It was surprisingly hard to find good, traditional falafels in the supermarkets for this test. While most of those on offer were delicious, many had long, complex ingredients lists, other than two standouts made with just chickpeas, herbs, spices and sodium bicarbonate.
Even some of the better falafels had unnecessarily long ingredients lists, despite being relatively minimally processed, but at their worst, some of these falafels were much more processed and included dehydrated potato flakes, pea protein, refined soya bean oil and stabilisers. The best, however, were delicious and contained lots of herbs, spices and even love.
The best supermarket falafel
Best overall:
Ramona’s Original falafel
★★★★☆
A large frozen bag of golden brown, oval pucks. These had that traditional, nutty texture, most likely due to their authentic recipe process. Moist, delicious, but very salty, with 2.19% salt (anything over 1% is salty). A clear winner thanks to their value, minimal processing and traditional recipe.
Best bargain:
Vemondo Plant! Middle Eastern falafel
★★★☆☆
Small, yellow, round balls. Moist and flavourful with a mild-medium chilli heat and complex spice blend with cumin, lemon, coriander, clove and cinnamon. Incredible value.
And the rest …
Gosh! Moroccan spiced falafel
★★★★☆
Small, date-sweet, paprika-red falafels that were moist and distinctly flavoured with red pepper, coriander and a defined lemony taste. A little on the sweet side, but lovely all the same.
M&S fresh herb aromatic falafels
★★★★☆
Eight dark brown falafel balls with bright, coriander-green interiors. A piquant cayenne and garlicky heat with a savoury cumin undertone. Perfectly textured – moist, fluffy and with good substance and crust. However, they tasted a little raw straight out of the packet, and really benefited from being reheated.
Biona organic falafel balls
★★★★☆
Neat, yellow balls that were pretty nice raw but, once fried, they softened and became incredibly moist and delicious. The only wonderfully simple, wholefood product in the test, made with just chickpeas, onion, hokkaido pumpkin, sunflower oil, herbs and spices. My best splurge.
Tesco green pea falafels
★★★☆☆
Dark brown, round pucks with a green interior. A slightly bitter but nicely herby flavour balanced with the dates. Made from mostly peas (44%), which is odd for a falafel, but it works, and chickpeas (15%), and flavoured with parsley, coriander and cumin.
Asda sweet potato falafels
★★★☆☆
Ten classic-shaped pucks with a distinct, vibrant orange colour, and made with mostly sweet potato, chickpeas and onion. Soft to the bite and moist, with a sweet flavour and warm spices. Contains stabiliser methyl cellulose.
Cauldron Moreish-ly Moroccan falafels
★★★☆☆
Round brown pucks of gooey, spiced falafel. Slightly gummy, but enjoyable and moist, nonetheless, and with plenty of flavour. Sweet, piquant and complex with warm spices, including cinnamon, coriander and ginger. A long but minimally processed ingredients list, other than the sulphured apricots, perhaps.
Waitrose Plant Living hand-shaped Moroccan-style falafels
★★☆☆☆
Eight large dark, round, irregular-shaped balls with a prominent sweet flavour of onion, apricots and raisins. Competing rather than harmonious flavours: a mildly bitter but palatable aftertaste with mixed spices, including ginger and cumin, and lime juice, and a long ingredients list including pea protein and refined soya bean oil.
Co-op red pepper falafel
★☆☆☆☆
These don’t quite fit the category because they come as a snack pack with a yoghurt and mint dip, which explains the higher price. Despite the complex vegetal flavour and peppery kick, these were poor, with a floury texture. No comment on the dip.
For more, read the best tinned and jarred chickpeas and the best supermarket curry kits
