Falafel Burgers Recipe - Love and Lemons

This veggie-packed falafel burger is a simple, healthy dinner. Slather yours with yogurt dill sauce, and you're guaranteed to want seconds!

dinner / vegetarian

This falafel burger recipe comes from our friends Sonja and Alex’s new book Pretty Simple Cooking, and we’re completely obsessed with it! Unlike many veggie burger or falafel recipes, this one uses simple ingredients that you’ll be able to find in nearly any grocery store. It’s easy to put together, and it’s absolutely delicious.

The patties have a nice hearty texture and a robust, aromatic flavor, thanks to a slew of spices and fresh herbs. They’re the kind of thing I’d be happy to eat for dinner any night of the week, as they’re fresh and healthy, but flavorful and satisfying at the same time. My advice? Try this falafel burger recipe (and check out the book) ASAP!

Falafel Burger Recipe Ingredients

I LOVE that this easy falafel burger recipe uses simple ingredients! Here’s what you’ll need to make it:

Chickpeas – Use canned, or cook your own dried chickpeas.
Sesame seeds – They add crunch and a tasty sesame flavor.
Garlic and onion – This recipe uses a whole lotta garlic. Don’t skimp on it! It really amps up the savory flavor in this falafel burger recipe.
Carrots – They give the burgers a nice golden color and an extra veggie punch.
Cilantro – It makes this falafel burger recipe super flavorful and fresh! You’ll pulse everything together in the food processor, so feel free to use the cilantro stems as well as the leaves.
Whole wheat flour – It binds these patties together.
Cumin, coriander, and cayenne – They perfect the patties’ bold falafel flavor.
And salt and pepper – To make all the flavors pop!

Find the complete recipe with measurements below.

This falafel burger recipe is super easy to make. Pulse the ingredients in a food processor, fold them together, and use your hands to form them into patties. Give them a quick sear in a stainless steel or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat, cooking just until golden brown. When you’re done pan frying the patties, transfer them to the oven to finish cooking. That’s it!

Falafel Burger Serving Suggestions

Sonja and Alex finish this falafel burger recipe with a delicious yogurt-dill sauce. Similar to tzatziki, it’s creamy, bright, and fresh, and it’s fantastic with the hearty patties. I highly recommend making it, but if you’re vegan, hummus or tahini sauce would be a great substitute.

Slather on the sauce, and load up your falafel burger with your favorite fixings! I chose pickled red onions and extra cilantro, but sliced tomato, cucumber, avocado, or regular pickles would also be delicious. To take these burgers to the next level, serve them on homemade buns.

Enjoy the burgers on their own, or pair them with sweet potato fries, dressed greens, or any of these veggie side dishes:

More Favorite Patties and Burgers

If you love this falafel burger recipe, check out Pretty Simple Cooking! This book is for anyone who feels intimidated to step into the kitchen, because Sonja has such encouraging lessons about life, love, and food. It’s also for food lovers of any level looking for creative recipes to up their veggie game.

In the meantime, try one of these veggie burger, patty, or sandwich recipes next:

5.0 from 24 reviews

Falafel Burgers

Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

40 mins

Total time

55 mins

Reprinted from Pretty Simple Cooking by Sonja and Alex Overhiser, with permission from the publisher.

Author: Sonja and Alex Overhiser

Recipe type: Main dish

Serves: 8

Ingredients

For the Falafel:

2 15-ounce cans chickpeas (3 cups cooked)
¼ cup sesame seeds
6 medium garlic cloves
1 medium red onion
2 large carrots
1 cup packed cilantro leaves and tender stems
¾ cup whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons cumin
4 teaspoons coriander
¼ teaspoon cayenne
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

For the Dill Yogurt Sauce:

2 small garlic cloves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
¼ cup lemon juice (1 large lemon)
2 cups whole milk plain Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon kosher salt

For Serving:

pickles or pickled onions
cilantro, lettuce or sliced cucumber
8 toasted hamburger buns

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Make the burgers: Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Blot them with a paper towel or clean dish towel to remove any extra moisture, then place them in the bowl of a large food processor. Add the sesame seeds and process for a minute or so until a paste-like consistency is formed (if necessary, stop and scrape the sides of the bowl, and process again). Scrape the mixture into a large bowl.
Peel the garlic, red onion, and carrots. Chop the onion and carrot in rough chunks. Add the garlic to the food processor and process until finely chopped. Add the carrot and onion and pulse several times until finely chopped. Add the cilantro to the processor and pulse a few more times until chopped.
Scrape the vegetables into the bowl with the chickpeas. Stir in the flour, cumin, coriander, cayenne, kosher salt, and black pepper. Mix with a spoon or with your hands until fully combined, then form 8 round patties and place them on a baking sheet.
In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add 4 of the burgers and fry them for 1 to 2 minutes per side, until golden brown. Remove the cooked burgers and place them back on the baking sheet. Wipe out the pan, add an additional drizzle of oil, and fry the remaining 4 burgers, keeping in mind that the pan will be hotter and the cooking time slightly quicker for the second batch.
Once all burgers are browned, place them in the oven on the baking sheet and bake 15 minutes on one side, then flip and bake another 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for at least 10 minutes.
Make the sauce: Peel and finely mince the garlic. Chop the dill. Juice the lemon. In a small bowl, stir together the garlic, dill, lemon juice, Greek yogurt, olive oil, kosher salt, and 2 tablespoons water. Store leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for to 2 weeks.
Assemble the burgers with the yogurt sauce and desired fixings.

Notes

Store leftover burgers refrigerated for up to 5 days, or frozen in an airtight container or plastic bag. To reheat, heat straight from the refrigerator or freezer in a 375°F oven until crispy and heated through; about 8 minutes for refrigerated burgers and about 15 minutes for frozen burgers.

Wow, this recipe is great! I made falafel the regular way years ago and the house smelled like falafel oil for a week. Prepped a double batch of all ingredients into a huge bowl earlier and set out to bake them at 2:am (it has been over 100° here in the daytime hours) half asleep, bracing for a big hassle and multiple batches in the oven. The patties formed so quickly and perfectly I actually enjoyed making them. They sauteed just right, too; a lovely golden brown. I got 17 burgers out of a double batch. Awesome idea to just set them on their cookie sheet while processing the saute step – then right into the oven. I fit 12 on a regular cookie sheet and was able to fit the remaining 5 on a smaller cookie sheet – and that allowed me to fit my bread pan in the oven at the same time, saving me another 35 minute batch for that. Cooled on a rack and stacked on wax paper into a silicone zip lock gallon bag (well, two, actually) and into the freezer. Easy and quick vegan burgers meal – * and* it’s falafel, without the smell lingering. They smelled amazing while cooking and I regret being too tired to try one, but I have full confidence the taste will be as great as everything else about this recipe. My bean burgers are much more delicate and hassle-y; these were a breeze. I rinsed the beans in a colander and put half on a towel at a time, drying well. I washed, rinsed the cilantro and put it thru the salad spinner to get the excess water off. They came and held together perfectly, no tweaks necessary. I found the sesame seeds at a market that has bins of beans and seeds and got everything organic to go in the recipe. So awesome to be able to use canned beans and bake them, with all the steps going quickly and easily. I finished misc tasks while they went thru their saute/bake and was done in the kitchen before I expected to be – and that is always a plus! Will have to explore more recipes on this site! Thanks for this one!! Adding it to my vegan/PBWF essentials. (I can’t eat most veg burgers because I don’t eat mushrooms or soy – making the vegan/PBWF mode more of a task to keep calories up and healthy. This is an unexpected treat to have on hand on the regular; quick, simple, well-behaved, amazing.

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