Butternut Squash Falafel with Homemade Tahini Sauce

The complete healthy falafal- made with butternut squash, a smattering of fresh herbs, carrots, lentils and chickpeas. Then baked to perfection. Not fried.

Its here. The ultimate FALAFEL! And it couldn’t have come at a better time. We just traveled to Israel and enjoyed ourselves a many falafal. And wow. They were unbelievable. Brady described it best as the Middle Eastern Mexican food.

“It has a lot of flavor, different toppings, nothing too greasy, one can customize as needed, generally one can make it healthy!” -Brady A Clifford

Ok, so the one issue we had with falafals while there was they were sometimes greasy and NOT so flavorful unless you had all the great toppings. Sooooo let me present to you, the flavorful, healthy butternut squash falafal with delicious homemade tahini sauce.

In this falafel are not only the generic chickpea, but lentils are present, butternut squash AND the carrot. THEN baked together for an unbelievable crispy (healthier) falafel.

Ok and just for an added kick in the pants…every good falafel calls for an unbelievable tahini sauce. (the recipe is below and it will blow your pants off actually.)

I have made these multiple times and now quadruple the recipe! Mostly because we clifford’s can’t control our hunger and we just keep eating. and eating. and eating. yikes. And so with just doubling they would be all gone. 

However by quadrupling….there is no possible way our stomachs could stomach all gazillion of them in one sitting. Therefore we have left-overs:)

Falafal in the making:

Once all of the ingredients are cooked (ie: the butternut squash, the chickpea and the lentils) just add it to the food processor. Also, I found this recipe from Just a Taste and tweaked according to my kitchen and taste adding butternut squash of course.

TIP #1:

Bake the butternut squash and THEN chop in half. It makes cutting it in half a whole lot easier and a whole lot less risky for possibly chopping off your fingers. I simply bake it in the oven (pierce it with a knife prior to putting it in) and then bake it for approx 45 min or until soft enough via a fork.

THEN I cut it and cube it.

TIP #2:

Prepare the lentils with a vegetable boullion cube. It just adds a little extra.

TIP #3:

When it comes to the shredded carrots part, it works best to almost puree in your blender. They mesh better in the falafal if REALLY chopped.

TIP #4:

The mixture will be wet. It’s fine. Scoop with a cookie scoop and then refridgerate prior to baking. They will turn out and you will love them.

Place on a cookie sheet or baking dish and bake for approx 20 min @ 350 degrees!

NEXT UP: the Tahini sauce!

This tahini sauce has been a staple in our house for a good ohhhh over 3ish years but seems like a lifetime. We like ourselves a good sauce.

For a good while (prob a year), everytime I wanted to make it-I would have to get out my old phone…plug it in….and then scroll down alllll the way to February 2016 in my text messages until I reached the recipe.

Unfortunately, that summarizes my life. Nothing ever conveniently accessible but it’s always there!

So thank you blog. Man, and for that reason alone! It’s truly life changingly awesome that I now have it written down somewhere. 

When I make it, I double the recipe so I can have some in the fridge to put over eggs, vegetables, in tacos etc. It’s a real good sauce to have on hand. Comparable to cafe rio dressing only mediterranean. Yikes I said it. That was bold.

For additional toppings to either a salad or pita…

• roasted bell peppers (roast in 400 degree oven until toasty roasty)
• crispy chickpeas (spray with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast in 400 degree oven approx 20 min or until crispy)
• feta cheese
• roasted cauliflower (same as chickpeas!)
• lettuce/spinach
• avocado
• cucumbers
• tahini sauce

 

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