This Mediterranean falafel bowl is a complete meal in one dish. It’s a rainbow of colors, flavors, and textures.
You’ve got crispy falafel, creamy hummus, and a leafy green salad. It’s all tied together with lemony tahini dressing. So fresh, nourishing & delicious! Vegan & gluten free.
What I love about a warm falafel bowl is that each bite is unique.
From one forkful to the next you get creamy, crunchy, tangy, salty, cool, and steamy.
Falafel bowls offer lots of veg with romaine, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and avocado. And the falafel, hummus, and almond feta are packed with protein.
That makes it a satisfying lunch or dinner that’s substantive and hearty. It’s one of those meals that feels both healthy and indulgent all at once.
Ingredients
Brown rice: This grain makes up the “bed” of the bowl that everything else sits atop.
Homemade falafel: The headliner in this bowl is beautifully golden brown air fryer falafel (or oven baked).
It is easy to make, thanks to canned chickpeas. No soaking or pre-planning required!
The air-fried version is ready in just 30 minutes. Baked falafel takes about 10 minutes more.
Hummus: Chickpeas on chickpeas? Absolutely! Hummus and falafel go together like Tina and Amy.
Homemade hummus is extra creamy, thanks to aquafaba. Perfect for dipping pita chips and falafel balls.
Romaine lettuce & cucumbers: Mild romaine and cucumbers add crunch and coolness without any bitterness.
Cherry tomatoes & bell peppers: These two veggies add color and sweetness.
Pickled red onions: Easy pickled red onions offer vibrant pink color as well as tartness.
Kalamata olives: Olives add salt & brininess.
Avocado: Avocado improves any dish it touches! Here it adds creaminess and fat.
Almond feta: Homemade vegan feta cheese adds tang and creaminess. (This feta also freezes well, in case you want to make a big batch & stretch it out.)
Tahini sauce: Vegan tahini dressing ties everything together. It’s made with just four ingredients – tahini, water, lemon juice, and salt.
Make it your own
You can make this bowl your own by varying the ingredients. The options are only limited by your imagination & what’s in your produce drawer.
Add any of these items instead of (or in addition to) the other ingredients:
- Spinach
- Parsley
- Baba ganoush (instead of hummus)
- Tomato cucumber salad (instead of romaine salad)
- Israeli couscous salad (instead of rice & salad)
- Kalamata olive hummus (instead of plain hummus)
- Roasted sweet potatoes (instead of rice)
- Homemade pita chips (made in the air fryer or oven)
- Castelvetrano olives (instead of kalamata)
- Pickled turnips (instead of red onions)
- Toasted pine nuts or sesame seeds
- Roasted cauliflower (made in the air fryer or oven)
- Marinated lentils
- Quinoa (instead of rice)
- Vegan tzatziki (Trader Joe’s makes a good one)
Store-bought shortcuts
Simplify lunch with some store-bought shortcuts.
- Instead of homemade falafel, use boxed falafel mix or frozen falafel.
- Instead of making hummus, buy a container of any pre-made hummus you enjoy.
- Instead of homemade vegan feta, use store-bought. I recommend Violife, Trader Joe’s, or Herbivorous Butcher brands.
- Instead of pickled red onions, use any store-bought pickled vegetable and/or green onions.
- Instead of making rice from scratch, reheat frozen rice. (I buy the boxed variety at Trader Joe’s.)
Great for meal prep
Falafel bowls are ideal for meal prep, because you can make the individual components at your leisure. Then compile them together as a bowl.
Or use the same ingredients for a salad or falafel sandwich.
You can also re-purpose several of the ingredients.
- Use leftover hummus on a bagel sandwich, crostini appetizer, or double hummus wrap.
- Use leftover feta in vegan shakshuka, vegan poutine, or Mediterranean pasta.
- Use leftover pickled red onions on tempeh tacos, baked tofu bowls, or vegan ramen noodles.
- Use leftover tahini dressing on veggie wraps, brown rice bowls, or kale salad.
- Use leftover rice in pineapple fried rice, air fryer stuffed peppers, or kimchi fried rice.
How to store leftovers
Store any leftovers separately in their own covered containers in the refrigerator.
Leftovers will last roughly 3 or 4 days.
Reheat falafel in the air fryer by cooking at 360 degrees for about five minutes or until warmed throughout. Reheat rice in the microwave until warm.
Mediterranean falafel bowl with rice
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked brown rice
- 1 cup hummus
- 1 recipe air fryer falafel or oven baked
- 2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- ½ cup chopped cucumbers
- ½ cup chopped cherry tomatoes
- ¼ cup chopped red bell peppers
- ¼ cup pickled red onions
- ½ cup vegan feta cheese
- 16 kalamata olives
- 1 avocado sliced
- 1 recipe vegan tahini dressing
Instructions
- Put a scoop of brown rice at the bottom of four bowls. Top with a dollop of hummus, and several falafel balls.
- On the side of the bowls, add a salad made with chopped romaine lettuce, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red bell peppers, and pickled onions.
- Add a garnish of vegan feta cheese, kalamata olives, and sliced avocado.
- Finish each bowl with a generous drizzling of vegan tahini dressing.
Notes
Nutrition
Content, recipe, and photos updated March 10, 2022. Originally posted December 8, 2015 as a curried falafel bowl.
Dianne
Cats and Christmas decorates are a strange mix. One of my three doesn’t care at all about the tree, while the other two totally terrorize it. They’re 6 and they still go nuts, so I’m not sure if age has much to do with it, unfortunately.
P.S. I love the falafel men!
Cadry
Aw, that doesn’t bode well for me then! Spike used to love batting at the ornaments on the bottom tier of the tree, and so I’d put soft ornaments there just for him. Jezebel likes sitting under it. But I think Avon would consider it part lunch/part jungle gym.
EC
Those falafel-men are so cute! They totally fooled me at first 🙂
Caitlin
this looks incredibly, cadry!
Cadry
Thanks, Caitlin! <3
Gingi
Those look YUMMY and that cat is adorable!!! <3
Cadry
Thanks, Gingi! I am awfully fond of him too. 😀
Susan
I love the idea of the falafel men instead of gingerbread men, very clever!
Avon is such a cutie in that photo, I love the look on his face! Definitely better to be on the cautious side and avoid potential very expensive trips to the vet to surgically remove Christmas decorations from his guts!
Cadry
Absolutely! He’s much better than he used to be about not eating things that he shouldn’t, but he still knows how to sniff out trouble. An ornament-filled tree with strings of lights would be way too much temptation for him.
Becky Striepe
Cutest falafel EVER!
Cadry
Thanks, Becky! 😀
Shell
This meal combines 2 of my favorites – chickpeas and broccoli. The cute Avon pictures are an added bonus!
Cadry
Thanks, Shell! 😀
Jenn
These falafel sound so flavorful and delicious. And what a creative idea to make them into gingerbread men…perfect for a festive holiday appetizer!
Cadry
Thanks, Jenn!
Natalie | Feasting on Fruit
These are so freaking creative and cute Cadry! Falafel men, how did you even think of that?! I think for the month of December we should just make everything in cookie cutters 😀
Cadry
Ha! I like that idea!
The Vegan 8
OMG, seriously Cadry these are the most creative things I’ve ever seen and SO CUTE! I love them so much!! Looks so delicious too!
Cadry
Aw, thanks, Brandi! That’s so nice to hear!
Trinity Bourne
Oh wow, how playful, I love the little characters. Delicious recipe too 🙂
Cadry
Thanks, Trinity! 😀
Sina @ Vegan Heaven
Oh wow! This is so creative, Cadry! Absolutely LOVE it! 🙂 Oh and your cat looks so cute!
Cadry
Thank you! He’s lucky he’s cute for all of the times he wakes me up at 3 am. Who could resist that face? 😀
Bianca
Omg, falafel men!! Those are sooooo cute. And falafel beats gingerbread all day long. Oh, cats and holiday trees! I have 6 cats, and amazingly, they’ve all grown out of climbing the tree (they did when they were kittens though). But they do chew on the artificial pine, and I find cat vomit with tree bits in it every morning. It’s just part of the season for me now. I also have to keep breakable ornaments up high, so my clumsy dog doesn’t run into them and break them.
If only Mabel could see the tree! She isn’t allowed in the dining room because cats would eat her. But she’d love the holiday tree.
Cadry
“‘Tis the season to find vomit. Fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la…” Sounds festive! 😉
It sounds like you’ve made the holidays work with your furry family. Maybe I’ll get there someday too. If not, boxing everything up certainly takes no time this way. It would be so much fun to see Mabel with the tree. She really would love it!
Robyn @ Simply Fresh Dinners
I have been wanting to make falafel for the longest time and your pics and recipe have finally pushed me to do it. Love your photos, your recipes, your kitty – a great blog! I love when healthy food looks so darn delicious and tempting. Thanks for the recipe, Cadry
Cadry
What a sweet comment, Robyn! Thank you! Let me know how it goes with the falafel. 😀
Kristina
LOVE these!! 🙂
Cadry
Thanks, Kristina! 😀