Air Fryer “Green Monstah” Falafel

Bonjour! I first tried falafel freshman year of college, and I like to think that day changed my life. I fell in love in a Falafel Place (Falafel Place happens to be the name of our favorite falafel spot in Boston – which happened to be on the same block of my first apartment in the city, AND happens to be where Elide tried falafel for the first time!!).

You may be thinking “why did this post start with bonjour? Falafel isn’t french…” And that is because I really got Elide into falafel when we went to Paris and visited L’As du Fallafel. L’As du Fallafel is a famous falafel restaurant and it is so good that in a city filled with some of the most delicious food in the world, the only restaurant we visited twice when in the city was L’As du Fallafel. The line goes down the block, but we (and Lenny Kravitz) guarantee it is so worth it.

What you are about to get is not a dupe for L’As du Fallafel, but it is delicious. Below you will find a recipe for air fryer “Green Monstah” falafel, aptly name for these little falafel’s green color.

Before we jump in, just note that this is not an exact recipe. Elide eyeballed a lot of the ingredients, so feel free to play around with measurements.

Prep time: 20 minutes + chill time
Cook time: 12-14 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cans garbanzo beans (drained and rinsed)
• Handful of cilantro, stems and all
• Handful of parley, stems and all
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• Quarter of onion ( your fav is fine)
• 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour
• 1 tsp Salt. Add more if needed.
• 1/2 tsp-ish Cumin
• 1/2 tsp-ish Coriander

Instructions:

1. In a food processor: combine cilantro, parsley, garlic, and onion. Pulse until super fine. If needed – add a tablespoon or two of water to help process
   

2. Add chickpeas, flour and seasonings. Pulse a few times. Open and mix with spatula. Repeat until you see only small pieces of chickpea – not hummus consistency, it should be coarse. Taste and adjust seasoning to liking.
   
3. Portion out onto baking sheet ( I do one tablespoon each but you can make them bigger). Form mixture into a ball and then lightly press to create a disc. Freeze for 30 minutes or chill for 1 hour in the fridge.
   

4. Spray mixture with cooking spray, sprinkle with coarse salt (optional), and place in Air fryer at 370 for 12- 14 minutes flipping half way through. If using the oven, bake on 375 for 12-14. Note: this recipe has not been tried in the oven so use your judgement for baking.

Anddddd that’s it! Serve with tzatziki, hummus, tomato, cucumber, etc!