A little more than a year ago, I was making falafel the old fashioned way, by frying them in a large cast iron pan full of oil.

While my pan really liked having that much oil heated up inside of it, the rest of my kitchen was not a fan.

Fried foods are delicious, and when cooked properly don’t actually have that much added fat from the cooking method. But the clean up is horrendous.

First of all, there’s the big vat of oil itself to deal with once everything’s been cooked. For those who fry often, the oil can be reused.

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But if you’re like me, you fry things just occasionally and don’t want that previously heated oil to go rancid waiting for the next turn.

Also, I feel like whenever large amounts of oil are being used for cooking, everything in the kitchen seems to get a coat of oil from the fine mist created from heating up the oil. Everything needs a good wipe-down after cooking with a large amount of oil.

(Not to be confused with a few tablespoons here and there at the bottom of the pan — I’m talking about when the amount of oil being heated is measured in cups.)

It was for these reasons I decided to buy an air fryer. The cleanup after my last oil frying adventure with falafel pushed me over the edge.

I’ve had the machine for a little less than a year, and it gets used several times a week at my house. Sometimes just to make frozen French fries, other times to make more elaborate meals.

So I figured it was finally time to make falafel in the air fryer.

For a quick refresher, falafel are balls or patties of chickpeas, fresh herbs, garlic, onion and spices. Traditionally, they’re deep-fried and served in a pita or on their own.

They kind of resemble meatballs but, as they contain no animal products, they are actually vegan. They are a common Middle East street food.

While there are some cons, I will definitely be making falafel in the air fryer again, because the biggest pro is a much easier cleanup.

The biggest con is that it takes much longer to cook falafel in the air fryer — 15 minutes. Combine that with a limited capacity, as I could only fit nine falafel at a time in my air fryer. And it took me a while to make all the chickpea balls.

Of course, this really depends on the size of the air fryer. Folks with bigger machines can cook more chickpea balls at once.

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While oil frying the falafel is quicker, it requires hands-on, constant monitoring. With the air fryer, falafel cooking is much more hands-off. Just don’t miss the flip roughly halfway through.

On another note, I feel like every falafel recipe I find — fried, baked or air-fried — warns against over grinding the chickpea mixture ... to the point where I feel like I’m not grinding it enough. If the grind isn’t tight enough, the falafel falls apart much easier.

The ideal texture is a fine meal, according to The Mediterranean Dish. What’s not wanted is a paste, because then we’re wading into hummus territory.

So learn from my mistake and don’t grind it too little. A meat grinder is a great way to get an even grind for falafel.

Even though it takes much longer, the quicker cleanup means I will definitely be making falafel using the air fryer again.

Recipe adapted from Ela Vegan at https://elavegan.com/air-fryer-falafel/.

The stories of local people and their recipes are featured in Taste. If you have a great recipe or story idea or have a question about cooking and baking, contact columnist Katherine Grandstrand at aberdeentaste@gmail.com or follow @AberdeenTaste on Twitter or Instagram.