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I love, LOVE falafel. It’s one of those foods that I really miss being able to have delivered (yeah, I live in a place without delivery, which is honestly a good thing). I’ve tried a few times to make a low carb falafel that would actually satisfy the craving, but most of the time it would fall apart, or just turn out kind of meh.
No more! I’ve finally made a low carb falafel to write home about (or a blog post, as it were). This recipe is loosely based on Ana Sortun’s spinach falafel served at Oleana in Cambridge (love that place!), and featured in her cookbook Spice. I’ve tried to make this recipe low carb a few times before without much success, but a few key tweaks really helped things to come together this time.
Actually, this recipe isn’t really that close at all, anymore… But, I love her cookbook, and the inspiration deserves credit!
Tips on Making Low Carb Falafel:
- You’ll notice this isn’t a spinach low carb falafel, a la Ana Sortun. Because I replaced half the chickpeas with , I decided I’d have to sacrifice the spinach.
- This recipe really benefits from the use of a high speed blender, though a food processor should still be okay. Just be sure the ingredients blend really well, so that the patties stick together!
- Yes, this is 3g of net carbs per little falafel ball. It does seem like a lot. Removing the peas and carrots altogether makes this recipe 2.5g per falafel ball, which isn’t great but is a little better. Honestly, though, I think it’s worth it!
- You could probably flip these halfway through cooking, but I didn’t because I’m lazy, and they turned out great!
- You could probably also fry these. I baked them because, again, laziness. Also, I just don’t always love fried things – I’M SORRY.
- Make a super simple tahini sauce with 2 tbsp each of tahini and lemon juice. Boom.
- This awesome low carb falafel is vegan and gluten free to boot!
Low Carb Falafel
Ingredients
- 1 cup chickpeas either cooked, or soaked overnight in water
- 1 cup riced cauliflower
- 1/3 frozen cup peas and carrots optional, but I like veggies
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/4 cup diced red onion
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder or 2 diced cloves - I just didn't have any fresh!
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp all spice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, or use a silicone baking mat.
- In a high speed blender, dump all of your ingredients. Really.
- Blend for about 30 seconds, until everything is chopped up. Stop the blender and scrape down the sides if need be (carefully!).
- Blend another 15-30 seconds, until a paste forms, but there are still chunks of veggie remaining. Basically, you want to be able to form this into patties, and have them hold together.
- Remove the blender container from the base, and scoop the "dough" into 13 equal portions on the tray, about 1/2 inch thick.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
- Let cool, and enjoy! You can serve this with a tahini sauce, and it's divine!
Nutrition
These tasted great! The spices were right on. However, the consistency and color were off. They were kinda “doughy” and mushy. I cooked them a bit longer to see if they’d brown up and hold together better but that didn’t help. Maybe I over blended?
I’m glad you liked the taste!
Hm, over blending is a possibility, as is too much moisture. You can typically remedy this with a little bit of chickpea flour, or my squeazing extra liquid outof the veggies before blending. I hope this helps!
My hubby made these for me the other day – and they were very mushy. He baked them. We had leftovers – so he fried those – still mushy. I am guessing he didn’t bother to squeeze out the water from the veggies or add extra flour. However, they were good.
I’m glad they were at least tasty! Yeah, squeezing out as much moisture as possible is definitely important to making sure these turn out the right texture!
How many carbs per serving? What would you eat the rest of the day to keep carbs at fewer than 20-50 grams for the day? It’s probably not keto after that. How do you test whether you’re in ketosis or not?
Hi Oola! These are all great questions! There are 3g of net carbs per falafel ball here. For most people, you are correct – 50g of net carbs is where ketosis ceases to happen. For some people, this is lower. For the rest of the day, you could eat something like coconut yogurt with nuts on top for breakfast, then a giant spinach salad with olives, seeds and dressing for lunch. While these are a little bit higher on the carb spectrum, you can definitely fit them into your carb limit as long as the rest of your meals are pretty low. 🙂
This article tells more about how to tell when you’re in ketosis: http://healthygamergirl.com/how-to-tell-when-youre-in-ketosis/
Found informative.Thanks for sharing the recipe