I love falafels. They are bite-sized pieces of deliciousness filled with my favorite Mediterranean flavors. The other day, I made some for dinner, and I happened to get lucky and have leftovers for the next day. For lunch, I turned a couple of the falafels into a delicious lunch idea: stuffed flatbreads with tzatziki sauce.
When I lived in Berlin, many years ago (1994), I indulged in a lot of Turkish and Greek food. By far, my favorite of these delicious foods was these handheld flatbreads stuffed with falafels.
They were sold in street kiosks and were made fresh to order. The flatbreads were stuffed with fresh veggies, falafels, and lots of tzatziki sauce. Tzatziki sauce is a Greek yogurt and cucumber based sauce that is good on everything. When I say everything, I mean, everything!
Now, as an adult, I make my own falafels at home. I love them by themselves and I usually use them to top a large green salad drizzled with tzatziki sauce on top. Of course, my husband needs a little more substance so I stuffed some whole-wheat Toufayan flatbreads with his falafels.
While the original falafels I enjoyed long ago had a lot of parsley, I had to pick my battles when creating a version to make at home. Oh you know, parsley is green and my kids are not fond of green speckles in their food. Even without the parsley, however, I feel that these falafels are a close competitor to the ones I enjoyed many years ago.
Once you have all your ingredients, making these falafel stuffed pitas is a breeze. Now you know why I love leftovers! It’s instant fast -and healthy- food. Make these falafels the night before and they become a healthy grab-and-go lunch option.
For that reason, I included the recipe in my first cookbook, The Best Homemade Kids’ Lunches on the Planet. How could I have a lunches book without my beloved falafels? And then, I realized that I forgot to include the Greek sauce! Yes, there is something that happens to an author after the book goes to print that drives me crazy: the realization that you “forgot” to add something (nevermind that there are over 200 recipes in the book).
Luckily, I wrote a second cookbook called The Best Homemade Kids’ Snacks on the Planet where I made sure I included my tzatziki sauce (in the book I called it Yanni’s Greek Dip). And in case you are wondering, I also remembered recipes from the past I forgot to add to that book as well. Go figure.
In the end, the recipes are there, inside my cookbooks for many years to come reminding me of my amazing adventures back in 1994 where I ate my fair share of street-made falafel stuffed flatbreads.
Have you tried falafels? Do you use flatbreads at home? If so, what do you stuff them with?
PrintFalafel Stuffed Flatbreads
This recipe is from The Best Homemade Kids’ Lunches on the Planet
- Yield: 12-15 (1 ½) inch falafels
Ingredients
- ½ cup (375 g) dry chickpeas, soaked overnight or,
- 1 cup (240 g) canned chickpeas
- 2 teaspoons (14 g) cumin
- ½ teaspoon (1 g) coriander
- 1–2 garlic cloves (3g-6 g), minced
- 1 fresh parsley sprig, minced
- 1 small onion, chopped fine
- 1 ½ tablespoons (45 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons (21 g) breadcrumbs
- Vegetable oil to pan fry
Instructions
- Drain and rinse chickpeas from soaking overnight or canned chickpeas.
- In a food processor, mix chickpeas with all ingredients until it becomes a smooth thick paste.
- With wet hands, form dough into small balls, the size of a large walnut. Press down to form 1 ½ inch patties. If the mixture is too sticky, add a little bit more breadcrumbs. If it’s too dry, add a tablespoon or two of water.
- Pan-fry falafels in an oiled pot over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes each side, or until sides are brown. Remove falafel onto a paper towel-lined plate and blot excess oil with additional paper towels.
- Place flatbread on a flat surface, layer lettuce and tomatoes. Top with 1-2 falafels. drizzle tzatziki sauce, and close flatbread.
Yanni’s Greek Yogurt Sauce
This recipe is from The Best Homemade Snacks on the Planet
- Yield: 1 ½ cups
Ingredients
- 1 cucumber, peeled
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 cup (230 g) plain yogurt
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon dried dill
Instructions
- Place a grater inside a medium bowl. Grate cucumber and garlic clove into the bowl.
- Add plain yogurt, salt, lemon juice, and dill to the cucumber and garlic.
- Combine all ingredients well and refrigerate for at least one hour prior to serving.
From time to time, I work with awesome companies to develop recipes for this website. Today’s post was brought to you by Toufayan Bakeries . All opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that encourage my creativity.
Allison
Ok, when I try to pan fry them, they completely disintegrate. What am I doing wrong? I tried more oil, less oil…and they weren’t sticky or crumbly. Ugh.
Laura Fuentes
It will depend if you used canned chickpeas, these tend to make the mixture more “wet” than using dry, soaked chickpeas. I would add a bit more bread-crumbs to the mixture to hold them.
Fouzia
Hi,
Can I airfry the falafels ? If yes for how long
Thanks!
Laura Fuentes
Yes! airfrying them would work perfectly!
Carey
Hi there, I’m wondering if these can be baked rather than fried. And, if so, should I change anything in the recipe? Thanks!
Laura Fuentes
They can be baked at 375F for approximately 20-25 minutes, depending how thick you make them. make sure to grease/spray the baking sheet and the tops so they crisp up. Enjoy!
Julie
Okay, sorry, I am confused. The recipe says it is for falafel stuffed flatbread, but think it is just for the falafel? What do you use for the sandwich? Also, it says it makes 12 – 15 1/2 inch falafels. But the directions say to use 1 1/2 inch balls? How do I get them 15 1/2 inches from that? Can you please clarify for me?
Thanks! I really want to try these.
Laura Fuentes
Julie, the recipe itself is for the falafels. The flatbread is an ingredient purchased separately used to make a sandwich/stuffed falafel. The directions say to make dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, to press down, and pan-fry. In step 3, it asks to make 1 1/2 inch patties (from pressing down the ball shaped dough). I put (parenthesis) around the yield. The spacing made it look funny. You should get 12-15 falafels that are 1 1/2 inches (+/-) big. I hope this helps!
Gina
Hello! I love reading your recipes and blog! I’ve been a Momables stalker, I mean follower, for a few years now. I’m looking forward to trying these falafels, I think the sauce will encourage dipping and I’ve always loved falafel but thought it a daunting task to make it at home. Thanks for the creativity and variety!
Laura Fuentes
I’m happy to have you along for the (stalking) ride Gina! 😉 The sauce…
Aj
I have never tried it but I will! Sounds delish!
Lisa Tulak
So does this mean we may look forward to a third book? 🙂 For the recipes you are remembering from back in the day. Lol Can’t wait <3
Laura Fuentes
yes… you can look forward to another (final) book. 🙂
Faith
I’ve never heard of a falafel let alone eaten one, but I must try, it looks wonderful. I do use flatbreads on occasion for sandwhichs.
puRpLepuFfiN823
Falafels are delicious! Can’t wait to try this recipe.