Beetroot Falafels - Six Hungry Feet - Recipes - Middle-Eastern (2024)

Colorful homemade Beetroot Falafels are the perfect lunch or dinner to serve to the whole family. They are easy to make, nutritious, and delicious!

We keep the recipe simple by adding all the ingredients into a food processor. This makes it super easy to prepare and if you have a big enough food processor, you can make a big batch and freeze some falafels to have for another day.

Beetroot is often referred to as a superfood. When I got to know all the benefits that beetroot has for our body, I started thinking of it as a superfood too. These root vegetables are packed with antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Beetroot is low in fat too. If you haven't tried it yet, you need to make beetroots part of your diet, whether it's juiced, baked, raw, or boiled! Check out our Beetroot Hummus or our Beet Carpaccio.

Beetroot Falafels are naturally vegan and gluten-free and this meal is an amazing way to use fresh beetroots. They will come out with a lovely pink color, which makes the whole meal much nicer! Our falafel mixture doesn't have any flour or eggs, simply the ingredients needed to make absolutely tasty falafels. We fry the falafels but you can choose to bake them too.

To make this meal into a complete lunch or dinner, you can serve the falafels in a falafel wrap or a falafel platter.

Our Beetroot Falafels are:

• Family-friendly recipe
• Easy to make
• A snack or full meal
• Perfect for summer, autumn or early winter
• A good recipe for batch cooking or prep meals

How to make Beetroot Falafels from scratch

Ingredients

• Beetroot. Our main ingredient for this recipe. When making beetroot falafels, make sure to get a fresh and organic beetroot. We like shredding the beetroot before adding it into the food processor as it makes the mixing part way easier.
• Dried Chickpeas. To make falafels, you will need dried chickpeas as canned chickpeas will not work. Canned or cooked chickpeas are too moist and when you try to fry your falafels they will fall apart. Your dried chickpeas will need to be left soaking in water overnight, so plan ahead! You can use canned chickpeas if you are thinking on baking the falafels instead of frying them.
• Fresh herbs. We use coriander and parsley to make our beetroot falafels.
• Spices. Cumin, coriander, black pepper and salt, these are all you need for tasty falafels.
• Garlic and onion. Don't forget to add garlic and onion to create the perfect falafels.

Step by Step Method

1. Leave the chickpeas soaking the day beforeyou intend on making falafels. This step is really important, as canned chickpeas will not work. You need dried chickpeas soaked for at least 12 hours. Leave the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover with water. They will almost triple in size, so make sure to add enough water.
2. Combine the ingredients in a food processor. Once your chickpeas have been soaking for at least 12 hours, rinse them and remove the excess water. Add them to a food processor and blend for a couple of seconds. Then add the rest of the ingredients: Shredded beetroot, fresh parsley and coriander, onion, garlic, cumin and coriander powder, black pepper, and salt.
3. Blend to the right consistency. You will need to blend all the ingredients until you have a well-combined mixture. It doesn't have to be mushy as the balls will be too dense, but it needs to be blended enough for the mixture to not fall apart when frying them.
4. Shape the mixture into falafels. Using your hands or using afalafel press, form the mixture into round shapes. Make sure the size is not too small or too big. It should be around the size of your palm. If you intent to bake the falafels instead of frying them, you may need to shape them differently, such as small discs.
5. Cook the falafels.Heat up some neutral oil in a small frying pan so you don't have to use that much oil. Fry the falafels until they are brown and crispy on the outside. If the falafels are shaped correctly, not much oil will go inside. The inside part will still be really fresh and light. Alternatively to frying, you can bake the falafels. They won't be as crispy, but they will be healthier and a perfect way to cook them fortoddlers or kids. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. For this method, we recommend shaping your falafels into disc shapes. Lay the falafels on a baking tray and bake for around 12-15 minutes each side. They should be golden brown when taking them out.
6. Season with some extra sea salt. Right after they have been taken out of the oil, season with some extra sea salt.

Can you freeze Beetroot Falafels?

Sure! We prefer freezing the falafels before they are cooked, just after they have been shaped.

Place them on a plate with some baking paper and freeze for about an hour. Then transfer the falafels into Ziploc freezer bags or containers.

The day you want to use them, you can leave them out of the freezer for a couple of hours before frying or baking them.

Change our recipe to your taste

You can try some other ways of making this recipe to adjust more to your taste or available ingredients:

• Bake the falafels instead of frying them. Preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. For this method, we recommend shaping your falafels into disc shapes. Lay the falafels on a baking tray and bake for around 12-15 minutes each side. They should be golden brown when taking them out.
• Add more veggies into the mixture. You can add shredded carrot or sweet potato too into the mixture. They are both great combinations for your beetroot falafels.
• Roast the beetroot beforehand. For our Beetroot Falafels we use fresh beetroot but you can cook it before by roasting it. It will make it sweeter and more tender.
• Add more ingredients into the mixture such as tahini, flour, breadcrumbs or more spices. Our recipe is made for you to have a simple and easy recipe using just a few ingredients. If you want to add more to that, that's great!

See Also

Chunky Leek and Potato Soup (No Cream) - My Gorgeous RecipesThe Real IKEA Swedish Meatballs RecipeRoast Turkey Recipe - Cooking ClassyChimichurri Sauce Recipe {Most Flavorful!} - Cooking Classy

Serving Suggestions

Our favorite way to serve Beetroot falafels is on a slightly toasted flatbread filled with fresh tomato-cucumber salad. All this, topped with delicious homemade tahini sauce and sesame seeds. This is such a well-balanced combination of textures and flavors.

Another way to serve your Beetroot Falafels can be on a Falafel Mezze Platter. Place on a plate different ingredients to go with your falafels such as roasted veggies, homemade Pita bread, pickles, leafy greens, halloumi (vegetarian), or any other ingredient you want to add. This can be a perfect option for a shared meal.

If you want to serve the falafels as a snack, you don't need much more. We do recommend serving them with a dip such as tahini sauce or plant-based yogurt dip.

If you like spicy food, don't forget to add some Sambal to your falafels!

More Middle-Eastern recipes:

• Falafel Pita Sandwich
• Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Tahini Dressing
• Middle-Eastern Chickpea Salad
• Falafel Mezze Platter
• Arabic Lentil Soup
• Creamy Tahini Pasta