Before someone calls the falafel police, let me preface this by saying these are not traditional falafel. They don’t have chickpeas and they aren’t fried and super crunchy. I probably just lost most of you, but for those of you kind souls who stuck around, I would like to emphasize that these are superfood falafel packed with healthy fats from walnuts, tempeh, flax seeds, and avocado oil.
I eat a pretty high-fat diet for a vegan, and I’m always looking for ways to add more healthy fats into my diet. What makes these falafel even healthier (though less authentic) is that they’re baked. No need to use a vat of bubbling oil that might spatter on you without warning.
And most importantly, when I brought these falafel to work this week, three of my coworkers mentioned that they smelled insanely delicious. Of course they have no idea how delicious they tasted because, let’s be honest, I didn’t share my lunch.
One of the few dishes I’ve missed since going vegan is tzatziki, so it was amazing to be able to make a vegan version at home and enjoy it again. I love how these falafel pair with the vegan tzatziki sauce. It feels like you’re eating an authentic Greek meal on an island in Greece, even though there’s nothing authentic about this recipe.
Just because this isn’t an authentic Greek recipe, it doesn’t mean I can’t share a photo of Greece with you!
My favorite way to serve these falafel is to stuff them in pita bread, along with roasted veggies, pickled radishes, and chickpeas. Then, I drizzle everything with the tzatziki sauce and tahini, and of course a dollop of hummus. But if you’re into that low-carb life, just omit the pita and turn it into a falafel bowl! Maybe omit the chickpeas too? Are chickpeas considered a low-carb food or a high-carb food? Help! I don’t know what carbs are (except that they’re delicious)!
Store these in an air-tight container in your fridge and they will stay good for 4-5 days, making them the perfect dish for weekly meal prep. Hope you enjoy these little brown balls!
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
Introducing
Big Vegan Flavor
Techniques and 150 recipes to master vegan cooking.
Tempeh & Walnut Falafel
Ingredients
Tempeh & Walnut Falafel
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed meal
- 1 (8-ounce) block of organic tempeh
- 1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 1/4 cup Italian flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 2/3 cup raw walnuts
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic
- 3 tablespoons almond flour or almond meal
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (or oil of choice)
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Vegan Tzatziki Sauce
- 1 cup raw cashews (soaked in water overnight, or quick soaked in boiling water for 1 hour)
- 2/3 cup canned “lite” coconut milk
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1/2 of medium unpeeled cucumber, diced
- 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
- 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, chopped
Instructions
Make the Tempeh & Walnut Falafel.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
- Prepare the flax egg: Mix 1 tablespoon ground flax meal with 2 ½ tablespoons warm water and let sit for 15 minutes to thicken.
- Cook the onion and garlic. Heat a medium frying pan over medium heat with a touch of olive oil. Add the onions and cook for 3 minutes, until just starting to soften. Add the garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes, until golden. Take off the heat.
- Using your hands, crumble the tempeh (doesn’t need to be too finely crumbled).
- Make the falafel dough. Add the crumbled tempeh to a food processor and pulse until it is finely broken down. Next, add the cilantro, parsley, basil, and walnuts and process until the ingredients start to blend together. Then, add the cooked onion and garlic, prepared flax egg, almond flour, 2 tablespoons olive oil, sesame seeds, salt, pepper to taste, cayenne pepper, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and baking soda. Blend until combined and the mixture sticks together.
- Place the dough in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Otherwise, it will be sticky and more difficult to handle.
- Spoon the refrigerated dough into approximately 22 falafel balls (one heaping tablespoon of dough for each). Place the falafel on the prepared baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 20-22 minutes, turning halfway through baking time, until browned on both sides.
Make the Vegan Tzatziki.
- Drain the soaked cashews and pat dry to remove moisture. Place the cashews in a high-powered blender or food processor. Add the lite coconut milk, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, salt, onion powder, and garlic. Blend until thoroughly combined and smooth, ensuring there are no remaining pieces of cashews. This should take 1-2 minutes in a blender, or 3-4 minutes in a food processor.
- Transfer the dip into a serving bowl. Mix in the diced cucumber, chopped dill, parsley, and mint. Stir to combine. Taste for seasonings.
Serve the falafel in a pita, on a rice bowl, with veggies and herbs and drizzle with vegan tzatziki.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this? Leave a rating below!
Made this recipe today and it was incredible!! Tasted even better than falafel in my opinion. I baked it for a tad bit longer than what it calls for to get it a little bit more crispy and it was amazing. Love that it makes a big batch so you can use it throughout the week in different recipes.
Hi Prerana, it’s great to hear you had success with the recipe. Thanks for the review!
I just bought my first package of tempeh and I’m going to try this recipe this weekend!
A question: Does the coconut milk in the tzatziki have to be “lite”? I use coconut milk powder for the most part. It can be mixed thick or thin. Would that do?
Hi Lisa, we hope you enjoy the recipe! We’re not familiar with coconut milk powder, but if you have used it in other recipes that call for coconut milk and enjoy it, you can certainly use it here and use a bit more water to make it thinner than full-fat coconut milk.
I enjoyed this recipe. Did it taste like “real” falafel? Pretty darn close. I actually omitted any and all flour, because mine had gone bad and I didn’t feel like driving to the grocery store.
The tzatziki sauce was very flavorful, but I would agree with another commenter about adding additional garnishes (e.g. chopped red onion, tomatoes, radishes, etc).
I’m very curious about the development of this recipe. Falafel is chickpea-based, and every authentic recipe I’ve ever seen is already vegan. What was the motivation for substituting tempeh for chickpeas? Was it just a protein thing?
Is using almond flour really important, or could I just regular all-purpose flour?
Hi Jennifer, all purpose flour should work fine!
This recipe is just awesome. Have a question though. How long can keep the dough in the fridge before cooking. Can you keep it in the fridge for 24-48 hours?
Hi Farrah, it’s awesome to hear you’re such a fan of the recipe! Yes, the falafel balls can be stored in the fridge for a day or two, but anything longer than that we’d recommend storing them in the freezer!
Ive cooked these a few times now. They’re yummy and super easy to make. One thing I will say though is that I put only half the baking soda as the first time it made the taste very bitter.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, Ben. We appreciate the honest feedback!
These are delicious and really easy to make! They’re flavorful and the texture is great as well. I’ll be making these again!
We’re so happy you loved the falafel, Linds!