Crispy Vegan Falafels with Tempeh & Walnuts (oil-free, gf)
A perfect recipe for left-over veggies. These little crispy vegan falafels taste amazing, are healthy, crunchy and very easy to make. Wrap them in a burrito with any kind of sauce, or serve with salad, or just like that as a healthy snack.
Servings Prep Time
100falafels 60minutes
Cook Time
25minutes
Servings Prep Time
100falafels 60minutes
Cook Time
25minutes
Ingredients
Spice-Mix
Instructions
  1. Wash & chop the veggies, grate the carrots.
  2. Cut the tempeh into little cubes.
  3. Put a big wok on high heat. Add 1-2 tbsp of oil if you like. If you want to make the falafels 100% oil-free, add some veg stock to the wok.
  4. Add the onions + green bell pepper. Stir-fry for 1-2 minutes.
  5. Add the mushrooms and the carrots, stir-fry for 1-2 minutes more.
  6. Add all the ingredients of the “Spice-Mix” group and the tempeh cubes. Let that cook until all veggies are tender and cooked through. Add veggie stock if the vegetables start sticking to the wok.
  7. Add spinach and silken tofu. Mix everything well and let that cook a few minutes more until the spinach has shrinked down.
  8. Add the chickpeas and mix. Take away from heat and let cool down a bit before proceeding with the food processor.
  9. Place 1/3 of the veggie mix in a food processor and blend until you get a dough like consistency. Repeat with rest of the veggie mix.
  10. Now, start adding 1/2 of the walnuts, flour and bread crumbs quantities and mix through. These quantities depend a lot of the amount of veggie stock you used during the stir-fry. If you used more stock you will need to add more of these dry ingredients in order to achieve a falafel-like dough consistency, so you will be able to form the little balls.
  11. Once you achieve the right consistency start forming the balls. Cover them with the panko breadcrumbs and place them on a baking tray.
  12. Bake the falafels at 200ºC during 25-30 minutes until they get golden brown and crispy on the outside.
  13. The leftover, unbaked falafels you can place in an air-tight container and freeze for later.
Recipe Notes

This recipe makes a good amount of falafels. You can swap the veggies I’ve used in this recipe for whatever left-over veg you have in your fridge. I like to make a good batch of falafels so I can freeze them for later use.

Once you want to bake the frozen falafels, just take them out of the freezer in the morning and let them defrost on the baking tray. Once they are room temperature you can bake them as stated in the recipe.