14 Dinner Recipes That Prove Falafel Won’t Make Ya Feel Awful on Meatless Monday (2024)

FAQs

14 Dinner Recipes That Prove Falafel Won’t Make Ya Feel Awful on Meatless Monday? ›

The most common way to eat falafel is by putting it inside a pitta bread and adding tomatoes, cucumber and pickled onions before topping with hummus, tahini or a spicy sauce.

The most common way to eat falafel is by putting it inside a pitta bread and adding tomatoes, cucumber and pickled onions before topping with hummus, tahini or a spicy sauce.

Falafel is high in many micronutrients and a good source of fiber and protein. As such, it may help curb your appetite, support healthy blood sugar, and lower your risk of chronic disease. Yet, it's typically deep-fried in oil, which raises its fat and calorie content.

Go with the falafel. The gyro has more saturated fat, more calories, and (usually) more sodium than the falafel—or chicken or vegetable sandwich fillings—on most menus. Take Daphne's, a "California-fresh" West Coast chain with 56 restaurants that lists calories on its menus and Nutrition Facts on its Web site.

Yes, falafel is a good source of fiber. It's made primarily from ground chickpeas or fava beans, which are rich in dietary fiber, contributing to digestive health and providing a feeling of fullness.

Authentic falafel sold on every street corner in Israel is served in pita bread. First, opened the pita and spread it with hummus. Then some finely chopped Middle Eastern salad (cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, parsley). Add the falafel to the pita, and top with more salad, tahini sauce, and French fries.

Falafel features prominently in Israeli cuisine and has been called a national dish. Some Palestinians and other Arabs have objected to current identification of falafel with Israeli cuisine as cultural appropriation.

It's a good source of fiber, an amazing source of proteins, and chickpea fiber; it helps manage blood sugar levels by slowing down carbohydrate absorption. Too much falafel can never be bad for your health, conditional to the fact that you're not deep-frying it every time.

Beans' and chickpeas' starchy compounds, stachyose and raffinose, don't digest completely in the small intestine, which often leads to gas. Skip the falafel truck on your lunch break, and your stomach (and everyone else in your yoga class) will thank you later on.

Falafel contains high amounts of protein and carbohydrates from chickpeas; it also has significant amounts of soluble fiber that helps to reduce the bad cholesterol from your body. Chickpeas are also rich in calcium, iron & potassium, making falafel a superb vegetarian food to replace meat.

Can diabetics eat falafel? ›

Falafel has a good amount of micronutrients plus it is a good source of protein and fiber. This helps in curbing one's appetite, lowers one's risk of chronic disease, and supports healthy blood sugar. All these qualities put Falafel in the diabetes-friendly category.

Falafel's History

Culinary historians and anthropologists often disagree about its precise origins, but a substantial amount of evidence attributes the genesis of modern falafel to Egypt. It is believed that Copts, an Egyptian Christian community, initially crafted the dish using fava beans, labeling it 'ta'amiya'.

Whereas falafel is a complex carbohydrate, which contains fibre, vitamins and minerals that take longer to digest. Fibre slows down sugar absorption, which helps to control blood sugar levels. Soluble fibre – the kind that is in falafel – can also reduce levels of bad cholesterol.

Canned chickpeas do not work for falafel. They're far too wet. If you try to use canned chickpeas instead of dried and soaked chickpeas, you'll end up with sad falafel pancakes. Some recipes try to counteract the wetness by adding flour, which significantly dulls the flavor and makes the texture more doughy.

Testing showed the E. coli in the falafel was closely related to the bacteria found in case-patients meaning that after months of persistence, Michigan investigators had found the likely source of this multi-state outbreak, and a recall was issued.

The study intones that "long-term consumption of falafel patties (30 days) caused yellowish discoloration of the liver distinctive of liver necrosis", suggesting that "the consumption of falafel as the sole source of nutrition for a long period of time ... can generate a hepatotoxic effect leading to liver necrosis".

Falafel is low in calories and fat. When eaten as part of a healthy diet, it can aid with weight loss or weight maintenance. One of the healthiest ways to eat falafel is in a buddha bowl with plenty of healthy greens and veggies.

“Where the traditional falafel is the basic fried falafel comprising a mix of chickpeas, onions, garlic, herbs and spices, baked falafels are made using fresh herbs in the chickpea mixture,” says Chef Sati from Ophelia. Spraying baked falafels with olive oil before baking makes them crispy.

Falafel and Nutrition

A 100-gram serving (about 3 to 4 falafel patties) of frozen premade chickpea falafel has: 321 calories. 21 grams of protein. 4 grams of fat.

Falafel are deep-fried balls or patties made from chickpeas or fava beans, sometimes both, plus fresh herbs and spices. Falafel is a popular Middle Eastern street food sold from vendors or fast-casual spots in countries such as Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Israel, where it's the national dish.