Quick and Easy Falafel Recipe

This easy falafel recipe brings together chickpeas and a handful of seasonings to create an enviable crispy-on-the-outside and fluffy and moist texture on the inside. Falafel is popular food around in the Middle East, where vendors sell it on street corners in places such as Egypt, Greece, Syria, and Israel. It's also popular among vegetarians; falafel is flavorful, thanks to the parsley, garlic, cumin, and coriander, and contains a good deal of protein, because of the chickpeas.

Traditional falafel recipes use dried chickpeas and can be time-consuming because of the soaking needed to make the chickpeas soft before you cook them. Proponents of this method believe that cooking the chickpeas from their dried state results in falafel that taste better and doesn't fall apart when you fry it in a hot pan. (It helps to make sure your chickpeas are completely dry before you incorporate them with the rest of the ingredients.) This recipe, however, is for falafel from canned chickpeas, which ​cuts down on preparation time and the flour helps to bind it. It's perfect for those who want an easy falafel recipe that can be made on a weeknight.

Falafel is great on its own, with chunks of cucumber, tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese and tahini sauce or a yogurt-based tzatziki sauce for dipping. Or tuck the falafel into a warm pita with any of those ingredients, along with some red onion, too. You can also serve it as part of a bigger mezze spread with hummus, tabbouleh, and other dishes.