Delicious and flavorful falafel veggie burgers! These simple burgers have all of the key flavors of falafel, with a few added veggies for the perfect balance. Serve them over a chopped salad with tahini sauce for a delicious plant-based meal.
Falafel Veggie Burgers
Falafel has always been a favorite meal of mine that I grew up eating quite often. It’s packed with so much delicious flavor, and made with the freshest ingredients.
These falafel veggie burgers are so similar to real falafel, but have a few extra add-ins, and are grilled on a pan instead of deep fried.
These falafel veggie burgers are the perfect weeknight meal to serve with a freshly chopped salad and homemade tahini sauce.
Although traditional falafel is made with dry chickpeas that have been soaked, I used canned chickpeas for this recipe to make it simpler to make.
The end result is still incredible, and is so much easier to whip up!
What you’ll need to make falafel burgers:
- canned chickpeas
- red onion
- spinach
- cilantro + parsley
- garlic
- spices: sesame seeds, cumin, coriander, salt, pepper and cayenne
- flour, to help bind the burgers
Blend the chickpeas, herbs and veggies together to form a paste, then mix it in with the spices and flours to form the burgers.
You can pan-fry these in a skillet, or bake them until they’re perfectly crispy!
The burgers stay soft on the inside, but get that perfect outer crisp like true falafel. If you’re a long time follower then you know I love my homemade veggie burgers, but this recipe may just be my favorite one yet.
I can’t wait for you guys to try it!
Other veggie burgers you’ll love:
White Bean Beet Burgers
Lentil Burgers
Jalapeno Black Bean Burgers
Spinach & White Bean Burgers
Falafel Veggie Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas (15 oz), drained and rinsed
- 1/2 red onion, roughly chopped
- 1 cup spinach
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1/3 cup oat flour or all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne
- Olive oil, to cook the burgers
Tahini Sauce
- 1/4 cup tahini (sesame paste)
- 1/4 -1/3 cup cold water
- 1.5 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
Chopped Salad
- 4-5 persian cucumbers, finely chopped
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes or 3 roma tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1/4 red onion
- 1/4 cup Chopped parsley
- 2 -3 mint leaves, chopped (optional)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Juice from 1 lemon
- Salt & pepper
Directions
- Add the chickpeas, garlic, red onion spinach, cilantro and parsley to a blender or food processor and pulse together until a textured paste forms- you may need to scrape down the sides every now and then. The mixture should still have small pieces of herbs and chickpeas and doesn’t need to be fully pureed. *See pictures above
- Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and add in the spices, sesame seeds and flour. Mix together using your hands, making sure everything is evenly mixed. If the mixture is too pureed, I suggest adding an extra 2-3 tbsp of flour.
- Form 4 palm-sized burgers with the mixture.
- BAKE OR PAN-FRY: Pan-fry: heat a skillet with about 2 tbsp olive oil on medium heat. Cook the burgers for about 5-7 minutes on one side, and flip them for another 5 minutes. Bake: preheat the oven to 375 F. Place the burgers on a parchment lined sheet pan and drizzle them with olive oil. Bake them for 12 minutes, then flip and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- To make the tahini sauce, combine the tahini, water, lemon juice, salt and garlic in a bowl and whisk together until smooth. Start with 1/4 cup of water and add more as needed to create a smooth sauce.
- Toss the cucumbers, tomatoes and herbs together with the olive oil, lemon juice salt and pepper and serve with your falafel burgers and tahini sauce.
- The burgers can be frozen for up to 3 months.
We loved this recipe. I made it for my husband’s birthday dinner and it was a hit!
I add raw spinach!
How many days in advance can you prepare but not cook till the day you want to serve them ?
Thank you
Hi Eileen, you can prep the batter up to 3 days in advance. You can refrigerate the batter as is, or form the patties and refrigerate them that way