This vegan sticky sesame cauliflower is batter dipped and baked (instead of fried!) before being drenched in a sweet and spicy sesame sauce and served over a bed of rice.
We have a bunch of Chinese vegetarian restaurants in Philly. You guys know of these places? They typically have what appears to be a normal Chinese restaurant menu, but everything is vegetarian, and it's usually crazy good.
I discovered these places about fifteen years ago, and at some point after that I caught part of some public radio broadcast where people were discussing them and how good the food was, how close the taste came to the conventional, meat-based versions of the dishes, and the fact that they were usually made from seitan. Someone said something along the lines of, "Well if you deep fry it and cover it in sugary sauce, of course it's going to be good." I had to agree.
Eventually I discovered that deep-frying wasn't necessary. You can totally fake that. Now I find out cauliflower works just as well as seitan. My head is spinning.
As much as I love cauliflower, I have to say, when you un-fry a bunch of little cauliflower florets and cover them in a super flavorul and (refined sugar free!) just sweet enough sauce, they don't taste like cauliflower, which is okay in this instance.
I think this probably comes pretty close to versions of this dish made with chicken, buuuuuut I haven't had chicken in a long time, so I'll just have to promise that it tastes super good.
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Sticky Sesame Cauliflower
Ingredients
- 1-2 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 1 ¼ cups unflavored soy or almond milk
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- 1 large cauliflower crown broken into florets
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup rice vinegar
-
2
tsp.
sesame oil
- 2 tsp. fresh grated ginger
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp. sriracha
- 1 tbsp. cornstarch
- ¼ cup cold water
- 2 scallions chopped
- toasted sesame seeds
- cooked rice for serving
Instructions
-
Preheat oven to 450° (preheating is crucial here, so don't skip it). Use about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to coat the bottom of a large roasting pan or oven-safe skillet.
-
Stir milk, flour, salt and baking powder together in small bowl. Dip cauliflower florets in mixture to coat, shaking off any excess batter. Arrange in a single layer in roasting pan or skillet.
-
Bake 10 minutes.
-
While cauliflower bakes, combine soy sauce, maple syrup, rice vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and sriracha in a small saucepan. Place over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Stir cornstarch and water together in a small container until cornstarch is fully dissolved. Add to soy sauce mixture and stir to blend. Bring the sauce back up to a simmer and let it cook until it thickens. Remove from heat.
-
Remove cauliflower from oven and flip. Lightly brush florets with remaining tablespoon of oil. Return to oven and bake 5 minutes more, until they begin to sizzle and lightly crisp.
-
Remove from oven and pour sauce over florets. Return to oven and bake 3-4 minutes more, just until sauce becomes very sticky and coasts florets.
-
Serve over rice and sprinkle with sesame seeds and scallions.
Recipe Notes
You can also skip the rice and serve the cauliflower as a wing-style appetizer.
I love this recipe. I've made it several times and it's always a big hit with my family. BUT, the cooking times are completely unrealistic. It always takes me at least twice as long (and I cook a lot, so I'm usually pretty quick in the kitchen). It's as if measuring, chopping, taking out and putting away the ingredients were not included in the time calculations... not to mention clean up! It's worth the time because it's so good, but it'd be nice to have a more realistic estimation of how long you'll spend making it.
Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely take it into consideration!
Hi Allisa,
This sticky sesame cauliflower looks so tasty. Will have to give this a try. The recipe for the batter looks great. Broccoli would also go well I think to but cauliflower is such a great veggie. :) I never thought to use maple syrup to sweeten, its a good idea.
Great recipe!
Thanks Ana!! I think broccoli would be an awesome way to switch things up!
That is all kind of crazy delicious. I forgot the sriracha but it still tasted amazing. Some crisp, much sticky. Mmmmm.
I'm so happy to hear that!! Thanks Lee!
I followed the recipe exactly, but the breading didn't work for me either - it fell right off the cauliflower. But the sauce was great so next time I will probably just skip the batter altogether. For the sauce, you should continue to heat and stir after adding the cornstarch. It needs to come back to a boil, then it will start to thicken. It only needs a light boil for a coupleminutes to thicken enough to stick to the cauliflower. Suggested cook times worked perfect for me. The texture of the cauliflower was just right - firm, but not crunchy.
Thank you for the tips! I actually posted a similar recipe recently, but with a different breading - you could try that breading with this sauce if you like: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/sticky-lemon-cauliflower/
love this! I made it tonight, with just a few adjustments (added about ¼ cup chickpea flour to thicken batter, used some brown sugar since I only had a tiny bit of syrup left, ended up using more starch than the recipe called for- maybe because it was arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch?) Anyhow, tiny, minor adjustments. The recipe is awesome :) We had enough sauce for two small heads of cauli, and then to add to sautéed bell peppers and baby bok choy to add to the meal. My husband couldn't stop raving about it. Thanks!! (now will you come clean my kitchen?! it's a mess!) ;)
Yay!! I'm glad you enjoyed it! And OMG, I know the feeling - my kitchen is a perpetual mess!!
I am in the middle of making these and already off to an odd start. Your milk to flour ratio turns to goo like literally paper mache is waterier (made up word:) )
I am gluten free so I used gluten free flour so I'm going to still try and hope your comments are true and it actually tastes good.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong it it doesn't work with normal flour?
I'll let you know how it turns out
Sorry it's not working out for you! I'm guessing it's the gluten-free flour. I haven't tried the recipe with anything but wheat flour, so that's the only one that I know for sure works. Most people who have trouble actually say the batter is too runny.
SO great, the sauce reminded me of the guilty take out flavor!
If anyone out there is reading this - an AIR FRYER makes this cauliflower even better and no oil was needed. We just got one and are obsessed with trying every recipe in it. Did not disappoint :)
I have to get ahold of an air fryer so I can try that out! Thanks Jaclyn!
Would this recipe work with tofu? Thank you!
It should! Try cooking the tofu using this method: https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/teriyaki-tofu/
Can I use white flour - on vacation- they might not have whole wheat locally ?
Yup! That will work just fine!
We are on vacation and I didn’t want to buy a whole bag of whole wheat flour so I used whole wheat pancake mix and powdered soymilk plus water. It was delicious. Any idea how much protein per serving for this recipe?
Oh great idea! I'm glad it worked out! It probably doesn't have a whole lot of protein. I'm slowly adding nutrition facts to my recipes and haven't gotten to this one yet, but I'm guessing 4 to 5 grams.
This was better than the sesame tofu I always order at my favorite Thai restaurant!! It was great with your I made a huge mess, though. I used two different sheet pans for the cauliflower, and for some reason, it really stuck to one of them. I mean, seriously stuck!! That pan will never be the same. Next time I'll try baking them on foil or parchment paper; and there definitely will be a next time. My husband and I couldn't wait to eat the leftovers for dinner the very next day. Thanks so much for another great recipe. You're my favorite recipe mater because I've loved everything I've tried (and I've tried a lot!), with one exception: the meatloaf. Not my fave, but my husband and son loved it; so it's still a winner.
Oops, I posted my comment before I was finished. In the second sentence, I meant to say that it was great with your smoky tofu dumplings on the side. I made 75 dumplings a couple of weeks and froze them. Now I can just pan fry a few when I need them. They are soooo good!
That sounds like a delicious meal! I'm so glad you're enjoying the recipes and that this one was a hit! Thanks so much Melanie!
Sauce was tasty but a total disaster. It did not thicken up on the stove at all. Only after I made it did I read another review that said you need to bring it back to a boil after you add the cornstarch. Looks like a watery swimming pool on the baking tray and a total mess to clean up and no sticky sauce on the cauliflower so I was very disappointed with the instructions and execution of this recipe despite the good flavours.
I tried this tonight.....family taste tested and then could not wait for dinner to truly eat a full portion. Although my batter was very thick, which might mean I left out so fluid some where along the way — probably when adding the veggie broth, or rather not addisng it in. I used a condensed version. If it were thinner it would have covered the whole head. But 2/3’s was plenty. Thank you.
This is fantastic! We've made this a few times and would definitely make again. This sauce is fantastic, and we've also tried this with our own sweet and sour sauce with 1.5 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 2.5 tbsp sugar, and 1/4 cup ketchup. This is a super versatile recipe, and we can't wait to make it again!
So, I agree with Sachi from December 2017 - The preparation times are unrealistic. There's a lot of prep work involved and I feel THAT time should be included in the recipe, The last step when the sauce covered cauliflower bit go back in the oven to "crisp" wasn't so successful. We gave up and ate it soft and it WAS quite tasty.
I enjoyed this recipe a lot. I didn’t have Sriracha so I subbed sambal oelek instead (same amount) and it was perfect. The coating did not stay on the cauliflower even though I added 1/4 cup chickpea flour to thicken it up a bit, but it was good without it. I ate it over riced cauliflower and then had leftovers in a whole wheat flaxseed tortilla leaving the cauliflower on the cooler side of warm. Delish! Thanks for the recipe.