Veggie burgers packed with all the Mediterranean flavors of falafel and smothered in a chunky feta tzatziki sauce. You can eat them on soft buns or tucked inside pita bread with a generous dollop of the luscious sauce.
Falafel are deep-fried balls or patties made with ground chickpeas and seasoned with spices like cumin, coriander and parsley. These burgers stay true to those flavors with one noticeable difference. Because they are lightly pan-fried in olive oil they don’t have the same crunchy outsides as their deep-fried counterparts.
This makes them easier to cook, lower in fat yet still every bit as good. All the flavors adored in falafel are present. Front and center.
The chunky tzatziki sauce has diced cucumber and salty feta cheese in a base of Greek yogurt with sweet dill and touches of lemon and garlic.
The cool sauce spooned over the hot burgers works in mysteriously delicious ways. The burgers without it just wouldn’t be the same. Don’t tempt fate.
I’m on one of my veggie burger kicks again. Major. Big-time. A parade of veggie burger recipes is yet to come. Hope you’re with me.
Ingredients
Instructions
- In a medium bowl combine all tzatziki ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate.
- To make the burgers add 1/3 cup onion, parsley, lemon, cumin, coriander, salt, chickpeas and garlic to the bowl of a large food processor. Pulse until well combined and chickpeas are mostly smooth, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Add the beans to a bowl and stir in the remaining 1/3 cup red onion and 1/3 cup of the bread crumbs. Put the remaining 1/3 cup bread crumbs into a shallow dish. Make 6 equal-sized 1/2-inch thick patties and dredge both sides in the bread crumbs.
- Liberally cover the bottom of a large skillet with oil and heat over medium heat. Cook burgers in batches 3 at a time about 4 minutes each side until lightly golden brown. Serve tucked into pitas or on soft buns with feta tzatziki sauce, spinach leaves and tomatoes. Slice burgers in half before serving.
Notes
Adapted from Cooking Light
Hi, thank you for such a fun recipe! When I made these, I had some trouble with the patties. When I was cooking the patties on the skillet, it never cooked through – it seemed raw in the middle the entire time. I left it on the skillet for quite some time and also tried making extremely thin patties (I figured I could layer them). My friends ate it anyway and enjoyed it because they are so supportive, and assured me “it’s like hummus, it’s delicious.” However, I would still appreciate any tips or suggestions on getting it to cook through. I’m a fairly new cook, so even basic tips are welcome!
Thanks so much!
Hi Nikki! Thanks for making the burgers! I would try turning the heat up next time! All stoves are different so it’s possible you just didn’t cook them at a high enough heat. Just keep an eye on them to make sure it isn’t too high and they don’t start burning. Let me know if this helps! Have a great weekend!
Just wanted to let you know, I made these falafel burgers last night for my husband and me, and oh my freaking goodness.. they were awesome! Thanks so much for the great recipe. I had it bookmarked ever since you posted it a couple weeks ago and was so happy I finally got around to making them. We put them in pita pockets instead of buns and they were absolutely divine. I especially loved the sauce. I pretty much ate it with a spoon when cleaning up the dinner dishes :)
I’m glad you made them – thanks for the rave review! I am the same way with the sauce, it’s so addicting! And give me falafel anything and I am very happy.
These burgers sound – and look! – seriously amazing. A must-make for sure!