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Here are the best falafel sauce recipes, from creamy cucumber yogurt to bright lemon tahini! Find the perfect sauce for your falafel sandwich, salad, or bowl that’s ready in minutes.
Making falafel and need sauce ideas? This Mediterranean fried chickpea fritter is one of my favorite foods all time. You can serve it as an appetizer with a dipping sauce, or stuffed into a flatbread as a falafel sandwich. Or serve it as a falafel salad, on crunchy lettuce drizzled with sauce.
After years of testing these recipes, I’ve landed on a handful of go-to falafel sauces that I use in each of these cases! Here are my top ideas.
What Sauce Goes with Falafel?
Falafel has roots in Egypt, and it then spread across the Middle East and Mediterranean, so it’s picked up various regional sauces along the way. Traditional falafel sauce falls into three main categories:
- Tahini-based sauces: Nutty, creamy, tangy from lemon: this is the most authentic pairing across much of the Middle East.
- Yogurt-based sauces: Cool and tangy, these sauces often also contain cucumber, dill, or herbs. This type of sauce is common in Turkish and Greek traditions.
- Herb-forward sauces: Herby and green, sometimes with yogurt or olive oil (like zhoug, used in Israel)
With this in mind, here are a few of the best recipes to use as a falafel sauce: whether you’re making a sandwich, burger, salad, or serving them as an appetizer.
The 5 Best Falafel Sauce Recipes
This cool and refreshing falafel sauce you’ll want to slather on just about everything: tzatziki! Stir together shredded cucumber with Greek yogurt, lemon, garlic, and dill for a creamy, zingy sauce. It's perfect for authentic falafel sandwiches and salads. The secret to keeping it from getting watery is squeezing the cucumber thoroughly in a clean dish towel — don't skip that step.
Another authentic falafel sauce is tahini sauce! It's made with the Mediterranean sesame seed paste and lemon, which gives it a bright zingy flavor. This sauce is perfect for drizzling on salad bowls and roasted veggies, but it's best on a tasty falafel sandwich or falafel salad. Another plus: it's plant based and vegan! The key is using tahini that's fresh and pourable; if it has separated in the jar, give it a good stir before mixing.
This bright green cilantro sauce is perfect for falafel! It’s plant-based and vegan, so it works for all sorts of eaters! The creamy body comes from soaked cashews blended with a bit of water. It becomes so intensely creamy that it makes the perfect sauce for dolloping. It’s even pretty mild on the cilantro flavor: so it’s not even offensive to avowed cilantro haters! Make the recipe below with lemon instead of lime when you use it for falafel.
Consider this the richer cousin of the tzatziki sauce above. The base blends both Greek yogurt and a touch of mayonnaise, which gives it a creamier texture that clings beautifully to a falafel sandwich or falafel burger. It comes together in a single bowl with no cooking required!
You can make this tahini yogurt sauce with 3 ingredients in 2 minutes! Sometimes it can feel like it takes forever to whip up a sauce and you end up dirtying blenders, cutting boards, and so forth. This one is so simple it’s become my go-to for everything, especially for dipping falafel!
Ways to Serve Falafel with Sauce
Falafel can be served in so many ways! This tasty Mediterranean plant-based dish has lots of different spins. Here are a few of our favorite falafel recipes:
- Classic Falafel: Serve with the falafel sauce as a dipping sauce.
- Ultimate Falafel Sandwich: Slather cucumber yogurt or dill sauce on a flatbread and load it up.
- Baked Falafel: Make shortcut falafel: it’s baked and made with canned chickpeas!
- Falafel Salad: Drizzle tahini sauce over greens and roasted veggies for a full Mediterranean bowl.
- Falafel Bowl: Mix and match sauces; I love tahini as the base with a cilantro sauce drizzle on top.
- Falafel Burger: The lemon dill sauce is spectacular here. Treat it like a special burger sauce.
Storage & Make-Ahead Tips
All five of these sauces keep well in the refrigerator. The tzatziki sauce, cilantro sauce, and dill sauce are best within 3 to 4 days. The tahini sauce keeps well for up to 1 to 2 weeks in a sealed container in the fridge.
If you’re meal prepping for the week, I’d recommend making the tahini sauce in a double batch!
Frequently Asked Questions
Lemon tahini sauce is the most traditional pairing across the Middle East. It’s made simply with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and water, and it’s been served alongside falafel for generations.
Yes, a classic hummus makes a nice thick spread for falafel sandwiches and wraps. It’s especially good thinned slightly with lemon juice and olive oil so it’s more saucy — or you can try this hummus dressing.
I’d recommend it: all of these are great for making a few hours ahead and refrigerating until ready to serve!
More great sauce recipes
Want more sauces? Here are some more recipes to try:
- Cilantro Lime Crema Perfect for dolloping on tacos and roasted veggies.
- Special Burger Sauce Great for burgers and fries! It’s full of flavor: creamy, tangy, and reminiscent of a Big Mac.
- Creamy Cilantro Dressing It takes just 5 minutes and you’ll want to use it on everything: salads, tacos, fries, and more.
- Vegan Alfredo Sauce Easy to make, starring nutrient-rich cauliflower and protein-packed cashews.
