Crispy Orange Cauliflower

Our Orange Cauliflower recipe is a fantastic vegan version of the traditional Chinese takeout dish, "Orange Chicken." These crunchy cauliflower bites, made in the air fryer or oven, are coated with a delicious Chinese-style orange sauce and served on steamed rice. Do you have a better plan?

Jump to:

• What is Orange Cauliflower?
• Our Orange Cauliflower recipe is:
• How to make the best Vegan Orange Cauliflower recipe
• Crunchy Cauliflower
• Serving suggestions
• FAQ & Tips
• Crispy Orange Cauliflower
• Other Chinese-style recipes you may like

What is Orange Cauliflower?

Our Asian-style Orange Cauliflower is a vegan and healthier alternative to the classic Asian Orange Chicken dish. We bread and bake the cauliflower so it's really crunchy on the outside and nice and soft on the inside.

The orange sauce is just amazing. Sweet, tangy and packed full of flavour from the fresh orange juice. We use a good amount of orange juice and then reduce the sauce to pack in the flavour.

This recipe is a great choice for when you are craving take-out food on a weekday. Making it at home is a healthier and cheaper option, and it doesn't take long to cook. While the cauliflower is baking in the oven or cooking in the air-fryer, you can prepare the rice and sauce.

Our Orange Cauliflower recipe is:

• Vegan
• Healthier than the traditional recipe
• Family-friendly
• Takeout-style food
• Chinese
• Umami-packed
• Can be made gluten-free

How to make the best Vegan Orange Cauliflower recipe

Crunchy Cauliflower

Ingredients

Cauliflower. For this recipe, we use half of a cauliflower head cut into florets. We prefer to break the cauliflower into florets using our hands as it makes nicer bites. To make this Asian-style recipe, you will need bite-sized florets. If the florets are too small, they will cook too fast and will soak up too much batter.

Flour. You can use all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, or gluten-free flour such as rice flour or chickpea flour for a gluten-free version of the dish. Also, we like using a mixture of rice and chickpea flour for extra crispiness like we use for our Vegan Bao Buns with Hoisin Cauliflower.

Spices. To give some extra flavour to our coating, we use cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. This will make the batter tastier and give your cauliflower florets a deeper flavour. You can add other spices such as garlic powder or five-spice powder.

Plant-based milk. To prepare the batter, we use plant-based milk with no added sugars. Our favourite is soy milk as it doesn't overpower the taste of the batter.

Breadcrumbs. You can use homemade or bought breadcrumbs. We use a local brand but if you can easily find panko bread crumbs, they are perfect to bread your cauliflower nuggets. Other options are coconut flakes or gluten-free breadcrumbs.

Method

1. Add the flour, spices, and plant-based milk to a large bowl. Combine well until you have a perfectly smooth batter with no lumps.
2. Break the cauliflower into florets, add to the batter, mix well, and ensure they are all completely coated.
3. Add the bread crumbs to a bowl and using your hands, bread each battered cauliflower piece by dipping it into the breadcrumbs and place on a baking tray.
4. To cook the cauliflower bites perfectly so they come out crunchy outside but still moist inside, you can oven-bake or air-fry the florets. If you are using an air fryer, you may need to make two or three batches so you don't overcrowd the basket. With a brush, add some oil to the florets, set the air-fryer to 180C (350F), and air-fry for 16 minutes. We use the Ninja Air Fryer and we truly love it. If you are using the oven, use parchment paper or a baking sheet and leave some space between each floret to ensure they all get extra crispy. Preheat the oven to 200C (400F) and bake for about 30 minutes.

Sticky Orange Sauce

While the cauliflower is cooking, you can get the sauce ready. For our Asian-style orange cauliflower, we make a thick and sticky sauce with an in-depth flavour.

Ingredients

Orange Juice. To make a delicious orange sauce, you will need to get good quality and juicy oranges. Make sure to use organic oranges to prepare this recipe. As we are using the orange zest for this dish, we strongly recommend using organic products. Otherwise, the sauce could come out a bit bitter.

Garlic and ginger. These are basic ingredients when cooking an Asian-style dish. You can use them finely chopped or pressed. If you are making this dish for kids, you may want to reduce the amount of ginger or simply skip this ingredient.

Sesame oil. We love the flavour that this ingredient adds to the dish. You can as well use another type of vegetable oil such as olive oil or coconut oil.

Soy sauce. We use regular soy sauce but you can use tamari for a gluten-free option.

Rice vinegar. Rice vinegar enhances the flavour of the sauce but if you don't have this ingredient you can skip it.

Turmeric powder. We add turmeric to every recipe we can and orange cauliflower really calls for it!

Sweetener. For this recipe, we use brown sugar but you can use maple syrup, agave, monk fruit or your favourite sweetener.

Method

1. Heat some sesame oil in a pan over medium heat and add garlic and ginger paste. For this part, we use our garlic and ginger presser. You can finely chop them instead, but we find that you get more flavour from the paste. After cooking for 1-2 minutes, add the turmeric powder and cook for 2 more minutes.
2. Add freshly squeezed orange juice, vegetable stock or water, orange zest, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and brown sugar. Bring to a simmer and leave simmering for 4-5 minutes.
3. Dilute the cornstarch in lukewarm water. Add the diluted cornstarch to the simmering sauce and mix well until it thickens. Cook for 5 more minutes and turn the heat off. If you like your orange sauce thicker you can always add some more cornstarch. We like to have enough sauce to coat all the cauliflower florets and some extra sauce to serve on top of the rice so our recipe makes a good amount of sauce.
4. When the cauliflower is ready, add to the pan with the sauce and combine well so all the cauliflower florets are coated with the orange sauce

Serving suggestions

This delicious sweet and tangy cauliflower dish pairs perfectly with steamed rice or fried rice. We love adding some sesame seeds before serving and some greens such as green onions, coriander or parsley.

Vegan Orange Cauliflower is a main dish but it can be served as well as an appetizer or a side dish. Another great alternative to this dish if you are not a big fan of cauliflower is this Crispy Orange Tofu from From My Bowl.

If you like a little spice, you could add chili flakes when cooking the garlic and ginger, or use spicy sesame oil instead of regular sesame oil.

This recipe is best eaten right after cooking it, the sauce will stay perfect and the cauliflower crunchy but if you have any leftovers, they can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days and reheated in the microwave or pan before serving.

If you want to get inspired with more cauliflower recipes, you should check out this Indo-Chinese Gobi Manchurian recipe or our famous Bang Bang Cauliflower.

Want to try this recipe with tofu? Check out this Orange Tofu recipe!

FAQ & Tips

• Can I make this recipe gluten-free? Yes. To make the breaded cauliflower, use gluten-free flour and gluten-free breadcrumbs. Another option is to simply bake the cauliflower florets without the breading. The sauce can be made gluten-free by using tamari instead of soy sauce. If you are using stock, make sure is gluten-free as well.
• To make the sauce, use good quality organic oranges to avoid a bitter taste. The best thing is to make this dish when oranges are in season.
• To make it more kid-friendly, reduce the amount of ginger or skip it entirely.
• For best results, use medium-size florets, if the florets are too small they will cook too fast and will soak up too much batter.
• Can I use frozen cauliflower to make this Sticky Orange Cauliflower? Yes. Thaw the frozen cauliflower completely and dry any excess water with a paper towel before using.
• Can this recipe be made ahead? Yes, you can prepare this air-fried or baked orange cauliflower ahead. You can bread the cauliflower florets and make the sauce and store them separately. We recommend baking the cauliflower before serving the dish as it won't be crunchy otherwise.

If you tried our recipe, please leave a comment or tag us on Instagram @Sixhungryfeet. We are always happy to see your creations!

Other Chinese-style recipes you may like

• Tofu Stir Fry with Cashews
• Vegan Chop Suey
• Salt and Pepper Tofu
• 15 Chinese Tofu Recipes
• Chinese Eggplant with Garlic Sauce