Falafel | Simple, Healthy and Delicious Recipe | The Oven Light Dinner (2024)

FAQs

Are falafels healthy for weight loss? ›

With its high protein and fiber content, falafel may aid weight control by inducing feelings of fullness. Eating low-GI foods like chickpeas can also help manage blood sugar levels.

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.

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.

Turns out that dried chickpeas are essential to good falafel. See, canned chickpeas have already been cooked. Starch molecules within them have already burst and released their sticky contents, much of which get washed away in the cooking liquid, leaving the remaining chickpeas with very little clinging power.

That said, falafel is traditionally deep-fried in oil, so falafel purchased at restaurants can be high in fat and calories. Falafel contains a variety of important nutrients, but it's traditionally deep-fried in oil, which can make it high in fat and calories.

Falafel's Nutritional Profile

It tends to be relatively low in cholesterol, low on the glycemic index scale, and high in protein. Also, it's full of complex carbs and fiber, which are good for a healthy gut and regular bowel movements, adds Zozos.

A lack of fibre in the diet can cause constipation, which affects around 20% of people each year. The dietary fibre in falafel cannot be digested, but it helps to make stools bigger and softer. This allows them to pass through the gut more quickly and easily. It can also help discourage painful straining.

A binding ingredient can help keep it together, especially if you are using canned beans instead of dried. And the perfect binding ingredient for falafel is flour. Nothing fancy, just plain all-purpose flour. Add a few tablespoons at a time to your mixture, until you can press it easily into balls or patties.

There are three types of falafel--Traditional falafel, baked falafel and lemon falafel. “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.

Search for garlic shrimp souvlaki, gyro plate or even falafel plate; decide on food varieties with sound fats like olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds; make sure to arrange bunches of products of the soil; and go for lean meat, turkey, chicken or fish.

What is healthier falafel or chicken? ›

In essence, the ingredient profile of falafel is in the least unhealthy. In fact, compared to other counterparts of the food, including chicken shawarma, falafel tops the list to contain the healthiest amount of all ingredients that are required by the body.

Falafel is also a good source of soluble fibre, the type that helps lower LDL (bad) cholesterol.

What Is It? Aquafaba is the thick liquid that results from soaking or cooking legumes, such as chickpeas, in water for an extended period of time. It's the translucent viscous goop you probably rinse down the drain when you open a can of chickpeas.

If the mixture is too wet, the falafel has a tendency to fall apart when being fried so please pat dry the ingredients before using them. If you find the mixture is too wet, simply add little more breadcrumbs. The falafel mixture after prepared can be shaped by hand or with a tool called an alb falafel (falafel mold).

Chickpeas are made up of oligosaccharides, sugars that are also found in other foods like rye, onions, and garlic. Since they are highly concentrated in chickpeas, a lot of it has to pass through our system, causing longer and more severe bouts of bloating or uneasiness.

No, not unless you limit your carbs as low as possible Falafel is about 25 grams of carbs per 100 grams or 4.5 grams per individual ball so one ball is a quarter of you daily carb limit, in other words you could only eat four falafel balls and no other food that day.

There are also ample amounts of B-vitamins and minerals including iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc. Four to five pieces of traditionally prepared, deep-fried falafel contains about 540 calories and 26 grams of fat, but there is also a whopping 17 grams of fiber and 19 grams of protein. Overall, not such a bad meal.

Carbs. A falafel patty contains a little more than 5 grams of carbohydrates, the majority of which come from the chickpeas or fava beans. The food is high in complex carbohydrates and soluble fiber—the type of fiber that helps lower LDL cholesterol (known as the "bad" cholesterol).

In essence, the ingredient profile of falafel is in the least unhealthy. In fact, compared to other counterparts of the food, including chicken shawarma, falafel tops the list to contain the healthiest amount of all ingredients that are required by the body.