Can’t decide what to eat with falafel? Here are our favourite complementary ingredient combinations, side dishes and recipe recommendations to add a pop of flavour to your next falafel cook up.
Herbaceous, grainy, crunchy savoury goodness–is your mouth watering for crisp golden falafel balls topped with homemade hummus and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice yet?
In salads, pita wraps, kebabs, sandwiches or on their own tapas-style, there’s almost an endless number of ways to enjoy this versatile traditional Middle Eastern dish.
The most popular ways to cook falafel include:
- pan-fried
- oven-baked
- deep-fried.
Whether you make falafels from scratchor pick up ready-made falafels from the supermarket or deli, they make for a delicious healthy snack–as a good source of protein, nutrients and fibre–or a filling meal option for lunch or dinner.
Let's take a look at our go-to falafel dishes.
Harissa yoghurt
Harissa yoghurt is a great sauce to eat with falafel. A fast throw-together gluten-free recipe by Cle-ann Stampolidis, all you need is Mount Zero’s falafel mix, herbs and spices, onion and water for the falafel component. Cook a falafel style pancake in a sandwich press until golden and crispy. The tahini sauce mixture features harissa, natural yoghurt, and lemon juice and is the ideal accompaniment to make your freshly made falafel taste even better.
Cauliflower fritters
Richenda Pritchard puts a new zingy spin on our falafel mix with her cauliflower fritter recipe. You can easily pull this dish together with just a handful of ingredients including falafel mix, cauliflower, fresh herbs of your choice (mint, parsley, coriander), cumin and lemon juice. Serve with a warm asparagus side salad and greek yoghurt if desired. View the full recipe
Roast eggplant, farro and chickpea salad
Roasted eggplant, farro and chickpea salad is another fabulous dish to combine with falafel. When prepping this dish, food blogger Saskia Ericson gives the reminder to take care to not overcook the chickpeas. First, mix the cooked farro, chickpeas, red onion, fresh parsley, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) for the salad component. Then, sprinkle cherry tomatoes and crumbled falafel on top of the roasted eggplant and salad then drizzle with tahini dressing. So easy and so tasty.
Roast pumpkin dip
Something else that’s great to eat with falafel? Sweet roast pumpkin dip – it’s a match made in heaven! Transformer head chefs Luke Florence and Bryce Edwards divulge their secrets to prepare their gorgeously silky roast pumpkin dip. Great as a snack with sourdough crisps or make it into a meal by adding the pumpkin dip, falafel, pickled onions and some leafy greens or tabouli to a tortilla or pita wrap.
Faba falafel burger with tzatziki
The ultimate in vego falafel burgers absolutely jam-packed with flavour. To make the veggie pattie combine falafel mix, cooked and chilled split faba beans, Worcestershire sauce, oregano, garlic, potato starch and lemon zest. Tzatziki is the perfect dip to pair with falafel. To make the tzatziki you need a cucumber, Greek yoghurt, garlic, dill, oregano, lemon juice, pepper and pink lake salt. Enjoy this all in a pita pocket or traditional burger bun.
Heirloom tomato and celery salad
Heirloom tomato and celery salad is a sublime dish to eat with falafel. Head chef from Golda restaurant Rotem Papo explains how to make this fresh and crisp salad that is ideal to enjoy during summer and spring. Rotem recommends the addition of Kashkaval cheese, saganaki or haloumi. Alternatively, you can easily substitute the cheese with 5-6 falafels if you’re after a 100% plant based dish. The dressing uses lentils, pine nuts, vinegar, cumin and EVOO. For the finishing touches, garnish your salad with cos lettuce, radish, shallot, mint and basil leaves.
Honey roasted carrots
Honey roasted carrots are excellent ingredients to pair with falafel. Food Stylist Allyse Wafer’s sticky honey roasted carrots with labneh and pomegranate seeds almost look too good to eat. Allyse suggests sprinkling some toasted hazelnuts over the carrots before serving to add a lovely nutty crunch to every mouthful. The sweet roasted carrots, fruity pomegranate pops of flavour and creamy yoghurt labneh pair wonderfully with falafels.
Kabuli chickpea and hardy mammoth green olive salad
One of our favourite salads here at Mount Zero, you only need six core ingredients to whip this beauty up including chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, coriander, zucchini, red onion and green olives. Seasonings of smoked paprika, red wine vinegar, EVOO, paprika, coriander, cumin and oregano, work wonderfully with the flavour of falafels.
Red chickpea hummus
Red chickpea hummus is a great classic dip to pair with falafel. A combination not to be overlooked, sometimes it pays not to overthink what you plate up with your falafel. Serve your falafels with some beautiful homemade hummus and focaccia. Egor Rodichken has put together a new twist on traditional hummus, using chickpeas, Arbequina extra virgin olive oil, red capsicum, tahini, garlic and lemon juice. Deliciously simple.
We hope these falafel dishes and dips have inspired your inner foodie to get into the kitchen and try out a new falafel recipe (or nine!).
If you’re after more chef-designed recipe ideas, check out our favourite farro recipes, olive oil pasta dishes and chicken recipes that’ll wow.
