Panelle are delicious chickpea flour fritters, a Sicilian specialty, typical street food from Palermo. Today I present them in my Air Fryer: the result is amazing! A healthier way to enjoy this delightful snack, maintaining its authentic flavor and significantly reducing the use of oil, a great alternative for those who can’t consume fried foods or are on a diet and want to indulge without sacrificing taste.
Panelle are made with chickpea flour, water, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley. The flour is dissolved in salted water, stirred while cooking until it achieves a creamy consistency. Usually, when warm, it is spread on a marble surface or smeared on small plates; for convenience, I used a loaf pan so once cooled, I sliced it into pieces to give the typical square shape of panelle.
Following my tips, you can prepare crunchy Panelle in an air fryer without missing the traditional pan frying. You can enjoy them simply seasoned with salt or lemon, but the most common way to eat them is with ‘vastedde’ or ‘mafalde,’ typical bread made from remilled durum wheat semolina with a sesame seed-covered surface. So, if you decide to make a nice sandwich with the panelle, you can alternatively use soft bread, preferably with seeds. Often these sandwiches are stuffed, in addition to the panelle, with potato croquettes Potato Croquettes in Air Fryer… I’m getting hungry just talking about it, let’s go make the panelle.
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Very economical
- Rest time: 1 Hour
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: for 500 g of chickpea flour
- Cooking methods: Stove, Air Frying
- Cuisine: Italian Regional
- Region: Sicily
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 500 g chickpea flour
- water (1 and 1/2 liters)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 bunch chopped parsley (fresh)
- to taste pepper
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Tools
- 1 Pot
- 1 Hand Whisk
- 1 Air Fryer
- 1 Loaf Pan 4×10 inches
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Steps
Pour the chickpea flour, salt, pepper, and water into a pot, stirring with a hand whisk. Place on the stove over moderate heat, stirring continuously
When the batter thickens, add the chopped parsley and continue stirring
You should get a creamy mixture
Pour into the loaf pan and let it cool
Remove the block from the loaf pan and on a cutting board or surface, slice it not too thick
You can leave them rectangular or cut the slice in half
Grease the tray with extra virgin olive oil where you will cook them and give a generous spray of oil
Cook at 392°F for 10/12 minutes, spray with oil again halfway through to achieve a similar cooking to classic frying, spray the panelle again with oil halfway through and continue cooking until the panelle are golden on the surface
Salt and serve the panelle hot, just made
Perfect for stuffing the mafalde!
Tips for panelle in air fryer
As with all fried foods, the ideal is to consume the panelle hot and crispy, but if you have any left over already cooked, you can store them at room temperature for a day and reheat them, always in the air fryer for a few minutes, spraying them first with a bit of oil, they will seem like freshly made. However, I do not recommend freezing them raw.
You can prepare the panelle in the mold in advance and cook them when ready
