FALAFEL KEBABS
Homemade falafel kebabs are an easy, quick dinner. Make them as a vegetarian meal or up the delicious factor with the addition of bacon!
If making these for lunch, you can prepare in advance, wrap up like a takeaway kebab and then reheat in a toasted sandwich maker before eating. This is what we did with the leftovers after photographing the recipe and it worked a treat!
You can place the ingredients inside the Lebanese bread (like a traditional kebab), if you prefer, rather than just plopping them on top! This meal also works well as a falafel salad, without the bread.
FALAFEL KEBABS
Homemade falafel kebabs are an easy, quick dinner. Make them as a vegetarian meal or up the delicious factor with the addition of bacon!
Ingredients
FALAFELS
- 800 g chickpeas in spring water (2 cans/1lb 12oz)
- 1 small red onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 Tbsp plain flour
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp harissa spice rub
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
SALAD
- 1 Lebanese cucumber
- 2 tomatoes
- 50 g feta cheese (1.8oz)
- 2 carrots
- 4 wheatmeal Lebanese bread
- 200 g streaky bacon (optional) (7oz)
- 60 g baby spinach (2.1oz)
YOGHURT SAUCE
- 1/4 cup plain unsweetened yoghurt (60ml)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp cold water
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
Instructions
MAKE FALAFELS
Drain chickpeas and pat dry with paper towels. Place in food processor*. Roughly chop the onion and add to food processor with the garlic, flour, cumin, coriander and harissa. Season well with salt and pepper, then process to form a rough paste. Shape into small patties (about two tablespoons of mixture per falafel) and place in fridge to chill while you prepare other ingredients.
PREPARE SALAD
Dice cucumber, tomatoes and feta. Grate carrots.
MAKE SAUCE
Whisk together the yoghurt, lemon juice, water, honey and mustard until smooth.
COOK FALAFELS
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry falafel patties for a couple of minutes on each side, until golden and crisp on the outside. You may need to do this in batches. Remove from the pan, place on a plate and cover with tinfoil to keep warm. Toast each Lebanese bread in the frying pan for 30 seconds on each side. Keep warm. Use the same frying pan to cook the bacon, if using.
SERVE
Assemble the kebabs by placing the falafel, bacon, salad and a generous drizzle of sauce on top of each Lebanese bread and roll up to enclose filling. Wrap the end in tinfoil for easier eating, if you like.
*If you don’t have a food processor you can use a potato masher instead. You will need to finely dice the onion and garlic beforehand.
Recipe Notes
WINE MATCH: A Chardonnay.
GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: Use gluten-free plain flour in place of the standard flour. Swap Lebanese bread for gluten-free wraps, or eat meal as a felafel salad instead.
VEGETARIAN OPTION: Omit the bacon.
LOW-CARB OPTION: Eat meal as a falafel salad rather than a kebab (omit the Lebanese bread).
STORING AND REHEATING: Wrap prepared kebabs in tinfoil and reheat in a toasted sandwich maker. Alternatively you can store all of the components separately, then reheat the falafel, bacon and bread in the microwave and assemble kebabs just before eating.
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6 Comments
Was surprised at flavour and that they weren’t dry like ones I’ve made from ready prepared pack in the past. Enjoyed by the family.
Thanks so much for the feedback Fiona! 🙂
We had these as falafel salads and they were really yummy, especially with the bacon added. Thank you!
So pleased to hear you enjoyed this one Emma 🙂
Unfortunately we didn’t find these as tasty as they look in the image. Probably just not our cup of tea but maybe would be for others… however, myself and hubby and two kids didn’t finish ours. There were two leftover and sadly they were binned rather than saved. Definitely appreciate the free recipe but wouldn’t make this one again.
Sorry to hear this meal didn’t go down too well in your household, Jasmine. I’ve cooked this one a few times and it has always been well-received but, as you say, everyone has different tastes. I’ll get a few more people to test it out! Thanks for taking the time to leave a review 🙂