Cooking chickpeas before making falafel will cause the falafel to fall apart.
Traditional chickpea falafel begins with dried chickpeas that are soaked, often overnight, rather than boiled. The soaked legumes are ground with ingredients such as parsley, scallions, garlic, cumin, and coriander. This mixture can be shaped and fried while retaining enough structure to hold together.
Boiling the chickpeas softens them too much for the usual falafel mixture. During frying, the patties or balls may lose their shape and disintegrate. Flour or another binder can help compensate, but that changes the traditional preparation and may produce a denser texture.
This is different from many chickpea dishes, including hummus, where chickpeas are fully cooked before blending. Falafel also differs from recipes using canned chickpeas: those are already cooked and contain more moisture, so they often require careful draining and extra binding. The desired result is a crisp exterior with a moist, coarse interior—not a smooth purée.