Falafel Wrap With Baked Falafel That Starts in a Can
Jump to recipe ↓
About 580 calories per serving, estimated from the ingredient list.
It is 12:45 on a Saturday, and you are hungry in the specific way that usually ends with your thumb hovering over a delivery app. Close it and open the one where lunch flirts back. This falafel wrap recipe takes 27 minutes, most of them the oven's, and it makes four.
Dry chickpeas bake into falafel. Wet chickpeas bake into hummus balls.
Classic falafel starts with dried chickpeas soaked overnight and finishes in a pot of hot oil. This version starts with two cans and finishes in the oven, which costs you a little of that shattering crunch and saves you the soak and the fryer. Canned chickpeas come out of the can wetter than soaked dried ones, and that extra water is what turns falafel into hummus balls, so the cans only work if you dry them before blending. Garlic, cumin and a full cup of parsley do the flavor work, and tahini over the top pulls the whole wrap together.
What you need
- 2 cans canned chickpeas
- 12 frozen falafel
- 4 pita bread
- 4 tbsp tahini
- 1 head lettuce
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tomato
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup fresh parsley
- ¼ tsp black pepper
How to make it
- Drain and rinse both cans of chickpeas.
- Mince the 3 cloves garlic and chop the 1 bunch fresh parsley, about 5 minutes of prep.
- Blend the chickpeas with the garlic, 2 teaspoons ground cumin, parsley, salt, and black pepper into a thick paste.
- Form the paste into 12 small balls and place on a baking sheet.
- Bake the falafel balls at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes, flipping halfway, until crisp.
- Warm the 4 pita breads for 2 minutes in a skillet.
- Drizzle 1 tbsp of the 4 tbsp tahini over the falafel in each pita.
- Add slices from the 2 medium tomatoes and leaves from the 1 head lettuce, then wrap tightly and serve.
Notes
Cooked leftovers keep three to four days refrigerated, per USDA FSIS. Store the falafel apart from the pita and vegetables so nothing goes soggy.
Baked falafel freezes well. Cool them on the sheet, freeze in a single layer, then bag them. Reheat in a hot oven or an air fryer until crisp again, since the microwave turns them soft.
Pulse the blender instead of running it flat out. You want a thick, slightly coarse paste that holds together when you squeeze it, with flecks of parsley still visible. A smooth puree is hummus, and hummus does not bake into a ball.
Lightly oil the baking sheet if you like (optional, since oil is not on the list), and press each ball down a little so it sits flat. More surface touching the hot pan means more browned crust.
Pale, soft falafel is the disappointment you are most likely to hit. Give them the full 20 minutes, flip at the halfway point as the method says, and if they still look pale, give them a few more minutes. Color is flavor here.
Build each wrap right before it is eaten. A falafel wrap recipe lives on contrast: hot crisp falafel, cool crunchy lettuce, soft warm pita. Wraps assembled twenty minutes early trade all three for one even sogginess, so set the components out and let everyone roll their own.
Tahini straight from the jar is thick, and the oil separates on the shelf, so stir it well. If you want a sauce you can drizzle, whisk in a little water and, if you have one, an optional squeeze of lemon. It seizes up at first, then loosens as you keep whisking.
Swaps that actually work
The parsley is the point. That full cup is what makes this taste like falafel instead of baked chickpeas. Cilantro can take up to half of it, and some falafel stands use both. Leave the total amount of green alone.
The 12 frozen falafel on the ingredient list are the shortcut option, already sitting in the cart when you swipe. If making the paste is more commitment than your Saturday wants, heat them to package directions and go straight to building the wraps, and the falafel wrap recipe still comes together around the tahini and vegetables.
Pita is classic, but large flour tortillas or lavash roll tighter and hold more filling. Warm them in the skillet the same way. Cold bread makes a bad first impression.
The tomato and lettuce can be joined or replaced by whatever crunchy things you have: cucumber, shredded red cabbage, thin slices of red onion, pickled turnips or banana peppers. In a wrap, more crunch is rarely a mistake.
Hummus can stand in for the tahini if that is what is in the fridge, and it makes the wrap creamier and a little heavier.
The swap that costs you the dish is going light on the cumin and garlic. Without them the falafel tastes like plain beans in a crust.
If it goes wrong
The falafel fell apart on the sheet. The paste was too wet. Right now, stir a tablespoon or two of flour into the remaining paste and chill it for ten minutes before you shape the rest.
They are dry and crumbly inside. They were small, or they stayed in too long. Extra tahini rescues it at the table, and next time pull them as soon as they are deep golden on both sides.
The pita cracked when you rolled it. It was cold or stale. Give it the full two minutes in the skillet, or wrap it in a damp paper towel and microwave it for a few seconds before filling. Cold pita was never ready to commit.
It is flat. Usually salt. A pinch of salt in the tahini and an optional squeeze of lemon over the filling bring the whole wrap up.
What to serve with it
The default is nothing at all, because a wrap is a complete meal you can hold in one hand.
The better version adds a simple chopped salad on the side: cucumber, tomato, lemon, olive oil and salt. It echoes the filling and makes the plate feel finished.
The thing in the fridge that lifts it is something pickled or spicy. Pickled red onion, sliced pickles or a spoonful of hot sauce inside the wrap cuts through the tahini and gives it bite.
The baked falafel make a good next day lunch. Pack them with the vegetables and tahini in separate containers and build the wrap when you eat.
Why this one earns its place
It turns two cans of chickpeas and a bunch of parsley into something that makes the delivery app feel optional, without a fryer and without a soak. Twelve falafel feed four people, and the leftover tahini sticks around for the next round.
This falafel wrap recipe is also easy to split. Half the household can stack theirs with hot sauce and pickles while the other half keeps it plain, and the base is the same tray. Swipe right on it and the agent picks up the tahini and pita with the rest.
If you like your lunches wrapped and saucy, shawarma plate brings the same Middle Eastern flavors to a plate. For a wrap on a different track entirely, chicken caesar wrap is the other one in rotation. And since a jar of tahini is the kind of thing you buy once for a recipe, how to shop for a new recipe helps you use it more than once.
More like this: all Middle Eastern recipes in Crave Corner.