Falafel Burger

4.78 from 9 votes

Take your veggie burger to the next level with this oil-free falafel burger topped with vegan tzatziki (Greek yogurt sauce), cucumbers, and tomato, air-fried to perfection in 20 minutes from start to finish. Crispy on the outside, soft and delicate on the inside, this falafel burger recipe will be your new go-to veggie burger.

Prep Time10

Cook Time20

Total Time30

Course: Entrees

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Diet: Diabetic, Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Servings: servings

Calories: 452kcal

Author: Kathy Carmichael

Ingredients

2 cups dry chickpeas or garbanzo beans; soaked overnight
½ red onion diced
½ white onion diced
¼ cup parsley
¼ cup dill
5 cloves garlic minced
2 teaspoons coriander
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons chickpea flour
2 Tablespoons Tahini

Other Ingredients

Burger Buns of Choice Gluten-free or While-grain oil free or without a bun (try lettuce)
[Vegan tzatziki]
Cucumber slices
Tomato Slices

Instructions

Falafel Dough

Soak dried chickpeas overnight; make sure you cover the chickpeas with at least three times the amount of water since the chickpeas absorb a lot of water.
Rinse and drain the chickpeas and transfer them to a food processor with a large blade.
Process on high until the chickpeas are ground up
Then, add all the other ingredients.
Pulse until all ingredients are combined; you may need to scrape down the sides to ensure all ingredients are included.
Transfer the falafel dough to a bowl and cover for at least one hour before forming falafel balls.
Once chilled, remove the dough from the refrigerator and form individual falafel burger patties using a burger press or your hands.
Place the burger patties on a baking sheet and cover. Place in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before air-frying.
Once all patties are similar-sized patties, you are ready to cook in the air-fryer in batches. I cooked two at a time.

Air Frying

Remove burger patties from the freezer and cook 2 at a time in the air fryer.
Place 2 patties in the base of the air-fry pan, making sure not to overlap falafel patties.
Cook at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping over each falafel patty at 10 minutes and then cooking the other side for the remaining 10 minutes.
Remove air-fried falafel burgers and place them on a cooking sheet and place it in a warm oven to keep warm if making more burgers.

Baking

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
To avoid sticking, place burger patties on a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
Cook for 30 minutes, flipping burgers over at 15 minutes.

Notes

There are a few other tricks to make oil-free falafel burgers that taste great.

For instance, pulse the mixture in the food processor rather than processing it on high. And it is necessary to refrigerate the mixture for 1 hour to set it up before forming the patties.

Since the falafel dough is a bit sticky, I suggest forming the patties and placing them in the freezer for 15 minutes before placing them in the air-fryer. As a result, the falafel burgers are firmer and less likely to stick.

Another helpful suggestion is to flip the falafel burgers halfway through cooking with a spatula so they cook evenly on both sides.

Nutrition