We finally got our hands on the Good & Gather Frozen Falafel from Target and made it for dinner. Here's what we thought!
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Y'all, we have been so impressed with the amount of vegan options Target has been stocking lately. When Dave spotted their new Good & Gather Falafel, he grabbed a bag.
Table of Contents
How to make them in the air fryer
These come with oven directions on the package, but of course I wanted to make them in the air fryer instead.
I cooked these up for 12 minutes at 400° F, and they came out great! Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside.
While the falafel cooks in the air fryer, you have plenty of time to soak the frozen bag of tahini sauce in hot water. By the time the falafel is ready, the sauce will be thawed and pourable.
Where to find them
Good & Gather is one of Target's in-house brands, like Favorite Day. This falafel is available exclusively at Target stores.
Nutrition and ingredients
For a frozen convenience food, this wasn't bad at all in my opinion!
The ingredients are all things you'd find in your own kitchen. As of this writing, this falafel is made with:
Cooked Chickpeas (Water, Chickpeas), Chickpea Flour, Onion, Expeller Pressed Sunflower Oil, Sesame Seeds, Water, Spices, Sea Salt, Baking Soda, Garlic, Cream Of Tartar, Garlic Powder, Tahini Sauce (Sesame Seeds, Water, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Salt, Garlic Powder).
Nutrition-wise, these aren't as healthy as I thought they'd be. I am not a super healthy eater, but I am trying to keep an eye on my salt and try to eat enough fiber.
These are pretty salty at 24% of your daily sodium, so that's something to keep in mind. As long as you're not pairing this falafel with super salty toppings, though, they're not too shabby in the salt department!
When it comes to fiber, I was really surprised to see that they only contain 1 gram of fiber per serving! That is really low for a product whose first ingredient is beans.
I don't keep track of protein, but I know that's something vegans have to talk about, so let's do it. One serving of this falafel contains 9 grams of protein. Also surprisingly low for a bean product!
You can find the complete nutrition label on Target's product page.
I wouldn't say that these are unhealthy, but homemade falafel is definitely more nutritious. A trade-off for the convenience.
Good & Gather Falafel review
As with a lot of frozen items, I thought that the portion size here was a bit chintzy. The bag says that it contains three servings, but Dave and I found it was more like two servings.
Dave ate his in a falafel sandwich with arugula, tomato, avocado, air fryer onions, and the tahini sauce on a miniature baguette.
I served up my falafel as a salad instead. I used the arugula as the salad base, then diced up the tomato and avocados and topped it off with the onions, falafel, and sauce.
I thought the flavor of these was nice! A bit less deeply seasoned than my own air fryer falafel recipe, but it was also a whole lot easier to make. Just throw the frozen falafel into the air fryer, and you're cooking!
The texture was also a hit for me. Crunchy on the inside, and soft and moist inside.
The tahini sauce that came with these was good, but I do prefer my own lemon tahini sauce. Next time, I might go with that instead and just discard the pack that comes with it.
I'm definitely going to keep these in the freezer for quick, weeknight meals! Our whole dinner was ready in less than 20 minutes. You can't beat that on a hectic Tuesday!
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