Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Falafel
Crisp herb-flecked chickpea fritters tucked into pita with tahini, pickles, and salad, a Levantine street classic.
Lebanese · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 15 min
~347 cal · 19g protein · 61g carbs · 3g fat · 13g fiber · 8g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Falafel, deep-fried patties of ground chickpeas and herbs, is one of the great street foods of the Levant, eaten across Lebanon and the wider region for breakfast, lunch, or a snack. Ancient in origin and entirely plant-based, it is fast, cheap, and deeply satisfying.
Soaked (never cooked) chickpeas are ground with garlic, onion, cumin, and a vivid amount of parsley and cilantro, which turn the inside a bright green. Fried until the outside is deeply crisp and the inside fluffy, the fritters are stuffed into warm pita with sauce, pickles, tomato, and lettuce for the classic sandwich.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and dairy-, egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 cup dried peeled fava beans, soaked overnight
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic
2 cups fresh parsley and cilantro
1 tbsp ground cumin and coriander
1/2 tsp baking soda
4 pita breads, to serve
to serve sauce, pickles, and salad
Instructions
1
Grind the soaked (uncooked) chickpeas and fava beans with the onion, garlic, herbs, and spices to a coarse paste.
✎ Chef’s note
Use soaked raw chickpeas and fava, never canned or cooked. Cooked ones turn to mush and the falafel falls apart in the oil.
2
Stir in the baking soda and salt, then rest the mix and shape into small patties.
3
Deep-fry until deep golden and crisp, about 4 minutes.
4
Stuff into warm pita with tahini sauce, pickles, and salad.
Levantine street-food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Beirut. Beirut sets the table but did not invent it. Zahle, up in the Beqaa Valley, is the town known as the home of mezza, where the practice of ordering thirty small plates and sitting for four hours is said to have taken shape. Lebanon's official national dish is kibbeh, which it shares with Syria, and hummus and falafel are contested regionally, so neither belongs to any one city.
🗺️
Lebanon. Lebanese cooking is the generous heart of the Levant, famous for its mezze, dozens of small plates like hummus, tabbouleh, and kibbeh meant for sharing. Olive oil, lemon, garlic, and fresh herbs brighten a table where hospitality means abundance.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Lebanon
MujadaraLentils and rice under a deep pile of slow-caramelized onions, the Levant’s humble masterpiece.
Manakish Za'atarFlatbread baked with a fragrant za'atar-and-olive-oil topping, the Levantine morning staple.
KnafehMolten sweet cheese under a crisp orange semolina or shredded-pastry crust, drenched in syrup, a Levantine breakfast-dessert.
Browse all Lebanon recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Deep pot for frying.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Lebanon meal
JallabDrink
KnafehDessert
MujadaraDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Falafel?
Crisp herb-flecked chickpea fritters tucked into pita with tahini, pickles, and salad, a Levantine street classic.
Where does Falafel come from?
Falafel is a Lebanese dish from Beirut, Lebanon.
Can Falafel be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Falafel recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Falafel safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Falafel take to make?
About 45 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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