Home Chef: Weeknight Falafel Pitas with Yogurt Tzatziki Review

Tonight my family enjoyed Home Chef’s “Weeknight Falafel Pitas with yogurt tzatziki.” Middle Eastern cuisine has always been an absolute favorite for my husband and I. A typical choice for our late night take out. Since moving to a rural community, we’ve been totally deprived since restaurant choices are slightly limited in our area. Unfortunately, we’ve never attempted to make any kind of middle eastern dish on our own. We were excited to try this recipe out. The recipe card indicated that the meal would take somewhere in between 30 -40 minutes for prep & cooking time, and was labeled as “intermediate.” 

Total Prep, Cooking and Clean-Up Time: 

Prep: 15 Minutes

Cook: 20 Minutes

Total Time: 35 Minutes

Clean Up Time: 10 Minutes

Difficulty Level: Slightly Simple

Preparation involved trimming and dividing a single cucumber in half, slicing one-half into thin rounds, and dicing the other half. Mincing parsley, halving grape tomatoes, draining chick peas from a can and halving and quartering one lemon. The preparation was tedious, yet not difficult. 

To make Tzatziki, the diced cucumbers were added to 4oz of Greek yogurt, along with the minced parsley, lemon juice, pepper, and salt. To make the salad, the cucumber rounds and halved tomatoes were added to each other and mixed with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Naan was heated on the stove stop and wrapped in foil to keep warm.   

To make the Falafel; chickpeas, self-rising flour, and pepper were mashed together to form a dough. The dough balls were then fried in hot oil until golden brown on both sides. 

The falafel was placed inside the warm naan flatbread, along with the cucumber tomato salad. Tzatziki was added as a side and lemon as a garnish. 

Misguidance/Issues:

This recipe was extremely straight forward in regards to the steps that were provided. However, tips on how to mash the chickpeas more efficiently for those without a masher would have been helpful. I used a fork and my hands. 

Overall Impression: 

I was satisfied with this meal. I would have appreciated some bolder flavors incorporated into the falafel, as it tasted rather plain with only the addition of pepper. The naan flatbread provided was excellent, having wonderful texture and flavor. The tzatziki had a subtle flavor, it was refreshing and light however it needed a little extra zing. 

I give this recipe 3 out of 5 stars. This recipe could be improved by adding bolder flavor to both the falafel and tzatziki with spices and herbs. I did appreciate that this meal was filling without being heavy.