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.
Susan
It’s been a while since I’ve made falafel, but your post is making me think I need to try again with your recipe. We often stuff flatbreads with tabbouleh, gyro meat, hummus. Thanks for posting the recipes!
Virginia N
we have never tried farfels, i love flatbread and using them to make wraps with lunchmeat and cheese or chicken salad inside
Heidi
My mom used to make homemade falafels. I have yet to try it, but will do so now! Pita bread is a mainstay in our house. We often stuff them with sardines or tuna fish and cheese/tomato.
Monica Farahnakian
My family and I have never tired falafels. I am going to have to give this recipe a try. We do use flatbreads for wraps usually stuffed with grill chicken and veggies.
Talia B.
I love falafel. Yummy! We do use flatbreads from time to time, but haven’t found any decent ones around with decent ingredient list.
Charlene A.
Yes, I’ve made homemade falafel a few times. I stuff them with the usual – tomatoes, parsley, cucumbers. Love that you included a garlic sauce here. Thanks 🙂
★★★★★
Amy Osburn
I just tried Falafels two weeks ago in Boston and have been talking about them ever since. You must be reading my mind. Thank you for sharing this.
★★★★★
Michelle
I adore falafel and tzatziki. I have never made falafel from scratch, but have often made tzatziki. I especially like to stuff the falafel in an pita with tabouli have and then top with the tzatziki. Oh yum. Makes me want to go to the Mediterranean restaurant!
Kristina
My friend made me amazing falafels once. I was definitely skeptical before that. I enjoy making flatbread and often just use it as a side for indian or greek food (great for scooping up dips or curries). Most recently though I have been making shortcut versions of gyros. Not authentic but often taste pretty close!
Laura B
I’ve never tried falafels, and I don’t use flatbreads at home, reading this makes me think I should try though! I have a tendency to buy the same things each week, this would be a good ‘outside of the box’ idea!
Lisa Fisher
I’v eaten falafel several times but never made it at home. It would be a fun thing to make on a theme night to encourage my 5 year old to try new foods. I’ve used flatbreads at home before, but for quick pizzas, not a wrap.
Sindee Hernandez
We have never tired either, I’m curious to know if my kids would like falafels. I have read alot of Greek recipes, but I’m reluctant to try them, only because my kids tend to shy away from anything “different”.
Joyce Ward
I LOVE falafel! My brother introduced it to me when he started working at this great little greek restaurant in college. He would bring my pregnant self some home every night. I still go there for my falafel fix. Never thought about making my own I figured it would be very complicated. Definitely going to have to give this recipe a try and the tzatziki sounds amazing. I have purchased tzatziki at the store but often the portions are too big and I wind up wasting over half. Knowing how to make it will definitely allow me to control portions and reduce waste.
★★★★
summer
I’ve never tried a falafel, but there is an amazing Greek Festival near our hometown that I’ve always wanted to go to- I bet they have awesome falafels and baklava! My son loves flatbread cheese sandwiches and pizza sandwiches for his school lunches. I’ve also put hummus and veggies in a flatbread sandwich.
★★★★★
Norma-Jean
I love falafals, but have never tried to make them at home. This recipe looks very easy –
I’m into easy – and sounds delicious! I eat quite a few vegetarian meals during the week,
and this would be another to add to the rotation. The tzatziki sauce sounds great too!
Michelle Spott
LOVE falafel, but never made at home. Never used flatbread at home either!! Tons of new ideas to try!!!
Morgan Morrison
I love falafels! Have always been intimidated to try cooking them myself tho!
Jillian
I’ve never tried a falafel, but I think I could manage this recipe! I have Celiac disease, but I can definitely modify this to be gluten free, especially with the Toufayan gluten free wraps. The sauce sounds delicious!
★★★★
Debbie Hausher
My daughter spent the summer traveling in Europe and came home raving about Tzaztiki sauce so I’ll definitely be trying your recipe.
Ashlee R
I have never tried falafel, I thought it was complicated. I will try it now, thank. We like to eat out flat bread broken up in large pieces as part of a Mediterranean night. My kids dip it in their hummus and then eat chicken, olives, and the cucumber tomato salad as separate parts. My husband and I eat all that goodness wrapped inside out pieces of flat bread with a cucumber dill sauce. It is one of our favorite meals.