How to cook falafel

The traditional way to cook falafel is fried in hot oil but Aphrodites Falafel can also be cooked in an air fryer.

See below for our comphrensive guide on cooking our falafel at home.

Cooking Aphrodites Falafel Mixture

DEFROSTING MIXTURE

  1. Defrost falafel mixture while still in pouch, in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes or overnight in the fridge.DO NOT USE THE MICROWAVE.

  2. Once defrosted, take a small amount of mixture in the palm of your hand and firmly shape the mixture into balls.

COOKING IN OIL

  1. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan to 170°C. There should be enough oil to cover the falafel.

  2. Add the balls, one at a time.

  3. Cook for roughly 3.5 minutes or until golden brown, ensuring they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan while cooking.

  4. When done, remove from the oil and place on paper towel.

COOKING IN AN AIR FRYER

  1. Heat the air fryer to 200°C.

  2. Add a single layer of shaped falafel to the tray.

  3. Spray with olive oil (Optional). This will help make them crispy on the outside and keep them moist on the inside.

  4. Cook until brown.

Cooking Aphrodites Shaped Falafel

COOKING IN OIL

  1. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan to 170˚C. There should be enough oil to cover the falafel.

  2. Take pieces from the bag and lay on a plate or bench top for a couple of minutes. This is to take the chill off and help each piece cook consistently.

  3. Add to the oil and cook for 4 minutes or until golden brown. Ensure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pan while cooking.

  4. Remove from the oil and place on a paper towel.

COOKING IN AN AIR FRYER

  1. Heat the air fryer to 200°C.

  2. Lay a single layer of falafel flat in the tray.

  3. Spray with olive oil (Optional). This will help make them crispy on the outside and keep them moist on the inside.

  4. Cook until brown.

Falafel cooking secrets

  • If the oil isn’t hot enough, the falafel will soak up oil, meaning a heavy falafel, that never really gets crispy.

    If your oil is too hot, the falafel will cook on the outside, but not the inside.

    How can you tell?

    A thermometer will help you keep the right temperature. 170 degrees is perfect.

    Don’t have a thermometer? You can do it roughly by sight. When oil becomes hot, it starts to swirl in the pan. When you add falafel, you should see oil visibly bubbling around it.

  • Let your shaped falafel sit out of the bag on a plate, before it goes into the oil just to take the chill off. Once you’ve cooked them, let them sit for a couple of minutes.

    These two steps will ensure you get a perfectly cooked through falafel every time.

  • Using our falafel mixture all starts with defrosting.

    It’s important to defrost in the right way. Defrost too quickly and you might end up cooking the falafel mixture too soon.

    We recommend defrosting the mixture in a bowl of hot water or left in the fridge.

    The quickest way is by submerging the entire bag of falafel mixture (before it’s opened), into a bowl of hot water. We use a big mixing bowl, and run the kitchen tap on hot until the bowl is full of water. If the bag floats to the top, sometimes we add a plate on top to weigh it down. The mixture should defrost in ~20 minutes. If the water becomes cold before the mixture is defrosted, add more hot water.

    We use the the fridge method if we know we’ll be using the mixture the next day.

  • We recommend cooking our falafel in enough oil to cover the falafel once they’re in the pan. This ensures you get a more consistent oil temperature the entire way through the cook, and a consistently cooked layer of crispy falafel around the entire outer edge.