Smash Falafel Tacos (With Canned Chickpeas)

These smash falafel tacos are the quickest (and easiest) way to enjoy fresh, homemade falafel. Using canned chickpeas makes these SO easy for any day of the week – blitz your mixture, spread onto tacos, and pan-fry for a couple of minutes. Top with crunchy salad and garlicky tahini sauce for a wonderful, speedy meal the whole family will enjoy.

Smash Falafel Tacos, at a Glance

• ⏰ Time: 25 minutes
• 🍽️ Serves: 4
• 🛒 Key Ingredients: Canned chickpeas, onion, garlic, tortillas
• 🧠 Skill Level: Beginner-friendly
• 👩‍🍳 Cooking Method: Pan-frying
• 💃 Perfect For: Busy weeknights, easy entertaining, a better-than-takeout night in.

Why These Smash Falafel Tacos Work

The smash taco technique continues to deliver the goods. I LOVE a crispy, herb-packed falafel, but there’s no denying that they’re fiddly and time-consuming. Traditionally, you need to soak your chickpeas overnight before making falafel, then shape them into balls and cook them (often deep-fried). This technique cuts those fiddly factors right out.

Using canned chickpeas means you can quickly and easily blitz your falafel mixture without any pre-planning. And spreading the mixture onto mini tortillas before quickly pan-frying is SO simple. Plus, you still get that lovely crispiness that makes falafel so moreish, AND you get falafel in every mouthful.

These are wonderful for any day of the week, and work so well for entertaining. Set up a taco station with all the toppings laid out for your guests to help themselves!

HOW TO MAKE IT EVEN EASIER: Use a good store-bought falafel mixture instead of making your own.

Love smash tacos? Try these smash dumpling tacos, smash chicken Caesar tacos, smash satay chicken tacos or smash banh mi tacos next.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Canned chickpeas. Any canned (or jarred) chickpeas will do – just make sure you drain them well before using them.
• Spices. You’ll need ground cumin, ground coriander, and groundcinnamon as your base spices. I like to add a little sprinkling of red pepper flakes, or chili flakes too, but you can leave that out if you like.
• Herbs. Flat-leaf parsley is non-negotiable, but you can play around with the cilantro (coriander) if you like – I know it’s a divisive herb. Swap it for fresh mint, chives, or more flat-leaf parsley.
• Flour. This helps the falafel mixture bind together. The amount you use can vary – start with 1 tablespoon and see how you go. You want the mixture to be wet enough to form a ball in your hands, without being too wet and sticky.
• The toppings. You can play around here, but I love to serve the tacos with a quick lemony tomato, cucumber, and feta salad, as well as pickled redcabbage for a bit of acidity. Garlic tahini sauce pairs wonderfully with the falafel, but you could use mayo or garlic aioli if you prefer. Or go for tahini yogurt sauce or green tahini sauce.

How to Make the Smash Falafel Tacos

This is a step-by-step photo overview of how to make the tacos – the full recipe with ingredient quantities and instructions is at the bottom of the page for you.

1. Add everything except the chickpeas and flour to the bowl of a food processor.

1. Blitz into a thick paste.

1. Add the chickpeas and remaining ingredients.

1. Blitz again until you have a chunky mixture. You don’t want it smooth and too much like a paste – this isn’t hummus! You should be able to form a ball with the mixture in your hands.

1. Spread a heaped spoonful of the falafel mixture onto your mini tortillas, using the back of your spoon to press it into a (roughly) even, thin layer.

1. Pan fry, falafel side down, until golden, then flip and cook on the other side.

1. Top with tahini sauce, your tomato cucumber salad and the pickled red cabbage, then scatter with red pepper flakes and more tahini sauce to serve.

Watch How to Make the Tacos

Smash Falafel Tacos FAQs

My falafel is a bit crumbly – what can I do?

Try blitzing the mixture for a little longer. If that doesn’t work, try adding a little (like 1 tablespoon) of tahini or even water.

I can’t get the mixture to stick to the taco – what can I do?

There are three things that will help here.

– Make sure your falafel mixture isn’t TOO dry – it needs to have a bit of moisture so it sticks to itself on the taco.

– You also want to make sure the pan is nice and hot when you add your taco.

– And, make sure you press down FIRMLY on the back of the taco when you add it to the pan.

If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @Zageer on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.

These smash falafel tacos are the quickest (and easiest) way to enjoy fresh, homemade falafel. Using canned chickpeas makes these SO easy for any day of the week – just blitz your mixture, spread onto tacos and pan-fry for a couple of minutes. Top with a fresh crunchy salad and garlicky tahini sauce for a wonderful, speedy meal the whole family will enjoy. Prep Time 15 mins
Cook Time 10 mins
Total Time 25 mins

Servings: 4 servings

Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Mediterranean

Ingredients Method Nutrition Notes

Ingredients

For the falafel –

• 1 small onion, roughly chopped
• 4 garlic cloves
• ½ cup chopped parsley
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro, (coriander)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 can chickpeas, (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed, 400g or 14oz can
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• ¼ cup sesame seeds

For the tacos –

• 7 oz cherry tomatoes, (200g)
• 1 cucumber
• ¼ cup feta, crumbled
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ¼ red cabbage
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, or apple cider vinegar/rice vinegar
• Salt
• 12 mini tortillas
• Olive oil

For the garlic tahini sauce –

• ½ cup tahini
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ⅓ cup water

Method

1. Make the falafel mixture.Add the chopped onion, 4 garlic cloves, ½ cup chopped parsley, ½ cup chopped cilantro, 1 teaspoon each of ground cumin, ground coriander, ground cinnamon, red pepper flakes (if you're using them) and salt. Blitz into a rough, chunky paste.
2. Finish the falafel mixture.Add the drained chickpeas, lemon juice and flour and pulse a couple of times to break up the chickpeas into the mixture. You don't want it to be super smooth – it's not hummus. Add the sesame seeds and blitz again.You should be able to form a ball in your hands that isn't too sticky (but isn't dry and crumbly) with the mixture. If it's a bit wet, add a little more flour. Set the falafel mix aside.
3. Make the quick-pickled red cabbage.Shred your red cabbage, then add it to a bowl with 1 tablespoon of vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Toss, then set aside. You'll notice the cabbage becomes a deep purple and changes in texture.
4. Make your garlic tahini sauce.Add ½ cup of tahini, 2 crushed garlic cloves, ½ teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to a small bowl, then drizzle in ⅓ cup of water, mixing with a fork as you do. It’ll feel like it won’t come together – it’ll seize up, then become smooth and creamy as you keep mixing. If it’s still thick, drizzle in more water and stir again. Set aside.
5. Make your tomato cucumber salad.Slice your tomatoes into quarters, then dice your cucumber. Add them to a bowl with the crumbled feta, 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Toss to mix, then set aside.
6. Top your mini tortillas.Spread a heaped spoonful of the falafel mixture onto a mini tortilla, then use the back of your spoon to spread it out into a thin, even layer covering the whole tortilla. Repeat with the remaining tortillas and falafel mixture.
7. Cook the tacos. Drizzle a little olive oil into an (ideally) non-stick pan and set it over medium-high heat. Place the tacos, falafel side down, into the pan and use a spatula or fish slice to FIRMLY press down on the tortilla (this will help the falafel stick to the tortilla). Cook for four minutes, then flip the tortilla and cook for another minute.
PRO TIP: Depending on the size of your pan, you should be able to cook a few tacos at once.
8. Garnish and serve. Drizzle a little garlic tahini sauce onto your tacos, then top with the tomato cucumber salad. Finish with a little pickled red cabbage, then drizzle over more garlic tahini sauce. Enjoy with any leftover sauce or salad on the side.

Nutrition

Serving: 3tacos
Calories: 494kcal
Carbohydrates: 49.1g
Protein: 16.4g
Fat: 28.9g
Saturated Fat: 5.1g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 21.9g
Cholesterol: 8.3mg
Sodium: 1132.5mg
Fiber: 10.8g
Sugar: 6.3g

Notes

INGREDIENT NOTES: If you’re not a cilantro fan, use more flat-leaf parsley, mint or chives. Play around with your toppings – skip the feta to make the recipe vegan, or you could add red onion. Swap the garlic tahini sauce for mayo or garlic aioli, green tahini sauce or yogurt tahini sauce. Or, to make things super easy, use a good store-bought falafel mixture. FALAFEL NOT STICKING TO YOUR TORTILLAS? Make sure your falafel mixture isn’t TOO dry and crumbly – if it is, blitz it a little longer. If that doesn’t work, add a drizzle of tahini, or water. You also want to make sure your pan is nice and hot when you add your taco, and that you really press down on the back of the taco when you add it to the pan. This will help the topping stick. LEFTOVERS? Any leftover falafel mixture can be formed into balls, drizzled with olive oil and baked at 400F/200C for around 20 minutes. You can also pop them into an air fryer.