pleasing centerpiece built entirely from whole, recognizable ingredients — chickpeas, fresh herbs, warm spices, and crisp garden vegetables threaded onto a stick and finished with a silky tahini drizzle. Every component is made from scratch, which matters a lot when you're avoiding synthetic preservatives like BHA and BHT that commonly sneak into packaged falafel mixes, bottled sauces, and processed oils. The falafel themselves get their golden crust from a simple pan-fry in neutral oil, and the texture is spot-on — coarse and herb-flecked on the inside, deeply caramelized on the outside. The tahini sauce comes together with just five ingredients: tahini, fresh lemon juice, raw garlic, salt, and cold water, so there's nothing hidden in the mix. Cucumber chunks, red bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes add crunch and color between each falafel ball, making every skewer as beautiful as it is satisfying. Whether you're serving these at a dinner party or meal-prepping for the week, they deliver bold, layered flavor without a single ingredient you'd need to second-guess.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
For the falafel
- 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ½ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, loosely packed
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, loosely packed
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- ½ small yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 1 ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ¾ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ⅓ cup neutral oil (such as canola or sunflower), for pan-frying
For the tahini sauce
- ⅓ cup tahini
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, finely grated
- 3–4 tbsp cold water, to thin
- ¼ tsp salt
For the skewers
- 1 medium english cucumber, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
For serving
- 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (optional)
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Spread the drained chickpeas on a clean kitchen towel or paper towels and pat thoroughly dry — excess moisture will prevent the falafel from holding together. Let them air-dry for 10 minutes.
- 2
Add the chickpeas, parsley, cilantro, garlic, onion, cumin, coriander, smoked paprika, cayenne, and salt to a food processor. Pulse in short bursts, 10–12 times, until the mixture resembles coarse, slightly damp sand — it should hold together when pressed between your fingers but not be a smooth paste. Scrape down the sides as needed.
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