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Air Fryer Gluten-Free Falafel Balls
When you're craving something crispy, savory, and totally satisfying, these Air Fryer Gluten-Free Falafel Balls deliver every time. Packed with fresh herbs, garlic, and warm spices, this plant-based dish is a protein-rich option that fits almost any dietary need. Best of all, since they're made in the air fryer, they get perfectly golden and crispy—without the heavy oil of deep frying.
While it may be tempting to reach for canned chickpeas, this is one recipe where you don’t want to cut corners. For the falafel to have the right texture and hold together properly, using soaked dried chickpeas is essential. Canned beans simply stay too soft and will leave you with soggy falafel that falls apart in the air fryer.
Golden Flax Meal from BareOrganics adds extra fiber to these falafel balls which is great for digestive and heart health.
Ingredients
- 1-pound dried chickpeas
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 4 green onions, white and green parts, roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
- 1 bunch Italian parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
- 4 tablespoons BareOrganics Golden Flax Meal
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons kosher or fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- Avocado oil spray or gluten-free nonstick cooking spray
Directions
- A day before you plan to cook the falafel balls, put the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover them by a couple of inches with water. Stir in the baking soda. Cover and let sit for 12 – 24 hours. If it sits for more than 12 hours, change the water once.
- Drain and dry the chickpeas. Place them in the food processor with the green onions, garlic, parsley, cilantro, flax meal, cumin, salt, coriander, pepper, and baking powder. Pulse in long pulses several times until the mixture has the consistency of a coarse paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl often.
- Put the mixture into a bowl, stir with a fork, and remove any large pieces of chickpeas that may not have been processed. Cover and refrigerate for 30 – 60 minutes.
- Preheat the air fryer to 375 degrees.
- Form the falafel mixture into balls using about 2 tablespoons per ball.
- Spray the air fryer basket with oil spray, place a layer of balls into the basket, and lightly spray with more oil spray.
- Air fry for 6 minutes. Flip them over and air fry for another 6 minutes or until browned and crisp.
Ingredient
