Vegan Falafel Burger Recipe

Flavorful Middle Eastern food is enjoyed by people around the world, and falafel, a popular staple of that cuisine, is widely recognized. You typically see falafel shaped into round or slightly flattened balls and it's known for having a crispy exterior while maintaining a moist and flavorful interior. Today we bring you a vegan falafel burger with the same great taste but served just a little differently.

Wellness coach and recipe developer Miriam Hahn brings us this recipe and says, "Falafel has always been one of my favorite vegan meals. This burger version is absolutely delicious and the easy tahini sauce that goes with it takes it over the top. The nice thing about this recipe is you can form the patties ahead of time and cook them up right before serving, or you can cook them ahead and just warm them up when it's dinner time. They make great leftovers too."

To make this recipe, start in the produce aisle and pick up onion, garlic, flat leaf parsley, lemon, tomato, and butter lettuce. "I like to use butter lettuce to garnish burgers but romaine, red leaf, or even arugula works well here," Hahn shares.

Then head to the dry goods aisle and grab some uncooked chickpeas, rolled oats, tahini, and hamburger buns. To finish things off check your baking and spice cabinet for baking powder, coriander, cumin, salt, pepper, garlic granules, and oil.

Put the dry chickpeas in a bowl and cover with at least 3 inches of water. Soak overnight.

Drain the chickpeas.

Add the drained chickpeas to a food processor with the onion, garlic, parsley, oats, baking powder, coriander, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon of salt, and pepper.

Pulse several times to break down the mixture into a chunky texture.

Form the mixture into 5 patties, place on a baking sheet and place in the fridge to firm up for at least 30 minutes.

15 minutes before preparing the burgers preheat the oven to 350 F.

Spray the patties with cooking spray.

Bake the patties for 10 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the tahini, lemon juice, garlic granules, the remaining cumin, the remaining salt, and 4 tablespoons of water.

Add the oil to a large frying pan and bring the heat to medium-high.

Add the burgers and cook for 3 minutes on each side being careful when flipping so the burgers hold together.

Slice the tomato.

Assemble burgers on buns with tomato slices, lettuce, and tahini sauce and serve.

You can customize vegan falafel burgers by experimenting with various ingredients, which allows you to tailor the flavors to your preferences. You can change the flavor profile by adding additional fresh herbs or swapping out the flat-leaf parsley for cilantro or fresh dill. You can also switch things up with spices. Try adding chili powder and smoked paprika for a spicy and smoky flavor. If you like a little heat, you can also add cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, or diced jalapeno to the mix.

"For the 'breadcrumbs' in this recipe, I like to use rolled oats because they are minimally processed and full of nutritional benefits. But if you have standard breadcrumbs or panko on hand, these will work also," Hahn shares. In this recipe, we've shaped the falafel into full-size burgers. Instead of large patties, you can go for mini slider-shaped burgers or standard falafel balls.

Many side dishes pair nicely with these vegan falafel burgers. To start, you can change up the sauce that tops the burger. We've used a simple tahini sauce but hummus or baba ganoush would both add great flavors and textures to the burgers.

Of course, as with most dishes, a fresh salad makes a nice accompaniment to the vegan falafel burgers. A refreshing tabbouleh salad with parsley, bulgur, tomatoes, cucumbers, and a lemony dressing works well. A classic Greek salad with lettuce or kale, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and vegan feta would also be delicious with the burgers. If you want to keep the meal light, serve the falafel patty on a bed of greens instead of a bun.

Burgers and fries go together hand-in-hand and that's no exception with the falafel burgers. Try baked or air-fried sweet potato fries for something a little different, or whip up some beer-battered onion rings. "If fried foods aren't your thing, a warm and steamy baked potato stuffed with vegan butter and fresh chives is a delicious side dish with the burger," Hahn says.