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Crispy Kung Pao Cauliflower. Cauliflower battered and baked and tossed in spicy kung pao sauce. Super hot Appetizer for gameday. Vegan Recipe. Can be gluten-free with gluten-free breadcrumbs. Double the kung pao sauce for larger cauliflower or to serve over rice.
Sundays are shaping up for only one thing these days, Gameday! And all that excitement and 4 hours of tv calls for delicious finger food.
These crispy kung pao cauliflower bites are just that, crispy, spicy, juicy, hot, and super fun. Bake the cauliflower, make the kung pao sauce. Arrange the cauliflower in one layer in a serving plate/bowl. Drizzle the sauce just before serving.
The dish can also be served with rice or other cooked grains. The recipe is for snack kung pao cauliflower bites. Double the sauce to serve over rice, or if you have a good large cauliflower head. The sauce can get hot depending on the chilies you use. Taste before drizzling over the cauliflower. If too hot, make another batch of the sauce without the chilies and mix. For a quick recipe, toss cauliflower in salt, cayenne and oil and bake until done, or cook in a pan with a splash of water until tender, then toss in the sauce. Serve with a jar of cold water. 🙂
Whats your favorite spicy gameday food?
More Asian recipes from the blog
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- Sweet and Sour chickpeas, broccoli and peppers. GF
- Celery Black Pepper tofu GF
- Kung Pao Lentils GF
- Lentils & Veggies in Thai Peanut Sauce GF
- Chickpeas in Firecracker sauce with crunchy salad. GF
- Crispy Orange Cauliflower. GF
Spicy Crispy Kung Pao Cauliflower Recipe
Ingredients
For the Baked Crispy Cauliflower
- 5 tbsp corn starch , or other starch
- 6 tbsp bread crumbs, use gluten-free crumbs to make gf
- 5 tbsp or more water
- 1/2 tsp cayenne, use a 1/3 tsp for less heat
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp roasted sesame oil
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 medium head of cauliflower, chopped into florets
For the Kung Pao sauce:
- 1 tsp oil
- 8 to 10 dried red chilies, chinese red chilies, or arbol or cayenne, or use california red for less heat
- 1/2 tsp coarsely crushed sichuan peppercorns, or use a mix of coarsely crushed black pepper and red pepper flakes
- 2 to 3 tbsp chopped cashews or peanuts
- 4 to 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 inch ginger minced
- 2 tbsp scallions, chopped
Sauce mix
- 2.5 tbsp low sodium soy sauce/tamari, use certified gluten-free sauce to make gf
- 1.5 to 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp chinese rice wine, optional
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp water, use 1/2 cup for more sauce
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Chop up the cauliflower and keep aside. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F / 220ºc. Mix the cornstarch breadcrumbs, and the rest of the ingredients to make a batter. Let the batter sit for 10 seconds to thicken if it isn't thick. The cornstarch continues to thicken the batter, so as soon as it is a good not too watery consistency, start dipping the cauliflower in the batter, tap to drop excess and place on parchment lined baking sheet. If the batter thickens too much while working, add a tsp or more water and mix in and continue.
- Bake for 30 minutes or longer until the florets are cooked through. Check with a toothpick/knife
- Meanwhile make the sauce. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the red chilies and peppercorns and cook until the red chilies are fragrant, but not overly brown, or someone starts sneezing. (For more heat, break some of the chilies into half and add to the skillet.)
- Add the nuts and mix for a few seconds. Add the ginger, garlic, reduce heat to medium low and continue to cook until the garlic is golden. 4 to 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Add in the scallions, and 2 to 3 tbsp finely chopped green peppers or other veggies if using and mix in. Increase heat to medium. Cook for a minute.
- Mix the sauce ingredients in a bowl and add to the skillet. Continue to cook until the sauce comes to a boil and thickens slightly. 2 mins. Carefully taste and adjust salt, sweet and spice. If the sauce is not hot enough, break a few of the chilies open or add in red pepper flakes to taste and mix in.
- Arrange the baked cauliflower in a shallow bowl in one layer. When ready to serve, Drizzle the sauce over each floret. Serve.
- To store, store the baked cauliflower and sauce separately. Heat the sauce, pour over the florets. To serve with rice/cooked grains, double the sauce mix and bring to a boil to thicken, toss in the cauliflower and serve immediately over rice.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Really delicious
This recipe was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. My boyfriend and I agreed it was maybe the best thing we had ever made. However, I do want to add that we absolutely had to double the batter and more than double the amount of water called for (1.25 cups was not enough to make the batter remotely liquid-y). Maybe our cauliflower head was large but it looked normal to me and doubling the batter plus adding extra water was perfect to cover all the florets. We had it last night with homemade edamame + mustard greens dumplings and I’m having it today reheated with rice and edamame. It’s so good!!! And so spicy. Other than the proportions issue, this was a 5 star recipe!! Will def make again.
I’m not a vegan, but made this for a vegan friend who was coming for dinner and it turned out great. It was a hit with my dinner guests and it is part of my weekly repertoire now. Thanks!
Easy to follow and done without any tweaking! Taste great. I used fresh fresno jalapeños and I added green bells and had steamed long beans and millet on the side. With extra Chinese chilli powder it was burning hot so a lot of flax milk was imbibed!
Hi ! This recipe looks awesome, and I am so excited to try it! I was wondering if you could freeze these cauliflower florets and sauce separately for a easy and quick meal to use later, and how long could I freeze them for? Do you think that would work?
you can premake the sauce and refrigerate or freeze. with the baked cauliflower, the crisp coating will soften over time because of moisture. You might be able to crisp it up by re-baking a bit.
My husband and I just made this tonight for the first time and it was awesome!! We needed to add extra water to the batter to make it the right consistency and instead of dipping each piece, we just threw all the florets into the batter and tossed them until they were coated, then poured them onto the parchment lined baking sheet – they came out wonderfully delicious!!! We tripled the sauce recipe (we love lots of sauce) and served it over basmati rice. It was the perfect balance of flavors and heat. We will definitely be making this recipe often. Thank you, Richa!
I have made this for so many times now. My whole family loves it! It’s just perfect. All the spiciness and the sweet-and-sourness. I usually serve it with mashed potatoes or basmati rice. Thank you, Richa!! 🙂
This. Was. Amazing. I made it last night. My boyfriend rated it a 9.5+. One of my top five vegan recipes ever! Thank you!
YAY!!! which are the other 4? 😉