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Delightfully light and utterly delicious, this salad is almost like the real thing, except you don’t have to worry about frying anything. The dressing clings to the vegetables like a blanket of goodness, bringing back memories of dipping falafel patties into hummus. This is THE salad to make for any occasion!
Table of Contents:
- Table of Contents:
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients for Deconstructed Falafel Salad
- Tips & FAQs
- Recipe
- Check out these other great recipes!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
When I say you have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to make this salad since I planned it, I mean I have been waiting for 8 months. I absolutely LOVE falafel. My daughter does as well, which is a huge win for me. It’s reminiscent of this Greek restaurant I used to go to all of the time when I lived back home in Long Island. It’s called Greek Town, and if you live in Long Island, I HIGHLY recommend this place. I specifically go there for Greek food, and I always get the same thing: the Spanakopita platter with an unholy amount of tzatziki sauce on the side. However, now that I live in Pittsburgh, it has been utterly difficult finding a Greek restaurant that even compares.
Knowing the fact that I can only get my Greek food when I visit Long Island, I took matters into my own hands. I thought of some ideas on how I can create a copycat spanakopita, rice with peas in this tomato sauce, and the falafel with hummus. Then, right at that moment, an idea popped into my head. “What if I deconstructed the falafel into a dish?” Thus, the Deconstructed Falafel Salad was born. When we order falafel at Greek Town, it comes with hummus. So, I made a dressing to mimic the flavors of hummus. I mean, the salad has chickpeas, so it makes sense, right?
Trust me when I say this: this is THE salad that you need to make at least once. Like, it’s a top-tier salad that makes other salads look sad. I also thought about what else would go into a Greek salad: lettuce, tomato wedges, and onion. Sometimes, they come with a pepperocini pepper. Unfortunately, I didn’t think about feta until literally just now (whoops), and I absolutely would’ve added it to the salad if I had thought about it when I originally wrote this test recipe. I used kale, chopped cucumbers, chopped tomatoes, and pickled onions, all of which were blissful textures. By adding fresh herbs and spices you would use for falafel, this salad lives up to the name I gave it. If I didn’t have self-control, I would’ve eaten the whole salad bowl.
Ingredients for Deconstructed Falafel Salad
- Chickpeas: Falafel’s primary ingredient, so this is an absolute must.
- Kale: This type of green works so well with tahini. It also holds up well to most dressings, so it won’t get soggy as it sits.
- Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Pickled Onions: The type of produce you would find in a Greek salad, and sometimes a gyro. Raw red onions are the most common, but I took it one step further and made pickled onions. There’s a sweetness to it that keeps the salad from being too bitter.
- Fresh Parsley, Fresh Cilantro, Ground Coriander, Cumin, Cayenne Pepper, Salt, Pepper, Lemon Juice: The most common ingredients you would find in any falafel recipe. The herbs are added straight to the salad, while the remaining are used to season the chickpeas.
- Tahini, Water, Garlic, Maple Syrup, Soy Sauce: These, plus lemon juice, cumin, cayenne, and salt, are used for the dressing. It gives hummus vibes. The water is much needed here. Without it, the dressing becomes almost like a paste after blending, thus making it difficult to toss into the salad.
Tips & FAQs
- Storage: The dressed salad will keep in the fridge for 5 days.
- Make Ahead: The dressing can be made 5 days in advance. The undressed salad will last up to 5 days. Toss the salad with dressing a day in advance.
- What to Serve This With: This salad is a great dinner salad. If you serve this as a side, then I recommend serving it with homemade gyros, salmon, or shrimp with lemon, dill, and garlic, or grilled chicken with some lemon rice.
- Variations:
- Add feta to really give it a Greek salad vibe.
- Add something crunchy, such as cooked bulgur, toasted breadcrumbs, or chopped toasted walnuts.
- Throw in some fresh dill in place of an herb, or add it in with the herbs.
- Replace half of the kale with spinach, or another green that will hold the dressing without getting soggy.
- The dressing absolutely needs water. I blended the dressing ingredients without the water at first, just to see what would happen. It got super thick and resembled a paste. The water loosened it up, and it became an actual dressing. Don’t skip the water! It won’t mute the flavors.
- Wine Pairings:
- For this salad, a Sauvignon Blanc is the top pick. It’s citrusy and herbaceous, and mirrors the salad flavors perfectly.
- An Albariño is great with the tahini since it has bright acidity.
- If you want to serve a red wine with this, then I suggest a Pinot Noir. It’s light and earthy, so it won’t overpower the salad.
- When in doubt, bring out the bubbly! A Brut Cava is dry, and the bubbles cut through the acidity and tahini.
- Avoid heavy, oaky Chardonnays and heavy reds like Cabernet Sauvignon. They’re too right and will overwhelm the salad.
- For Non-Alcoholic Options: a nice cold glass of lemonade is top-tier. Other options include a cucumber-lemon sparkling water, an iced mint tea, or ginger or citrus Kombucha. Try a citrus spritz with orange juice, lemon juice, and a lemon-lime soda.
Recipe
Deconstructed Falafel Salad
Delightfully light and utterly delicious, this salad is almost like the real thing, except you don’t have to worry about frying anything. The dressing clings to the vegetables like a blanket of goodness, bringing back memories of dipping falafel patties into hummus. This is THE salad to make for any occasion!
Ingredients
- 2 (15 oz) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 large cucumber, seeded and diced
- 1 large tomato, seeded and diced
- 3 cups chopped kale (about 4 oz)
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley leaves
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 medium red onion, halved, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
- 1 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp salt, plus more for pickled onions
- Pinch of sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, optional
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1/2 cup tahini
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, less if desired, optional
- 1/2 tsp salt, or more to taste
- 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
Instructions
- Place the red onions in a small bowl. In a small saucepot, bring the red wine vinegar, a pinch of salt, and sugar to a boil. Once it boils, remove it from the heat, then pour it over the onions. Cover with a lid, if it has one, or cover with plastic cling wrap. Place it into the fridge until you are ready to use it. Continue prepping the salad.
- Toss together the chickpeas, 1/2 tsp salt, pepper, 2 tsp cumin, 1/8 tsp cayenne, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, and coriander in a separate bowl.
- Toss together the kale, seasoned chickpeas, cucumber, tomatoes, parsley, and cilantro in a large mixing bowl. Set it aside while you make the dressing.
- In a blender, add the tahini, water, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper if using, 1/2 tsp salt, garlic, maple syrup, and soy sauce. Blend until everything is fully combined and the dressing is almost a pale color, about 30 seconds.
- Using tongs, give the pickled onions a quick stir, then pull them from the vinegar and place them onto the salad. Discard the vinegar. Pour in the dressing and toss it all together until everything is fully coated. Serve immediately or serve it the next day.
Notes
Storage: The dressed salad will keep in the fridge for 5 days.
- Make Ahead: The dressing can be made 5 days in advance. The undressed salad will last up to 5 days. Toss the salad with dressing a day in advance.
What to Serve This With: This salad is a great dinner salad. If you serve this as a side, then I recommend serving it with homemade gyros, salmon, or shrimp with lemon, dill, and garlic, or grilled chicken with some lemon rice.
Variations:
- Add feta to really give it a Greek salad vibe.
- Add something crunchy, such as cooked bulgur, toasted breadcrumbs, or chopped toasted walnuts.
- Throw in some fresh dill in place of an herb, or add it in with the herbs.
- Replace half of the kale with spinach, or another green that will hold the dressing without getting soggy.
The dressing absolutely needs water. I blended the dressing ingredients without the water at first, just to see what would happen. It got super thick and resembled a paste. The water loosened it up, and it became an actual dressing. Don’t skip the water! It won’t mute the flavors.
Wine Pairings:
- For this salad, a Sauvignon Blanc is the top pick. It’s citrusy and herbaceous, and mirrors the salad flavors perfectly.
- An Albariño is great with the tahini since it has bright acidity.
- If you want to serve a red wine with this, then I suggest a Pinot Noir. It’s light and earthy, so it won’t overpower the salad.
- When in doubt, bring out the bubbly! A Brut Cava is dry, and the bubbles cut through the acidity and tahini.
- Avoid heavy, oaky Chardonnays and heavy reds like Cabernet Sauvignon. They’re too right and will overwhelm the salad.
- For Non-Alcoholic Options: a nice cold glass of lemonade is top-tier. Other options include a cucumber-lemon sparkling water, an iced mint tea, or ginger or citrus Kombucha. Try a citrus spritz with orange juice, lemon juice, and a lemon-lime soda.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
302Fat (grams)
14 gSat. Fat (grams)
2 gCarbs (grams)
34 gFiber (grams)
9 gSugar (grams)
5 gProtein (grams)
13 gSodium (milligrams)
500 mgCholesterol (grams)
0 mgThe nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and the brands of ingredients used. This is based on 6 dinner servings.
Miss Raven's Kitchen 
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