Vegan Bao Buns with Hoisin Cauliflower

These Vegan Bao Buns filled with crispy Hoisin Cauliflower are one of our favorite ways to have cauliflower: breaded, crispy fried, and coated with an umami-rich homemade hoisin sauce. This is the perfect weekend treat for when you're craving Asian-style food. An easy cauliflower recipe to enjoy Asian flavors at home.

This recipe was on our to-do list for a long time, so I waited for my homegrown cauliflowers to be ready to harvest to recreate a long-time favorite at home. We basically wanted to make these Hoisin Cauliflower Bao Buns since we first tried a similar version of the dish at our favorite restaurant, a Vegan Irish Gastro Pub, where they make delicious food.

The owners are just the nicest people, and they’re always willing to share their tips and tricks to make their dishes just so perfect. So, for these Bao Buns, we took inspiration from them and made our own version of the recipe using crispy cauliflower coated in the most delicious Hoisin sauce.

This recipe may not be your regular weekday lunch, but we love cooking these bao buns on a weekend day when we have a little extra time to cook something that feels special. The cooking process is fairly simple, but I love balancing the flavors with the right toppings, taking my time to beautifully bread and fry the cauliflower, preparing some side dishes, and enjoying the feast.

Ingredients

For the breaded cauliflower

Cauliflower. For this recipe, we use a medium cauliflower. I consider myself very lucky to have my own homegrown cauliflowers. I plant them at the end of the summer, so during the beginning of winter, we can harvest the first ones.

Rice flour and chickpea flour. To bread the cauliflower, we've tested different options, and for now, the combination of rice and chickpea flour gives us the crispiest results.

Panko breadcrumbs. Panko breadcrumbs are always the best option for crispy coating. You can also make your own breadcrumbs using stale bread.

Salt.

Water.

For the Hoisin Sauce

Hoisin sauce. Most Hoisin sauces are naturally vegan, but I still recommend double-checking before buying a new brand.

Sesame oil. We use toasted sesame oil.

Soy Sauce and Dark Soy Sauce. We like the combination of both for our homemade sauce, as they add saltiness and sweetness.

Rice vinegar.

Cornflour. We use cornflour to thicken the sauce.

Water.

Bao Buns and Garnishing Ingredients

Frozen Vegan Bao Buns. For this recipe, we use frozen vegan Bao Buns. You can make your own bao buns and Domestic Gothess has a great recipe for that.

Toppings. We like adding freshly sliced cucumber, spring onions, cilantro, sesame seeds, and our pickled daikon radish. You can also add other toppings that work beautifully, such as lettuce, red cabbage, chili flakes, etc.

Cooking Method

First, to prepare the cauliflower, cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. I like small bite-sized florets, but you can cut them bigger depending on your preference.

Then, mix the rice flour, chickpea flour, salt, and water in a bowl. One by one, start coating your cauliflower florets in the wet mixture.

Then, transfer the cauliflower florets to the breadcrumbs bowl and coat with breadcrumbs until fully covered.

This process may take some time, and you can speed it up by coating the florets in batches, but personally, I like doing it one by one, I somehow find it relaxing, and the result is always better. If your hands are getting too sticky from the mixture and breadcrumbs, keep rinsing them with fresh water and keep going.

Leave the coated florets aside, and prepare the Hoisin Sauce by combining all the ingredients in a cooking pan (except for the corn flour and water), and bring to a gentle simmer.

Then add the cornflour slurry (cornflour combined with water) and keep stirring until the sauce thickens to the right consistency.

Now it's time to fry the cauliflower florets. You can also air fry the cauliflower, for that, follow our Air fried cauliflower recipe. Heat up enough oil to cover the bottom of a pan or wok, and in batches, cook your cauliflower florets until golden brown and crispy. Remove from the pan and leave on a paper towel to remove any excess oil.

Then, transfer the fried cauliflower with the sauce and combine well until all the florets are coated with the Hoisin sauce.

Steam the bao buns using a bamboo steamer or a regular steamer (this process should only take a couple of minutes), and fill the bao buns with the Hoisin cauliflower and your favorite toppings.

Serving Suggestions

These Vegan Bao Buns with Hoisin Cauliflower are a great main dish but also a fantastic appetizer for an Asian-style dinner served together with our yummy Vegan Japchae, a Korean noodle dish that pairs beautifully with these Bao Buns.

Our Bao Buns are not spicy, so you can add some spicy sauce before serving or chili flakes to give the cauliflower a spicy kick.

If you are looking for the perfect drink to serve our Cauliflower Bao Buns, try this creamy Korean Vegan Banana Milk.

If you like Korean flavors, definitely try our Gochujang Pasta next; our family loves it.

FAQ

More Cauliflower Recipes You May Like:

• Orange Cauliflower
• Cauliflower Manchurian
• Bang Bang Cauliflower