top of page

Falafel Pita

Crisp herb-green chickpea fritters, tahini sauce & a quick garden salad, stuffed in warm pita

4 pitas · 25 min

Add paragraph text. Click “Edit Text” to update the font, size and more. To change and reuse text themes, go to Site Styles.

  • Falafel
  • 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked 18–24 hr (do NOT cook them)
  • ½ onion, chunked · 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 cup each packed parsley & cilantro (stems ok)
  • 1 tsp each cumin & coriander · ¼ tsp cayenne · 1¼ tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder (stir in just before frying) · 1–2 Tbsp flour if needed
  • neutral oil, to fry (~1½″ deep)
  • Tahini sauce
  • ⅓ cup tahini · juice of 1 lemon · 1 small garlic clove, grated
  • cold water to thin · salt
  • To build
  • 4 pita breads, warmed
  • cucumber, tomato, red onion, lettuce · pickles or pickled turnip · hot sauce
What you need
  1. Soak the chickpeas — raw. Cover the dried chickpeas with plenty of cold water and soak 18–24 hr until tripled and bendy but still firm. Don't cook them. Drain and pat very dry.
  2. Blend coarse & dry. Pulse the chickpeas, onion, garlic, herbs, spices, and salt in a food processor to a coarse, couscous-like texture — not a smooth paste. It should just hold when squeezed; if it won't, pulse a touch more or add a spoon of flour. Chill 30 min (or up to 2 days).
  3. Mix the tahini sauce. Whisk tahini, lemon, and grated garlic — it'll seize thick, then loosen with cold water a spoon at a time until pourable and creamy. Salt to taste.
  4. Shape & fry. Stir the baking powder into the chilled mix (it lightens them), then scoop into walnut-size balls or little patties. Heat the oil to 350°F and fry in batches 3–4 min, turning, until deep brown and crisp. Drain on a rack. Don't crowd — it drops the oil temp and they soak up grease.
  5. Build the pita. Warm the pita, smear the inside with tahini, tuck in lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and onion, add 3–4 falafel per pocket, crush them lightly, and drown it all in more tahini and a little hot sauce. Pickles if you've got them.
Steps — tap one to keep your place

For Dad — needs an overnight chickpea soak — plan ahead, or use the canned shortcut in the recipe. Low salt — salt at the end and taste as you go; broth, cheese, and canned goods already bring salt.

bottom of page