Baked Falafel Bowls
Crispy herb-packed falafel from the oven instead of the fryer, over rice with a chopped cucumber-tomato salad and a lemon-tahini yogurt sauce. A proper vegetarian main with 11 grams of fiber, built to meal-prep for the week.
Method
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Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F with an oiled baking tray inside.
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Pulse the chickpeas, onion, garlic, herbs, cumin, coriander, and salt in a food processor to coarse wet sand. Pulse in the oat flour and baking powder.
💡 Tip: Scrape down twice and stop early. Hummus does not make falafel. -
Shape into 16 balls, flattening each slightly, and arrange on the hot tray, turning once to coat in the oil.
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Bake 22 to 25 minutes, flipping halfway, until deep golden and crisp.
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Meanwhile cook the rice, toss the cucumber and tomatoes with a squeeze of lemon, and whisk the yogurt, tahini, remaining lemon, and a splash of water into a pourable sauce.
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Build the bowls: rice, salad, four falafel, and a generous drizzle of the tahini-yogurt sauce.
Notes
Dry the chickpeas hard after rinsing. Wet chickpeas make falafel that steams instead of crisps.
Pulse, do not puree — the mix should look like coarse wet sand that holds when squeezed.
A hot oiled tray gives the oven version its fried-style crust.
Chilling the shaped falafel 15 minutes helps them hold. Worth it if you have the time.
Nutrition Information
| Calories | 475kcal |
| Total Fat | 11g |
| Total Carbohydrates | 77g |
| Protein | 21g |
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Frequently Asked Questions
Canned or dried chickpeas?
Traditional falafel uses soaked dried chickpeas and fries them, which gives the crispest result. Canned plus the oat flour and a hot oiled tray gets surprisingly close with none of the overnight planning — and it is the version people actually make on a Tuesday.
How does it meal prep?
Exceptionally. Baked falafel keep 4 days refrigerated and re-crisp in a hot pan or air fryer in 3 minutes; sauce, rice, and salad hold separately. The falafel also freeze for 3 months — straight from frozen into the air fryer works.
Where does the protein come from in a vegetarian bowl?
Chickpeas carry most of it, with the Greek yogurt sauce and tahini topping it to 20g a bowl. For more, crumble feta over (about 5g protein per 30g) or swap the rice for quinoa to add 4g.
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