Everything you love about “fast casual” Bang Bang Cauliflower. We batter cauliflower florets, coat them with panko, and bake them until crispy. Then, we top this non-traditional cauliflower dish off with a sweet and spicy vegan bang bang sauce.
How To Make This Recipe
Our list of ingredients begins with a medium head of cauliflower, washed and broken into bite-sized florets. Then, for our batter, we grab flour, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, hot sauce, and some water. We also use vegan Panko bread crumbs for breading. When we’re making this dish gluten-free, we use gluten-free flour and breadcrumbs.
For our bang bang sauce, we bring together a combination of vegan mayo, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, and agave nectar. If you’re not a fan of spice, just go easy on the sriracha and increase the amount of chili sauce. We, however, love a little heat.
Gather ingredients.
We begin by preheating our oven to 425˚F. And, we’ll line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Make Cauliflower
Next, in a large mixing bowl, we whisk together our flour, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Then, we add water and hot sauce. We mix our batter until we see a smooth, uniform consistency. The resulting batter should be a little sticky, yet loose enough to coat the cauliflower florets.
If our batter is too thick and sticky, we add more water–one tablespoon at a time–until it reaches the desired consistency.
Loose, yet sticky batter.
Now, in a second mixing bowl, we add our Panko bread crumbs. To make things easier on ourselves, we create a dipping station by lining our bowls side-by-side. We place our prepared baking sheet next to our bread crumbs.
Dipping station.
We first toss our cauliflower florets in the batter, making sure each piece is evenly coated. For this step, we just toss them into the bowl all at once.
Cauliflower tossed in seasoned batter.
When coating the cauliflower in Panko, however, we do this one piece at a time. We gently shake off any excess batter from each floret before coating in Panko breadcrumbs.
Bread cauliflower one piece at a time.
Once the florets are fully coated in breadcrumbs, we arrange the them on our prepared baking sheet in a single layer. These need a little breathing room in the oven to get crispy. So, we leave a some space between each one.
Give the cauliflower room to breathe.
Finally, we bake our cauliflower until crispy and golden around edges. This takes roughly 20 to 25 minutes.
Crispy and golden around the edges.
Prepare Bang Bang Sauce
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, we prepare our sweet and spicy sauce. We whisk together our vegan mayo with sweet chili sauce, sriracha, and agave nectar. That’s it. So easy.
Sweet and spicy bang bang sauce.
Ready To Serve
Once our florets are crispy and golden, we remove them from the oven. When we’re serving this as a meal, we grab a large bowl and toss our crunchy florets in the bang bang sauce. If serving as an appetizer, however, we typically serve our breaded cauliflower plain with our sauce on the side for dipping.
Cauliflower tossed in sauce.
Once they’ve been tossed in sauce, serve them immediately. Or, to make them even crispier, return them to the baking sheet and put them back in the oven for 2 more minutes.
We’re ready to serve.
And, we’re ready to serve. We like to garnish our bang bang cauliflower with sesame seeds and chopped green onions. These pair nicely with rice or a mixed green salad. They’re also great stuffed in tortillas as a non-traditional taco or wrap.
Enjoy that bang bang cauliflower.
More cauliflower recipes:
Recipe Card for Bang Bang Cauliflower
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Bang Bang Cauliflower
Equipment
- Large baking sheet
- Parchment paper, or silicone mat
- Mixing bowls (2)
Ingredients
- 1 head cauliflower broken into bite-sized florets
- 3/4 cup flour whole wheat or all purpose
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup water or non-dairy milk if preferred
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- 1 cup Panko bread crumbs vegan
- 1/2 cup vegan mayo
- 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon sriracha or sambal oelek, to taste
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar or maple syrup, to taste
- sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425˚F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking sheet.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together flour, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt. Then, add 3/4 cup water and hot sauce. Stir to combine. The resulting batter should be a little sticky, yet loose enough to coat the cauliflower florets. If batter is too thick and sticky, add more water--one tablespoon at a time--until it reaches the desired consistency.
- In a second mixing bowl, add the panko bread crumbs. Line them up side-by-side to create your dipping station.
- Toss cauliflower florets in the batter, making sure each piece is evenly coated.
- Gently shake off excess batter from the florets before tossing them in Panko breadcrumbs.
- Once fully coated in breadcrumbs, arrange the coated cauliflower on the prepared baking sheet in a single layer. Leave a little space between each one to ensure they don’t stick together. Bake until the cauliflower is crispy and golden around edges, about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir vegan mayo, sweet chili sauce, sriracha, and agave.
- Once the florets are crispy and golden, remove them from the oven and toss with the sauce in a large bowl. You can serve them immediately. To make them even crispier, return them to the pan and put them back in the oven for 2 more minutes.
