*The key to making falafel that doesn’t fall apart is to use soaked chickpeas, not cooked chickpeas and therefore not canned chickpeas. For best results, follow the instructions below for how to soak dried chickpeas.

1. Soak 1 1/2 cup (300g) dried chickpeas by covering in cold water (making sure the water is at least 3 inches above the chickpeas) and placing in the fridge for 18 - 24 hours. Adding 1 teaspoon baking soda can help to soften the chickpeas. After the soaking time, the chickpeas will have swelled to the 3 cups you need for this recipe. (Remember to increase the amount of dried beans if you are doubling or tripling the recipe).
2. After the chickpeas have soaked and swollen in size, drain them from the soaking water and rinse them with fresh water.
3. Pat the chickpeas dry with a clean cloth and add them to a food processor with the additional ingredients up to the black pepper. Pulse the mixture until the chickpeas are broken down to about the texture of couscous. You don’t want to blend the chickpeas so far that they become a paste. The mixture should still be a little crumbly but fine enough that the mixture will pack together without falling apart. See the photos in the blog post for reference!
4. Ideally, refrigerate this mixture, covered, for at least 1 hour. This will help the flavours to strengthen and will make forming the burgers a little easier.
5. Remove the mixture from the fridge and stir in the baking powder and sesame seeds. Alternatively, reserve the sesame seeds for a coating on the burgers (see next step).
6. Form the burgers on a parchment lined baking sheet or cut little parchment paper squares that you can place under each burger to move them more delicately from your counter into your air frier/deep frier. Using ½ cup scoop will yield 6 burgers and a heaped ⅓ cup scoop will yield 8 burgers. For a sesame coating, form the batter into a ball in your hands, roll the ball in the sesame seeds, then press the ball flat into a burger shape.
7. My preferred method is to air fry the burgers at 350 F for 20 minutes, turning halfway through. Alternatively, bake the burgers at 350 F for 30-40 minutes, turning halfway through. Or, fry the burgers in 2 inches of oil with a high smoke point (like canola oil) for 3 minutes on each side.
8. Serve on pita buns with my Creamy Vegan Tzatziki, tomato, lettuce, pickles, picked red onion, and any other toppings you desire.
9. Store leftover burgers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Cooked and cooled falafel burgers can be frozen in a single layer and then reheated in the air fryer/oven or on a frying pan. Uncooked burgers can also be frozen and then baked or air fried. (Take precautions if frying frozen burgers as ice crystals can cause the oil to splatter).