So it’s two for one day over here at IBIH! Why are you getting a bonus post today? Because I just couldn’t sit on it for another day, that’s why!
Recently I posted this low carb hummus recipe, and in the post I mentioned having an idea for a cauliflower-based falafel. Well I had so much cauliflower in my fridge that I finally decided to start testing it out this afternoon.
I wasn’t really sure how I was going to go about it, just had a few theories on what might work and what wouldn’t. I figured I’d at least start today, but never dreamed that it would turn out as well as it did on the first try!
This cauliflower-based low carb falafel recipe is so good that it was all I could do not to burst into song like a Disney princess when I took the first taste of it.
I wanted the crunchy texture of a chickpea-based falafel so I started with raw cauliflower, first roughly chopped, and then ground in the food processor. I was worried that it would be too mushy when it cooked, so to keep the chickpea-like texture, I thought maybe ground almonds might do the trick.
I used the slivered almonds you can buy in the baking section of most grocery stores and ground them to a still slightly chunky texture in my magic bullet. To that I added the classic flavorings of falafel, a little heavier on the cumin to hide any cauliflower flavor.
To help bind it I used coconut flour and eggs.
When I formed them they held together well, but I never dredged them and I worried that they wouldn’t brown. As you can see by the picture they DID and perfectly!
Super crunchy like falafel should be! And the interior texture was so good – the slight crunch of the nuts mimicked the chickpeas unbelievably well! The real test though, was whether or not I could get them by my husband and four year old son. Hungry Jr. pronounced them “delicious” and Mr. Hungry never even tasted the cauliflower!
This is a major win for me because he HATES cauliflower and can sniff out even a hint of it like a cadaver dog in a cemetery. So when he got home from work I’d already cleaned up the evidence and had him taste one. He thought they were great except for the slight crunch of the nuts which is a weird thing he has.
Never caught the cauliflower though and was surprised when I told him. YYESSSS! In your FACE!!! (LOL, just kidding! I didn’t really say that but I did think it and do a mental victory dance!) They really are THAT good!
I can’t wait for you guys to try them and tell me what you think! If you like falafel, I think you’ll really enjoy them. If you’ve never tried falafel, then you’ll really REALLY enjoy them! Heck if you have a mouth, you are going to enjoy them!
Low Carb Falafel with Tahini Sauce (Gluten Free)
- Yield: (8) 3" patties
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 cup raw cauliflower, pureed
- 1/2 cup ground slivered almonds
- 1 Tbsp ground cumin
- 1/2 Tbsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
- 2 large eggs
- 3 Tbsp coconut flour
- Tahini sauce:
- 2 Tbsp tahini paste
- 3 Tbsp water
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt, more to taste if desired
Instructions
- For the cauliflower you should end up with a cup of the puree. It takes about 1 medium head (florets only) to get that much. First chop it up with a knife, then add it to a food processor or magic bullet and pulse until it’s blended but still has a grainy texture.
- You can grind the almonds in a similar manner – just don’t over grind them, you want the texture.
- Combine the ground cauliflower and ground almonds in a medium bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir until well blended.
- Heat a half and half mix of olive and grapeseed (or any other light oil) oil until sizzling. While it’s heating, form the mix into 8 three-inch patties that are about the thickness of a hockey puck.
- Fry them four at a time until browned on one side and then flip and cook the other side. Resist the urge to flip too soon – you should see the edges turning brown before you attempt it – maybe 4 minutes or so per side. Remove to a plate lined with a paper towel to drain any excess oil.
- Serve with tahini sauce and a tomato & parsley garnish if desired.
- Tahini sauce: Blend all ingredients in a bowl. Thin with more water if you like a lighter consistency.
- Category: Entree
- Cuisine: Falafel
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 patties
- Calories: 281
- Fat: 24g
- Carbohydrates: 5g net
- Protein: 8g
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Hoe many grams is one cup of cauliflower rice? I bought a bag of pre-grinded cauliflower rice of 400 grams but can’t find a converter from cups to grams for cauliflower rice
I made the cauliflower hummus on Thursday and my non Keto husband tasted and then kept wondering why he didn’t get any of it :) Tried these today – they are great – instead of frying – i did spritzed them with a little coconut oil and cooked them in my air fryer. Next time i will add a bit of tahini to the mix first – they don’t have enough fat when they aren’t fried in oil – my fault tho no fault of the recipe. I got exactly 8 patties – used a medium ice cream scoop and then shaped them – they held together great. Thanks Melissa.
★★★★★
Definitely need to try these in the air fryer, thanks Julie!
This was amazing! The proportions were on point. My family loved it. Do you know a good substitute for the eggs so that it could be vegan friendly?
Can i use cauliflower rice and blitz it a bit in the food processor?
I did this last night, worked perfectly. I forgot to defrost the rice though…not sure if that plays into why they worked so well ?♀️
★★★★★
Has anybody done these chaffle style?
I’m new to keto (hence the late comment), but I had to tell you how excellent this recipe is! I served them to my Lebanese hubby tonight and he and I both LOVED THEM! The only change I will make the next time I make them (tomorrow?) is to use 1/2 almond flour and 1/2 coconut flour. My hubby didn’t mind the sweetness from the coconut flour, but since going off sugar, everything tastes very extra sweet. I only used about a 1/4 head of cauliflower and it came out to a cup, and I made 5 patties. Have you ever frozen them? That’s what I’m going to try tomorrow – great go-to dinner! Thanks for sharing!
★★★★★
I freeze these….they defrost fine!
While I enjoyed the combination of ingredients and the flavor, I simply couldn’t get the individual “hockey pucks” to stay together while they browned in the oil. I added an extra egg but that didn’t help. My medium head of cauliflower delivered more than one cup of pureed cauliflower. Perhaps the proportions were off.
★★★
The recipe calls for the 1 cup of cauliflower – if you had more than that from your head of cauliflower you should have reserved it for another recipe, not used it all. That would have definitely thrown off the proportions – sorry if the instructions weren’t clear.
You nailed it. These are outstanding! I made a tazikki sauce to go with them. Yum!!! Thank you.
★★★★★
Seriously I could not believe how fantastic these were! The only change I made was instead of using tahini sauce I put a healthy sized tablespoon of tahini right in the mix. Really fantastic. Thank you for the recipe. I am off to buy more cauliflower now :)
Plant based vegetarian. I was looking for something without beans or flour…The cauliflower dried out wonderfully..The spices..spot on..color… and texture…yup a falafel…yup excellent
★★★★★
Oh my goodness! I love falafel and now I love you! Thank you so much for this recipe. I purchased your cookbook “Keto for Life” and have loved every recipe. This one is my absolute favorite! You’re brilliant! Thank you so very much!
I’m seriously amazed by this recipe! Hubby even liked these and he HATES cauliflower! And he’s a falafel junkie! Delicious!
Do you think I could use almond meal instead of coconut flour. We have a coconut allergy to consider. Does anyone know the substitution ratio? I know that I would need more almond meal than coconut.
These were amazing! Better than the real thing.
★★★★★
I followed all recipe except I had whole almonds on hand so I just chopped them up a bit AND I used flax “eggs” (since I avoid chicken eggs).–so, yes, you can make this vegan! This recipe was amazing. My husband was delighted as falafels are one of his favorite international foods and we are reducing carbs. Thank you! I do want to mention that due to my work schedule, I had to mix up the falafel ingredients in advance and refrigerate before frying. It worked wonderfully. I am a bit confused on how much oil to put in the skillet. Did I miss that in the instructions?
★★★★★
I was just wondering if using a flaxseed egg would work. THanks for the tip:)>
Sounds awesome! Can I sub almond meal or while almonds and pulse more? Don’t have any slivers on hand lol
Loved this and I don’t even like falafel! I must have Donne something wrong though becuse I see no other comments regarding the issues I had. I weighed my batch in order to make sure each piece was the correct size but mine were far from hockey puck size and Moreno along the size of a golf ball. They were still very filling and I can’t imagine what I did becuse I followed the instructions to a tee. Also, does Thani come in different thickness? I had to toss the first batch of sauce becuse when the water was added it was nothing more than thani tinted water. I used far less water in AE cold batch and it was wonderful just curious why I seem to be the only one with these issues. My cauliflower husband could not believe it didn’t include chickpeas. I’ll definitely make again,
Sorry for the typos the entry on my iPad wasn’t was a bit choppy?
I’m not sure how weighing them would make sure they are the right size – I didn’t mention weight anywhere in the post that I could see when I reread this. If you didn’t stir your tahini well then there is probably a solid lump at the bottom of your jar – once you stir it in then your tahini will be thicker and so will your resulting sauce. Glad you liked the flavors though!
I think she weighed the mix to get eight equal portions and those didn’t come up to hockey puck size. That’s how I understood it at any rate.
The taste of these was DELICIOUS, but I had the same issue. Definitely impossible to make eight 3” diameter, hockey puck thickness (which is about 1”) patties. It did make 4 perfectly though, so I just doubled the recipe. Again, great flavor though!
★★★★
Hi there! This recipe sounds absolutely fantastic and as I am throwing a Mediterranean themed low-carb dinner party next Saturday, I’d like to try this. The only question I have: I am making this for 10 people and have a starter, side, and desert to take care off, too. Has anyone tried to make these and then heat them up in the oven later? I would hate it if they turned out too dry, but don’t want to serve them cold either, as we are already having gazpacho as a starter. Any tipps would be greatly appreciated, thank you!:)
Had to revisit this site to leave a comment. Wow!
This is a fantastic recipe!! Thank you!
I’m seriously impressed and prefer them to ‘normal’ falafel! All the flavour and none of the dryness.
I felt a little nervous about how they would turn out as I baked them to avoid the oil and they browned-up beautifully! (180 celsius for 30 minutes – in a rubbish oven, I’d start at 20 mins if you have a good one!),
I also used ‘flax eggs’ to make the recipe vegan and that worked great.
I blitzed up a bit of extra cauliflower and used it make a tabbouleh-style salad to go with it, which was a perfect accompaniment!
Thanks again, I think this will become a regular in my kitchen!
★★★★★
I made these today…..yummy! I didn’t measure the spices, I just eyeballed it. Could have added more salt.
★★★★★
Made this recipe twice in two days it was so good! We’ve been craving falafel and this was absolutely perfect and so easy to make. Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
★★★★★
I just came across this recipe today and the one thing I miss on keto is falafels. I know it says 1 cup puréed cauliflower. Has anyone used packaged riced cauliflower to make this instead and do I still use 1 cup? And I’ve been having trouble finding ground coriander. Can I use fresh cilantro instead? I’ll probably try it. I can’t wait to make this!
try indian grocery store.. they will have it for sure. its one of our staple spice
these were really good, I still feel very happy about our wonderful dinner. The tahini sauce was super yummy with them. I fried them in Coconut oil and grapeseed oil mixed. We had a salad and cucumbers with supper too. I will definitely add these to our grain free routine. Thank you!
★★★★★
I wanted to tell you that we tried this recipe and it is wonderful! Will definitely be making this one again.
★★★★★
I was wondering if the nutritional data includes the 1/2 cup of oil for frying and the tahini sauce.
An estimate of absorbed oil is included (though you don’t need half a cup to make these) and while it’s been a long time since I posted this so I don’t specifically remember, I always include the sauces in the nutrition info – or I’ll make a specific note saying I didn’t and why, which I didn’t do here so it’s safe to assume yes.
Thanks. I made these and they are terrific! I cannot taste the cauliflower at all. I count calories as well as carbs, so I ended up baking these at 350 for 15 mins. then turned them over and baked another 8 mins. and they are really good. I served with plain yogurt as a dip and am a happy camper!
★★★★★
Any chance you know the net carb count of just the falafel sans sauce? I am not using the tahini sauce and was wondering. Didn’t know that you included it in the previous nutrition info until I read the comments! Who knew I could have been eating more of these delicious morsels! haha
Thanks again for your delicious recipes!
Janet
★★★★★
You are a genius with flavors! This recipe is so similar to my high carb garbanzo bean falafels that if you gave these to 100 people and didn’t tell them…they would never ever guess it was cauliflower and almonds! Spot on! I doubled the batch since 2 of us are eating LCHF. Couldn’t wait for dinner, had to try them and I mean I couldn’t stop at just one! Had some tzatziki in the fridge from another meal and dipped them into that….delish!
Thank you for all your recipes…love the blog!
★★★★★
So glad you liked these Janet! I haven’t made them in ages, but your comment inspired me to get the stuff today! ?
Hi – Love your blog, but wish you would add the nutritional data for fiber and true carbs (not net). It would save many of us time so we wouldn’t have to upload to a recipe builder. Cheers!
I just made these and they are excellent!
Trying to become a vegetarian and staying in ketosis so these are a life saver!
★★★★★
These were amazing. The raw mixture smelled pretty terrible, but the end result was scrumptious. Now I can eat falafels again! Put in a liberal amount of spices!
Oh my goodness. These were fabulous. I was sceptical but wrong. These were amazing, thanks so much for the recipe! I subbed chopped almonds as I don’t have a food processor and used dried parsley. Yummy!!
I made these last weekend and they were absolutely delicious! Thank you so much! I’d love to make them again for my OH but there’s a few things, like others, I’m a bit confused about. I too got a huge amount of cauliflower from my “medium head” (4 cups), so I ended up using 2 cups rather than 1… perhaps that was my first mistake? I left the other ingredients at their original amounts and this made the patties a bit crumbly when I fried them, a couple of them fell to bits. Doesn’t matter, though, because they tasted so delicious, but I’m wondering if you could please confirm the quantities again? I managed to shape 8 x 3″ patties with the 2 cups of cauliflower and I really don’t think I would’ve gotten even close with 1 cup, so should it be 1 cup or 2? Also, how much oil do you use for frying? Is it more a pan fry or a deep fry? Your gorgeous photo has the falafel browned all over, but mine only really browned on the two sides, with the edges still the colour of the batter. Should I have used more oil? Thanks again!
★★★★
Same thing happened to me. After using the Cuisinart, I got about 3 cups,0. I increased everything by double except the egg. They held together well.
She does say “1 cup” cauliflower so forget that she says a “medium head” and proceed. But I always double the whole batch and make 16 of these delicious patties…because they never last long in our house….and why go to all the trouble to only get a meal. They stay great in the fridge and rewarmed in the microwave.
★★★★★
Very good had to make a second batch!
I was sceptical if this would turn out but the family loved it so much I had to make a second batch! Very, very good?
Absolutely LOVED it – super easy to make and super yummy. My husband (who is a Falafel – lover) rated them as BEST falafels ! Goes super well with Paleo Nane bread and the Zucchini Humus ! Definitely a winner. Thank you
★★★★★
I was looking for a coconut flour falafel recipe when I happened upon this. It sounded divine so I thought I’d try it. They’re fantastic!!! I will mention that being a rebel in the kitchen, I’m incapable of following a recipe as written so I added my own personal touches…I ground fresh kale in with the cauliflower. I used sesame seeds instead of almonds, and I baked them at 425 in a good amount of coconut oil instead of frying them.
I also made an avocado and tahini “hummus” to go with them. My dad’s family is Lebanese so I’ve been making traditional hummus my whole life. But I just started a ketogenic eating plan so needed to 86 the chickpeas. 1 ripe avocado, about 1/4 cup tahini, juice of one lemon, garlic to taste (we use a lot) and dried mint. Blend together. Drool-worthy.
Thank you SO much for this awesome recipe. I can’t wait to try (and of course mess around with) many others!
xoxo
I really needed to comment on this recipe. I have a HATE HATE relationship with cauliflower. I LITERALLY have thrown it up every single time I have tried eating it, all of my life.
it is offensive and disgusting. Cauliflower is the anti christ.
However… in an attempt to add new vegetables, I braved it and made your recipe and I LOVED it!! My husband loved it as well and he is not a huge fan of cauliflower either.
WELL DONE!
WOOT! I consider this a huge victory!!! Welcome to the dark side! :)
I love all of your recipes as so many of your followers do! I have recently made the faux-lafels and they really turned out amazing. The taste and texture were very comparable to the real thing, even better. I left my almonds very slivered like texture and my kids loved them. My only concern was my tahini sauce, it was very salty as the recipe called for 1 tsp of salt. Should I have used table salt instead of sea salt? In future I might even omit the salt altogether. What are your thought. Thanks again for all of your amazing creations!
I use kosher salt which is flaky and probably not as dense as your sea salt, definitely experiment with using less next time – salt is a tough measurement in a recipe because people’s taste is so different and the different varieties can vary so much in how salty they are. Glad you enjoyed the recipe though and thanks for the feedback!
Just like the real thing almost – maybe even better!
Thanks so much – I couldn’t ask for higher praise!
I made these the other night, they were delish. I added curry powder instead of cumin and corriander, just because. They were a little delicate in the pan but after being in the refrigerator overnight they had an even better texture. They were yummy for lunch the next day. Thanks so much for the recipe. Can’t wait to make them for my vegetarian daughter. Who knew a vegetarian and a low-carber eating the same thing!! Love it!
I don’t know how I stumble upon this recipe, and was rather skeptical, but my husband hates cauliflower too so I thought I’d give this a go. SOOOOOO YUMMY! Neither of us could believe they were made of cauliflower! I made a double batch because my head of cauliflower gave me 2 cups when pureed. I’m glad I did because we had 1 batch for dinner (with a big salad) and the 2nd batch for lunch the next day, this time in wraps with lettuce and toms. Instead of the tahini sauce (didn’t have tahini on hand) I topped them with plain yogurt and chopped mint. I’m now going to go through the rest of your recipes – thanks!!!
This has become an absolute favorite go to dish! So glad to have the recipe. I add a bit of yogurt to the tahini sauce as well. MMMMMM!
FYI. I baked mine and they came out pretty good. Not as dark and crunchy as your beauties, but I was happy. I dusted with a little flour and sprayed with cooking spray. Baked 15 minutes per side at 400.
I made this today (after finding the recipe about fifteen minutes before I decided to cook it haha) and it was really good! I was GOING to mention in my comment that the ‘batter’ was really watery and definitely couldn’t be preformed into hockey pucks. I was GOING to mention that for the second half of the batch, I put it through a sieve first and that helped make it more ‘shapeable’….then I got back on your site to comment and realized that I had skipped the coconut flour!! THAT’S why it was watery! Duh! Coconut flour would have sucked that moisture right up.
But I decided to share my dumbness in the comments in case others are out of coconut flour or something — these still work great, let it sit for a little bit to release the moisture then put through a sieve or maybe a nut bag, and you should be good to go! :) Maybe they are fluffier with the coconut flour? I’ll try it that way next time! :)
Thanks Brittany – glad you were able to make these work for you even without the coconut flour! ;)
Made these tonight- they were great! I substituted ground flaxseed with water for the eggs to make the recipe vegan. Fantastic! We loved them!
Hi there, thanks so much for this recipe! My sweetie is type 1 diabetic and can’t really have your typical falafel, since the chickpeas have too many carbs. Every time it would be offered to him, he would only eat one or two balls, and his blood sugar would sky rocket. He showed me this recipe today, and we teamed up to make it, a little unsure since he absolutely detests cauliflower. Let me tell you, we BOTH loved it! He even said it was better than the falafel we had last week made by the Middle Eastern lady down the street. Beating a Middle Eastern family falafel recipe is no easy feat, but you’ve done it. Thanks so much for giving my sweetie something to drool over. It’s hard for him to find treats he can have, so we will definitely put this one in our weekly rotation!
– Melissa Rose
Thanks so much for taking the time to let me know Melissa (great name btw, lol!) To know that he hates cauliflower (so does my husband) and that he still thought it was even better than a truly authentic falafel recipe really makes my day! :)
Yes, he loves them! So glad for this recipe, great work :) Actually making them again right now – which brought me back to this recipe! Great name as well haha :)