These crispy, high protein baked falafel muffins are completely vegan and gluten free! Naturally low in fat, these healthy savoury bites are low in fat and the perfect snack or meal addition.
There are two foods which are constantly used in recipes, meals and daily eats around the healthy living blogging world which I have never been the biggest fans of.
1. Sweet Potato
2. Chickpeas
It’s not that I despise eating either of these or avoid them like the plague- If they were the last foods on earth, I would happily tuck into it. Actually, that doesn’t say much.
When it comes to the sweet potato, I prefer to eat it’s white family member. I don’t need to profess my love for the white potato. It’s not unusual for me to eat a kilo of these white spuds in a day. Heck, it even happened where I ate a seven kilos within a week. When I was in America for the first time, I was fortunate to be there during Thanksgiving and was given a sweet potato with marshmallows and brown sugar. I think that put me off them just a tad.
Let’s now talk chickpeas. Chickpeas, especially chickpea flour (garbanzo/besan flour) is something I did grow up with. Many of my mum’s traditional cooking involved using chickpea flour (expect an amazing recipe to come in the new year!) and there are a plethora of Persian stews which are based on slow cooked chickpeas. I love hummus but over the last few years, I’ve found the more basic the chickpea is, the more stomach pains. What does that mean? Well let’s put it simply.
A can of chickpeas eaten straight = A pregnant male look.
A falafel deep fried to a crisp = Yes. So much yes.
Safe to say, when I’m cooking for myself or out to eat, sweet potatoes and chickpeas are often overlooked. When I asked on Facebook what kind of recipes you guys wanted, Vegan and traditional family recipes were popular ones. For long time readers, you’d probably think it bizarre for me to post a vegan recipe, knowing my love for the animal protein. Ironically, one of my all time favourite recipes by mum is her pan fried Persian style falafel which is almost vegan!
I’d always know whenever she’d be making these delicious patties because the house would smell insane- A combination of curry spices mixed with copious amounts of liquid gold. No, not coffee- Oil.
When I stole graciously obtained the recipe from her and looked through the list, I was surprised to realise how simple it was. Instead of pan frying it like mum usually does, I wanted to see if they would work baked in the oven as ‘muffins’. This was because I was lazy and didn’t want to stand over the stove. It worked out well and formed perfectly! The other edit I did to her recipe was vegan-ise it by using a flax egg (hence the puuuuurty black spots throughout). A warning though- Make sure you grease the muffin tins VERY well– Let’s just say my first trail, I ate them with a fork straight out of the muffin tin….
So while I may not be the biggest fan of sweet potatoes or chickpeas- Together, I’m their personal cheer leader. Especially when they are fried.
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Baked Falafel Muffins (Vegan)
Ingredients
- 2 x cans of no salt added chickpeas drained (400 gram cans)
- 1 large sweet potato cooked and mashed (400-450 grams pre cooked weight)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 onion
- 1 tablespoon flaxseeds
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 2 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoon pepper
- Oil for coating pan*
- Spray oil for coating muffins
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Generously coat a 12 count muffin tin or 18 count mini muffin tin with oil and set aside.
- In a food processor or high speed blender, combine the chickpeas, garlic and onion and blend until a very course texture is made. Add the cumin, red pepper flakes, sea salt and pepper and blend once more.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the chickpea mixture with the mashed sweet potato and flaxseeds and mix very well until fully incorporated.
- Distribute the batter evenly in the greased muffin tin. Generously spray the tops of the muffins with more oil and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on top. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes in pan. Serve immediately or allow to cool completely before refrigerating or freezing. Muffins should easily slip out of the tray if greased generously.
Notes
If desired, these can be pan fried- Simply coat a frying pan generously with oil and fry on medium-high for 3-4 minutes, flip, and repeat until golden brown.
These muffins can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 2 months.
Are you a fan of chickpeas?
Can you handle legumes well?
What is your favourite way to eat a sweet potato? Maybe I’ll become a fan.
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Nice recipe!! I’m making these soon, for sure. It’s nice that you put flax seeds in them, I guess I would have added those anyway because I put them in everything 😀
Haha, really! I had a friend who put flaxseeds in everything too and one time it made their smoothie like a rock.
Love this recipe. And I love falafel too by the way…I live on chick peas and can handle them well…Sweet potatoes are my fave with just about anything! Like topped with avocado or omg, try roasted wedges with peanut butter. Roast the wedges with a dab of maple syrup to bring out the sweetness. So good.
Wow, with maple syrup? I’m intrigued! Okay, I’ll give them another go!
Anything with sweet potatoes has my vote! However, I have never had sweet potatoes with marshmallows. Aside from my deep dislike of marshmallows, that combination just seems ‘icky’. I also had a sweet potato casserole when I was celebrating my first ‘real’ American thanksgiving in the US, but it was amazing – with pecans and no marshmallows.
As for this recipe – looks delicious! I don’t eat chickpeas very often anymore (paleo now), but this really looks like it would be absolutely yummy! I’ll have to give these muffins a try soon, and you get bonus points if my kid likes them 🙂
Pinned!
Thank you so much, Yuliya! I hope your kids like them- If not, bribe them with marshmallows 😉
Falafel muffins? What an incredible idea!! I’m not a fan of frying anything at my house so this is perfect! Sweet potatoes and chickpeas are 2 of my fav foods haha
Thanks, Min! Hope you do try them out- I just made another batch, although I did fry it….:p
I feel ya on the stomach pains! I’m super excited to try these though because whenever I try to make normal Falafel it falls apart in the pan and fails epically. Every. Single. Time.
Really! You need the flax haha. And loads of oil!
On behalf of America, I apologize that you were force-fed sweet potatoes with marshmallows. I love sweet potatoes, but the marshmallow and cinnamon addition is just wrong. Now on to these muffins…my wife loves (and I mean loves) falafel. I think I shall need these to show up in my kitchen soon! When are you coming back through upstate New York?? 🙂
Mate, I’m making it my goal to move to New York or anywhere in America next year- Just hunting down employers who will sponsor an Aussie!
…I may have bought day old falafel in Times Square at 3am. It was so good.
I love that you made these in a muffin tin!
(Stokes Purple Sweet Potato…microwaved…loaded with raw coconut butter…and cinnamon) If you don’t LOVE that, there is a major problem 😛
Australia sucks, Rebecca remember 😛 We probably won’t get purple sweet potatoes until 2020.
OMG coconut butter.
Love Chickpeas…. They DON’T love me…hahahaha.
Though sweet potatoes and I are besties. My favorite way to eat them is baked potato style. They get almost caramelized in the tin foil!!
I’ve tried them that way but I just can’t! Maybe deep fried….that always works well 😉
These look amazing! I love chickpeas- recently I’ve been baking them with spices for a simple yet delicious crispy little snack. As for sweet potatoes, definitely one of my veggies! I enjoy them in so many different dishes but even simple oven roasted fries with chill powder should win you over 🙂
Oh that sounds delicious, Sonali- And adding chilli powder to anything is always a winner in my book!
Love that these are make-in-advance and freezable. Sweet potatoes are okay, but I don’t go nuts for them. I like any kind of potato baked with lots of fixins’ (namely cheese, cheese and more cheese).
Oh YES. Baked potatoes with cheese, sour cream and bacon. My favourite.
Yay for more vegan recipes. I am making a big effort to eat more vegan food and recipes like this show just how delicious vegan food can be.
Thanks Dannii….These would go really well with some salsa chicken 😉 (I really want to make it!)
Falafel is one of those words that I quite foolishly told everyone I wanted to make – but was pronouncing it completely wrong. Kinda like I did with quinoa. 🙂 I like anything in muffin form! Except probably anchovies or barbecue baked beans.
Ohhhh…I had the best Caesar salad yesterday and it was the best because they gave extra anchovies… Oops.
Sweet potato FRIES, Arman. C’mon now. Those are like bars of gold when done well.
I love chickpeas in hummus and falafel so much, but I do understand the major food baby issue. Teen pregnant look is a little less concerning than male pregnant look though.
Okay, as long as they are deep fried then I can get on board.
LOL. Teen mom, come at Alison.
These look delicious. I love falafel, especially when it is deep fried… I am the same as you. If the chickpea is cooked or soaked I am fine. But if it is straight out the can – we are in trouble!
YES! I think I’m going to get some deep fried goodness very soon- so worth it!
Love this fun idea of making falafel into muffins – your mum would be proud!
Thanks Jeanette- I should remind her of the days she chased me with a wooden spoon…