Made with chickpea flour, this easy flatbread is gluten-free. Its spiced, falafel-like flavor is delicious with your favorite Mediterranean toppings!
Everyone loves falafel and everyone loves flatbread – this recipe is both in one! It’s cookbook season and I’m excited to share this falafel flatbread recipe from the book Healthier Together. Yes, my new book just came out last week, but if you know me, you know that I LOVE cookbooks, and I can never have too many. More is more when it comes to food inspiration 🙂
Today, I’m excited to share a book by my friend Liz Moody (you might know her as the food editor of Mind Body Green), but she also has a great blog, fantastic podcast, and this new book called Healthier Together. I think you’ll love it!
The concept of the book is that if you’re trying to eat healthier, you’re more likely to meet your health goals if you embark on your new lifestyle with another person, whether it’s your husband, mom, sister, friend, roommate, or coworker. Not only does cooking with a buddy keep you accountable, but it’s also efficient (you can divide up tasks, switch off cooking meals, etc.), and, of course, it’s fun to bond with someone else in the kitchen while tasting tomato sauce.
Each recipe in the book serves 2 people, and it’s organized by times you’d normally eat with another person – brunch, happy hour, date night, ordering take out, etc. The recipes are all, of course, healthy versions of these types of foods.
I had my eye on the Way More Veggies Bolognese and Zucchini Noodle Pad See Ew, but ultimately, I decided to cook the cover and make these falafel flatbreads. Yum!!!
There’s not actually falafel in here – rather, the crust is made from chickpea flour (like socca) and is spiced with falafel seasonings such as cumin, coriander, chili powder, garlic, cilantro, and parsley. The flatbreads are topped with fresh yogurt (Tzatziki would be delish here too), fresh veggies and are dolloped with red pepper muhammara that I listed as optional below, but it’s really not optional because it’s so delicious!
If you want to make this recipe with someone else, Liz suggests that one person make the flatbread and that the other make the muhammara. (To make this vegan, the muhammara can be used as the sauce base instead of the yogurt).
These are so fresh and delicious – I hope you enjoy these flatbreads as much as we did!
Falafel Flatbread
Ingredients
- 2 cups chickpea flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 8 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Topping Options:
- Yogurt or Tzatziki
- Chopped cucumbers, or peeled ribbons like I did
- Sliced tomatoes
- Diced red onion
- Fresh herbs, cilantro/parsley/mint
- Lemon wedges, for serving
- Red Pepper Muhammara, recipe below (optional)
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the chickpea flour, salt, garlic, parsley, cilantro, cumin, coriander, chili powder, lemon juice, 2 cups water, and 6 tablespoons of the olive oil. Let the mixture soak for 30 to 60 minutes to hydrate the flour.
- Preheat the broiler with the rack in the center position.
- Place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet in the oven to heat up, about 5 minutes. Carefully remove the pan. Swirl in 1 tablespoon of oil to coat the bottom, then pour in half the batter. Tilt the pan until the batter is evenly spread. Return the pan to the oven and broil for 5 to 15 minutes, until the edges are brown and toasty (broilers tend to vary widely in heat/temperature from oven to oven).
- Remove the pan from the oven and gently slide the flatbread onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter to make a second flatbread.
- Smear the flatbreads with yogurt and top with desired toppings and dollops of the muhammara, if desired. Drizzle with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
Notes
4 jarred roasted red peppers
3/4 cup toasted walnuts
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 tablespoon maple syrup or honey
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt, to taste To a food processor, add the red peppers, walnuts, lemon juice, tomato paste, garlic, cumin, maple syrup, pepper flakes, and olive oil, and process into a smooth paste. Season to taste.
Hi! I used a 12oz jar of roasted peppers for the sauce – is that accurate? They were cut up so wasn’t sure how much “4” would be
Hi Jen, I think a 12 ounce jar is more than 4 peppers worth. I think it might still taste good though?
Thanks! Yeah I think was too much as well but still pretty good. I have so much sauce leftover though, what else can I do with it???
Hi Jen – I use it as a veggie dip or as a sandwich spread.
I made the falafel flatbread and the flavor is outstanding, but it was not pourable. I added 1 cup of water. It was still not pourable. It was a soft doughy texture so I pressed it into the hot pan and broiled it. It was crumbly, but tasted delicious so I sprinkled it over my Cinderella Squash Soup. I won’t give up on this recipe until I come out with the beautiful flatbread shown in your site. Leona
I am excited to try this! I was wondering though, if I could leave the walnuts out of the muhammara, Or if there is a replacement? My wife is allergic to walnuts. Which makes me sad because I love them. Thanks so much for the recipe!!
Hi Leah, is it just walnuts or all nuts? Pine nuts would be great (I’d use 1/2 cup since the volume is different than walnuts). Or in a totally different direction – chickpeas or white beans could work and would be nice and creamy. I hope you enjoy!
The pine nuts idea was great, but I didn’t have any, but figured sunflower seeds was close. Worked like a charm! Loved the whole recipe! Thanks so much for getting back to me and helping me make a wonderful dinner!
Do you think you could freeze these flatbreads (without the toppings)?
Hi Karen, I haven’t tried, but I think it’d be just fine!
This recipe is wonderful! I can’t find chickpea flour anywhere right now! would garbanzo fave flour from bobs red mill work?
ALSO.. is there alternative to a cast iron skillet?
Hi Lee, garbanzo bean flour and chickpea flour are the same thing. A cast iron skillet is necessary because it can go in the oven. It also makes the edges lightly crisp.
Made this yesterday and the dough was pretty runny, even after the 60 mins. So I ended up with something like two large falafel pancakes – not sure if that’s how it’s supposed to be. But it tasted really good and my flatmates finished it in no time, so thank you for this a little exotic recipe!
Hi Lea, that’s how it’s supposed to be, I’m glad everyone enjoyed 🙂
My housemate and I made these flatbreads together last night and they were SO delicious! She’s gluten-and-dairy-free so she topped hers with the muhammara and plenty of fresh veggies and herbs, and I added a generous swipe of homemade labneh to mine as well. Delicious and filling either way! Thank you for the fun recipe – it was a good one to make together, and we both agreed we want to make it again soon!
Hi Mary – I’m so so glad you both enjoyed it together!
It’s look easy, delicious. I will definitely try this. Thanks for sharing your post.
oh wow, what a great idea, love this, will definitely give it a try, thank you for sharing.
I love the way this cookbook is organized! I’ll have to check it out 🙂
This looks gorgeous! Just wondering if you could use fresh peppers that you roast and peel yourself (rather than jarred peppers) in the Muhammara recipe? Would you use four full peppers in that case?
Hi Ingrid – you could! I would use one less since fresh red bell peppers tend to be larger than jarred ones. Also, you’ll need to add salt to the recipe -1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon.
Amazing – thanks so much! Looking forward to trying it over the weekend.
Goodness that looks so good! and I LOVE your new cookbook!
I was wondering if you had any thought on what you could replace the yogurt with , I just have never liked the taste of yogurt.
Thanks
Hi Susie – ooh, I’m so glad you’re loving the new book!
The red pepper sauce in this recipe (that I dolloped on top)…. use that as the sauce base instead of the yogurt. It’ll be so delicious!