These falafel pitas have protein in spades and are a good way to break out of a midday sandwich rut. Edamame stands in for chickpeas, and tofu serves as the backbone of the creamy sauce to create a delicious lunch. Baking the falafels instead of frying them in generous amounts of oil creates a lighter meal that saves on calories. Both the falafels and sauce can be prepared up to four days in advance.
On a bowl
You can switch things up and serve these as a falafel bowl. Place cooked rice in a bowl and then layer on chopped lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and falafels. Top with tahini sauce.
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This recipe originally appeared on alive.com as “Edamame Falafel Pitas.”
Edamame Falafel Pitas
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Ingredients
Falafels
- 3 cups frozen shelled edamame thawed
- 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped red onion
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
Sauce
- 7.05 oz soft tofu
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp paprika
4 pitas
- 1/2 cup sliced cucumber
- 1/2 cup sliced tomato
- 2 cups lettuce greens or baby spinach
Instructions
- Heat oven to 400 F. Set oven rack to upper two-thirds of oven.
- For falafels, place edamame, parsley, garlic, red onion, flour, lemon juice, cumin, coriander, salt, and baking powder in food -processor container and blend until smooth.
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Using cookie or ice-cream scoop, spoon balls of edamame mixture and place on baking sheet. Then, gently flatten with your hand. Mixture should yield at least 12 falafels.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then flip and cook another 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, to make sauce, blend together tofu, tahini, mint, lemon zest, and paprika.
- Cut pitas in half and stuff with falafels, cucumber, tomato, and lettuce. Drizzle with sauce.
