Recipes: Falafel, 5 Ways

With summer around the corner, many of us are thinking about picnics and barbeques - grilled pizzas, vegetable kebabs, and potato salad.

But truly, my favorite summer sandwich is the falafel.

Image via: Chow Vegan

Heartier than a summer salad, but lighter than a veggie burger off the grill, to me, falafel is pure balance - textured, spicy, cool, creamy, complex, crunchy, bright, comforting, zesty.

Image via: 101 Cookbooks

Topping a salad, or rolled into a wrap, there are many ways to make falafel patties. Traditionally made from chickpeas, or garbanzo beans, the recipes below also include falafel made from kidney beans, sweet potato, and squash. Regardless, my favorite way to eat them is crumbled into soft-crunchy bites, nesting in a salad of lettuce, tomato, and cucumber, all pocketed in a freshly baked pita.

Image via: Seitan is my Motor

Want to eat one now? Here are my five favorite recipes for falafel:

1. Baked Falafel, Chow Vegan
2. Falafel Spiders, Veggie Belly
3. Indian Falafel - Squash Kofta, Hungry Desi 
4. Not Your Average Falafel, Seitan Is My Motor
5. Baked Sweet Potato Falafel, 101 Cookbooks

LET US KNOW: Have you made any of the recipes I listed above? If so, what did you think? If not, which one do you want to try first? What's your favorite recipe for falafel?