Ready for a delicious Middle Eastern inspired patty that’s completely vegan and jam packed with incredible nutrients that will help your baby’s development? Then you’ll love this baby falafel recipe.
Perfectly sized for little fingers, this baby falafel can be served alone, stuffed in wraps for older kids or piled onto a salad with lashing of spicy sauce and tahini for adults.
Read on for the delicious baby falafel recipe!
Baby Falafel
I’ve always been a huge fan on Middle Eastern food thanks to the year I spent living in France with my Lebanese and Syrian housemates. They introduced me to creamy hummus, perfectly spice falafel and even how to make the perfect tagine.
Of course, it’s important for me to share the flavours of the Middle East with my children, so they too can experience the delights of their incredible food.
This baby falafel recipe is inspired by the Middle East but is adapted for tiny mouths. Although it uses some spices, I have avoided adding anything that will be overwhelmingly flavourful such as chilli flakes or paprika.
What is falafel?
Falafel is a traditional Middle Eastern food that consists of chickpeas and fresh herbs and spices that are mashed together and fried to create scrumptious balls of happiness.
Falafel can be served with pitta or flatbread, served alone or served with a range of other appetisers as part of a meze.
How to make falafel for babies
To make falafel for babies, simply follow these steps:
1. Drain the chickpeas and add to a bowl along with the spices, herbs and flour.
2. Combine all ingredients and mash with a fork until a thick paste forms.
3. Using a tablespoon, spoon chunks of the falafel paste into your hands and roll into balls. You should be able to make around 7 – 8 balls in total.
4. Heat oil in a frying pan then add the falafel balls. Gently press on them with the back of your spoon to flatten.
5. Fry for around 4 minutes on medium to low heat before carefully flipping. Fry on the opposite side for another 4 minutes.
6. Leave to cool completely before serving to baby.
Falafel’s main ingredient is chickpeas and this ingredient is many health benefits for your baby as a rich source of vitamins and nutrients. Chickpeas contain:
Protein – essential for growth
Dietary fibre – help prevent constipation
Calcium – important for healthy teeth and bones
Iron – supports proper neurological development
Magnesium – helps keep the heart beating and helps prevent tooth decay
Tinned chickpeas can contain larger amounts of sodium (salt) as it’s used as a preservative. You have a couple of options in order to ensure you’re not offering too much salt to your baby.
Firstly you can buy dried chickpeas (available in health stores and major supermarkets), but be aware these will need to be soaked for a long period of time to get them to the right consistency.
Secondly, you can use tinned chickpeas in moderation (eg. avoid offering falafel on a daily basis) and be sure to rinse the chickpeas thoroughly before using them to feed your baby.
How do you serve falafel to babies?
These falafel can be served as is as a patty or cut into smaller strips too. If your baby is at the more advanced stage of weaning, you could even try serving them in a flatbread to let them practise the art of sandwich eating!
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Yield: 7-8 falafel
Baby Falafel
Delicious and simple to create baby falafel. Enjoy this recipe with your baby, toddler or pre-schooler. A healthy and delicious lunchbox fave!
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time8 minutes
Total Time8 minutes
Ingredients
1 can chickpeas
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp oil for frying
Instructions
1. Drain the chickpeas and add to a bowl along with the spices, herbs and flour.
2. Combine all ingredients and mash with a fork until a thick paste forms.
3. Using a tablespoon, spoon chunks of the falafel paste into your hands and roll into balls. You should be able to make around 7 - 8 balls in total.
4. Heat oil in a frying pan then add the falafel balls. Gently press on them with the back of your spoon to flatten.
5. Fry for around 4 minutes on medium to low heat before carefully flipping. Fry on the opposite side for another 4 minutes.
6. Leave to cool completely before serving to baby.
Nicola has weaned both of her boys using the baby led weaning method. She loves nothing better than creating simple recipes that anyone can recreate, using as few ingredients as possible. All of her recipes have been tried and tested by both Dexter and Felix and have their seal of approval!
This is going to quickly become your favourite baby falafel recipe for toddlers, kids and babies over 12 months old! We have included tahini in our sweet potato falafel recipe, which is a paste made from ground sesame seeds.
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.
Falafel is made up of chickpeas, garlic, herbs, and spices. Traditionally they're deep fried, but I like to bake mine: it's healthier and far simpler. The mixture is pulsed in a food processor, formed in to balls, and placed on a parchment lined baking sheet for a trip to the oven.
Being free from common allergens means they are suitable for the lunch box. Hands up if your child likes hummus! Well, falafel is another way to offer chickpeas. Whole chickpeas are a choking risk for young children, so falafel (and hummus) are a more suitable way to offer chickpeas to babies and young toddlers.
2. When can kids eat hummus? Hummus can generally be introduced to babies around the 8 - 9 month milestone as long as it is bland to begin with. Babies' intestinal systems are not fully developed at this stage, and they may have trouble digesting certain spicy ingredients.
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.
Falafel was made popular in Israel by Yemeni Jews in the 1950s. They brought with them the chickpea version of the dish from Yemen and introduced the concept of serving falafel balls in pita bread. And the way the Israeli falafel is served is, in my opinion, the main reason why Israeli falafel is truly, well, Israeli.
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.
Is Falafel Always Vegan? Falafel is almost always vegan. But they're often served in a wrap and the sauces added may not be vegan as they are sometimes yogurt based. But the falafels themselves are vegan.
Is falafel healthy even though it's fried? Fried falafel can have higher calories and fat than ideal. But its ingredients still provide helpful nutrients. Choose healthier cooking methods like baking to maximize its nutritional value.
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.
Falafel might be considered the “Lebanese/Mediterranean hush puppy,” though the fresh herbs and spices make it a much healthier and more complex version. It's a delicious source of protein for vegans and vegetarians and meat eaters alike.
Eating uncooked falafel that has been left out for a few hours can pose a risk of foodborne illness due to bacteria growth. Bacteria can multiply rapidly in foods left at room temperature, potentially causing digestive issues or food poisoning.
Falafel is usually made with fava beans in Egyptian cuisine, where it most likely originated, with chickpeas in Palestinian cuisine, or just chickpeas or a combination of both in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria and the wider Middle East.
You can offer any type of pasta noodles to your baby… egg or rice noodles, edamame pasta, veggie pasta, chickpea pasta, etc. They're all great options to offer your baby! But, when buying traditional pasta noodles, you'll typically be choosing between white or whole wheat.
Smash or blend cooked chickpeas into a textured mash or paste and serve in a bowl for baby to scoop. The thin skin on each chickpea is not a choking hazard, but it can cause some gagging if it sticks in baby's mouth, so feel free to remove them or leave them on.
Hummus is a great weaning food to give your baby from about six months old. Both shop-bought hummus and homemade hummus are totally fine for babies. It's safest to wait until around six months before giving your baby any solid food, because younger babies may not be able to sit up and swallow well.
Introduction: My name is Melvina Ondricka, I am a helpful, fancy, friendly, innocent, outstanding, courageous, thoughtful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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