Bang Bang Cauliflower
Get ready to eat the best-ever cauliflower! This Bang Bang Cauliflower is
What is Bang Bang Cauliflower?
Cauliflower is one of the most versatile veggies. It can be transformed into rice, used in smoothies, to turned into crispy delicious little bites!
Seriously, who knew cauliflower could be such a chameleon. I mean, once it’s prepped and tossed up in the sweet and spicy chilli sauce it’s hard to believe that it’s even cauliflower hidden under there!
Why I love this recipe
- Cauliflower has a great dense and meaty texture, so it’s really satiating as far as veggies go.
- It also contains tons of vitamins, fibre and antioxidants.=
- This bang bang cauliflower can be served up as a main dish over
rice or served up as an Asian style appetizer. You could even serve these as a veggie option at a holiday party. Just leave some toothpicks by the bowl and let your guests pick away!
How to make this recipe
Start by prepping the batter. The batter is SUPER easy to make too. 1 part flour to 1 part milk. (I use gluten-free flour and almond milk.) There’s no eggs needed for the batter so this recipe is also vegan-friendly! Toss the cauliflower into a bowl with the batter.
Next Dip each piece of cauliflower into a bowl filled with Panko. Make sure to evenly coat each piece of cauliflower, then place on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown and crispy.
While the cauliflower bakes, prepare the bang bang sauce. Once the Cauliflower comes out of the oven, Toss it in sauce and serve immediately (if you let it sit too long, it will lose its crispiness!)
Recipe variations & substitions
Make it gluten-free:
Use gluten-free flour for the batter and gluten-free breadcrumbs. You can also skip out on the breadcrumbs all together and just use the batter. They still turn out delicious this way
Make it grain-free
Use almond flour in the batter and skip out on the breadcrumbs.
Make it batter-free
Leave out the batter and breadcrumbs entirely. Toss the cauliflower in 1 tbsp of olive oil and a pinch of salt and roast it in the oven.
Does it keep?
Unfortunately, this recipe doesn’t keep that well and is BEST enjoyed fresh. While you can of course keep any leftovers to enjoy the next day, the cauliflower bites won’t remain crispy.
Tips for making this recipe perfectly
- The batter should be thick enough to coat the cauliflower and stick to it, but not too chunky. If your batter is too thin, add another spoon of flour to it. If your batter is too thick, add a touch more almond milk to it.
- When coating the cauliflower in Panko, do it one piece at a time. You want to make sure every single piece is evenly coated. If you add many pieces of cauliflower to the bowl of panko at once, they won’t turn out as well.
- You want to make sure your oven is nice and hot before baking the cauliflower bites. 425 degrees F is perfect for my oven. Depending on your oven, you may need to adjust the baking time slightly. For me, baking them for 15 minutes on one side, then flipping them and baking them for 10 minutes on the other side works perfectly.
- Only coat in the sauce right before serving. Otherwise, they won’t be crispy.
- You can also serve this Bang Bang Cauliflower as an appetizer with the bang bang sauce as a dipping sauce on the side.
Bang Bang Cauliflower
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Main
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Asian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Cauliflower gets battered, baked and then topped off with a sweet and spicy chili sauce!
Ingredients
Cauliflower
- 1 cup flour (can sub gluten-free flour)
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 cups panko
- 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets (about 3 cups)
Bang bang sauce
- 1/3 cup sweet chili sauce
- 1 tsp sriracha
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp lime juice
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking pan with parchment paper.
- Mix the flour, almond milk, salt and pepper together in a bowl until smooth.
- Toss the cauliflower florets into the batter, then dip each piece of cauliflower into a bowl of Panko breadcrumbs, making sure each piece is evenly coated.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes, flipping halfway through.
- Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a bowl. Toss the cauliflower and sauce together.
- Serve immediately. You can optionally top with sliced green onions and sesame seeds
Notes
The batter should be thick enough to coat the cauliflower and stick to it, but not too chunky. If your batter is too thin, add another spoon of flour to it. If your batter is too thick, add a touch more almond milk to it.
When coating the cauliflower in Panko, do it one piece at a time. You want to make sure every single piece is evenly coated. If you add many pieces of cauliflower to the bowl of panko at once, they won’t turn out as well.
You want to make sure your oven is nice and hot before baking the cauliflower bites. 425 degrees F is perfect for my oven. Depending on your oven, you may need to adjust the baking time slightly. For me, baking them for 15 minutes on one side, then flipping them and baking them for 10 minutes on the other side works perfectly.Â
Only coat in the sauce right before serving. Otherwise, they won’t be crispy.
You can also serve this Bang Bang Cauliflower as an appetizer with the bang bang sauce as a dipping sauce on the side.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 recipe
- Calories: 154
- Sugar: 8g
- Fat: 10g
- Saturated Fat: 8g
- Carbohydrates: 15g
- Fiber: 2g
- Protein: 3g
If you tried this Bang Bang Cauliflower or any other recipe on the blog let me know how you liked it by leaving a comment/rating below! Be sure to follow along on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook for even more deliciousness!
Loved this recipe
Used olive oil to coat
Used air fryer to cook
Happy you loved it!
Cane out delicious! Followed the recipe i just used regular milk and was really happy with the outcome! Definitely recommend coating them as you eat them cause the linger they sit the soggier they get
Glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
Absolutely love this recipe. So good and even the kids enjoyed it.
So happy you loved the recipe Monica!
The flavor is amazing so giving it five stars because I’m thinking I may have had some user error going on. When I tossed the cauliflower in the sauce after it had baked, all the breading fell off so I was left with baked cauliflower and a bunch of tasty breading on the side. So I just ate it with a spoon. 🤣
Hi Kathleen, so sorry you had some issues getting your sauce to stick! Did you make sure to press the cauliflower into the panko? (as opposed to tossing the cauliflower in a bowl of panko). This is important to make the panko stick to each piece of cauliflower. Then once its baked the breadcrumb should definitely stick to each piece of cauliflower 🙂
Have made it a couple of times as a snack, absolutely love it. The kids loved it too and they didn’t even realise they were eating a vegetable . I will definitely be making it again 😋
Glad you and you’re family are enjoying the recipe Adele! 🙂
Yum – just tried this in a smaller portion – using just the 50/50 mix of flour and milk and was quite worried.
However, instead of making a sauce I used Wagamama’s fire cracker sauce with a tiny drop of hoisin and some soy and a little MSG.
Absolutely great result – crispy but saucey
Thanks
JayKayDoubleYou
happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Can I freeze the bang bang cauliflower?
Sounds delicious thank you for Sharing.
Kind regards
Victoria
Hi Victoria! Unfortunately this recipe doesn’t freeze well.
This seemed like an easy to make recipe however, I found when dipping the cauliflower into the panko, the panko started clumping from the flour/milk mixture. Not sure how else to get around that other than putting the cauliflower into the pan and then sprinkling the panko on. The dipping sauce was tasty.
Hi Virginia, it’s likely that your flour mixture was a bit too thick. The panko definitely shouldn’t get clumpy and should be easy to dip!
This turned out epic!! My family loved it!
This is going to be our cauliflower dish forever!!Â
Happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hallo, this is your first recipe that I made and it was fantastic, reminded me of one similar dish I had in Bali, but could never get it as crunchy as with your recipe! I managed to nail it from the third time, thanks to you:-) Thanks!
Happy you enjoyed it Alex!
Insane that I can say I know how to make this dish that I pay good money for at restaurants / for delivery! Thank you!
You’re welcome Andrea! Happy you like it 🙂
SO GOOD and super easy to make 🙂
Thanks Julie-Anne! So happy you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Could you use almond flour instead?
Hi Louise, I haven’t tested this recipe with almond flour, but i think it would turn out ok!
I made this dish and it was so easy and quick to make! The guide was super useful; as well as the video and I love the taste!
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Can this be made with frozen cauliflower?
Hi Chelsea, I haven’t tested it out but I imagine it should work, though it may end up with a slightly softer and possibly soggier texture if the cauliflower defrosts and has moisture in it!
This is amazing, thank you! Not vegan-friendly due to milk, but works well with vegan milk alternatives. Thanks for posting!
Doh. Just realised you suggested almond milk. I’m an idiot. It’s still amazing! Thanks.
Made this exactly as directed with one exception- I used cornflake crumbs instead of flour for the topping- added extra crisp! Delicious!!!
Thanks for the review Kristine, glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
We made the fried version with regular milk in the batter and it’s really delicious!!!
Thanks for the review Netta, glad you enjoyed!
Has anyone tried this recipe in an air fryer?
Yes it works perrfectly!
This looks nothing short of delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Suzanne, enjoy!
Can this be made ahead of time?
I would like to cook the cauliflower ahead of time and then heat up and add the sauce?
Hi there! You can make it in advance however I recommend that making it right before eating it since if you prepare it in advance it may get a bit more soggy. One thing you can do is skip out on the batter all together and just roast the cauliflower as is and then top it with the sauce in advance!
I’ve been using this recipe and putting the bites on a rack to drip and then freezing them on parchment paper before putting them in freezer bags to make in the fryer! It works great and they are so delicious!
Sounds like a great idea Marta! Glad you enjoy the recipe )
Best cauliflower recipe I’ve ever had!!! And so easy to make. I’m obsessed
Thank you so much for the review Hannah! SO happy you liked the recipe and this is my favourite way to eat cauliflower too! 🙂
Can this be done with frozen cauliflower?
Hi Lindsey, I haven’t tried it with frozen cauliflower so I can’t say if the texture will come out the same once the cauliflower is defrosted
Can I use this recipe and method but in the air fryer instead of oven???
Hi Neepa, I’ve never used an air fryer before so I couldn’t say!
I have to watch my sodium too. I found Chinatown Soy Sauce (Dark), 145mg per 1 tbsp. It is very good.
Any idea how much sodium?. Important to my husband’s health so I need to be careful. Looks and sounds delicious.
Hi there! there is approximately 4150mg of sodium per serving. You can omit the salt from the cauliflower batter and go for a low-sodium soy sauce if you’d like to control the sodium in the recipe!
Favourite way to eat cauliflower!!
Thank you! Glad to hear you liked the recipe!
This looks great! But word of warning: traditional soy sauce is NOT gluten free! This recipe would not work for a gf diet unless substituting a gf soy sauce like tamari, Bragg’s liquid aminos, or coconut aminos.
Hi Jenn, that is correct if you are strictly gluten-free you want to make sure to get a gluten-free soy sauce.
Great idea for an appetizer at a potluck.
Thank you Arielle! 🙂
This was SUCH a great dish to make for dinner – it’s fast, uses relatively cheap ingredients, and is SUPER delicious! Highly recommend trying it out 🙂
Thank you Julia! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Can I substitute almond or coconut flour?
Hi Zoila, I haven’t tested this recipe with almond or coconut flour so I can’t say if the batter would come out with the same consistency. If you are looking for a gluten-free option I think a gluten-free blend would work best! Otherwise any whole wheat flour works well too (I’ve made this with whole grain spelt flour..works great!)
I make a similar recipe and use cassava flour with a touch of arrowroot.
That’s a great alternative!
Looks like such a great recipe! Do you know if this will get Trump out of the White House? My girlfriend is allergic to bigotry so we’ve spent 3 years on Benadryl.
Really good! Thanks for the yummy unique recipe. I didn’t have parchment paper so substituted wax paper and the batter stuck to it. I just pulled them off the best I could and turned them over directly onto the pan and cooked for another 12 minutes and they still turned out great. The cilantro and sesame seeds are a nice finishing touch and give it a flavor boost. Will definitely be making this again without the wax paper!!
Thank you Robin! Glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Unfortunately, these aren’t turning out at all. The batter stuck to the parchment when I tried to turn them over and the cauliflower broke apart. The temp also seemed too high as I almost smoked out my main floor (not great having to open doors and windows during a Canadian winter). Eek! Hoping when they finally come out I can salvage them with the sauce. I used quinoa flour and almond milk. Did those two ingredients stuff this up? Willing to give it another try. It looks sooo good! Help.
Hi Elle, so sorry to hear this didn’t turn out for you! It’s likely due to the fact that you used quinoa flour which is made from ground quinoa. The cauliflower should not stick at all to your parchment and the baking temperature should be fine at around 400-425 degrees, unless your oven runs quite hot! I’d recommend trying with regular flour (or whole wheat if you prefer) this should solve your problem! Good luck hope this helps!
This Bang Bang Cauliflower looks amazing! Love how well that sweet and spicy glaze clings to the crispy cauliflower!
Thank you so much Laurel!
This dish looks amazing! Pinning!
Thank you Karly! Hope you enjoy!
Can you replace almond milk with soy milk?
Absolutely! Any type of plant-based milk (or regular milk) will work just fine.
I loved this recipe! I also made it to use in tacos!
Thank you, Shawna! I’m sure it’s DELICIOUS in Tacos!
They were perfect!! Thanks for this amazing recipe Jess!
Thank you! So happy you enjoyed!
I made this recipe the other day and it was gorgeous! It’s super-easy and the taste is amazing!
Thank you Rea! Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Battered cauliflower truly can’t be beaten! I’ve always wanted to try orange “chicken” cauliflower but I definitely need to make it at home so it’s much healthier. Your recipe definitely looks like it’s one of a kind!
Totaly agree cassie!
Omg! Amazing!
Thank you Brooke!
This recipe looks amazing, Jess! I love cauliflower so I would definitely love this dish. 🙂
Thank you so much Ela! xo