This baked orange cauliflower is a vegetarian version of Chinese Orange Chicken. The sticky orange sauce and crispy bites of cauliflower are sure to delight your tastebuds! Guaranteed to make your family love to eat more cauliflower.
Cauliflower is all the rage in vegetarian cooking, and for good reason.
This crispy orange cauliflower is baked, not fried, and is a crazy delicious dupe for orange chicken.
When I was making my orange tofu recipe, I just knew that crispy chunks of cauliflower needed to happen next!
It took me four times to perfect my orange sauce recipe, and now I’m using it on everything!
While I love a good classic stir fry sauce, or teriyaki sauce, there is just something so good about a homemade orange sauce.
I have now made this sauce with all kinds of stir fry recipes and it is such a fun change!
How to Make Orange Cauliflower
First, start but washing and cutting up a head of cauliflower into bite sized pieces.
In a small bowl, mix together flour, water, and seasonings to make the batter for dipping.
In another bowl you will have the panko bread crumbs.
Dip each piece of cauliflower into the batter, then tap off any excess.
Roll in the panko bread crumbs to coat.
Place each piece of cauliflower onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.
The parchment paper will make sure that the cauliflower gets nice and crispy without sticking.
Try not to let the pieces touch as they might stick together.
Bake the cauliflower at 425 degrees for 20 – 30 minutes, flipping at least once halfway through.
This will allow the pieces to get crispy on all sides.
The end result should be super crisp bite sized pieces as pictured above.
I used this same method to make this Teriyaki Cauliflower as a copycat for vegan Teriyaki Chicken!
While the cauliflower is cooking, you will make a batch of the homemade orange sauce on the stove.
What is orange sauce made of?
Homemade orange sauce is made of orange juice, brown sugar, pure maple syrup, rice vinegar, soy sauce, minced garlic, and minced ginger.
Once the cauliflower is done cooking, add it to the orange sauce and stir until the bites of cauliflower are totally coated.
Serve over white rice for the ultimate takeout style dinner!
I was actually shocked how much this tasted like orange chicken, and it was even delicious reheated the next day!
The oven gets the cauliflower crispy without frying it, making this a much lighter recipe.
The panko bread crumbs give it that great breaded texture!
If you love orange sauce takeout, this recipe is a must try!
Top with optional sesame seeds and green onions, or serve as is.
White rice is a must, in my opinion, just like you would eat it if you ordered takeout!
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Orange Cauliflower Recipe
This crispy baked orange cauliflower is the vegetarian version of the classic Chinese favorite Orange Chicken!
Ingredients
For the Cauliflower
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
For the Orange Sauce
- 1 batch of Orange Sauce
for serving
- 4 servings cooked white rice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees
- Wash and cut cauliflower into bite sized pieces
- In a bowl, combine the water, flour, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt
- Place the panko bread crumbs in a separate bowl
- Dip each piece of cauliflower in the water/flour mixture, tap off excess, then roll in the panko bread crumbs. Add more bread crumbs if necessary.
- Place the breaded pieces of cauliflower on a parchment paper lined baking sheet
- Bake at 425 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes, flipping at least once, until crispy on all sides.
- While the cauliflower is cooking, make a batch of orange sauce
- Once the cauliflower is finished cooking, add to the orange sauce and stir to coat
- Serve orange cauliflower over white rice and top with optional sesame seeds and green onions, if desired
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 453Total Fat: 3gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 566mgCarbohydrates: 92gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 12g
Traci
Saturday 26th of September 2020
You don’t mention cauliflower in the ingredients! How much does this call for?
Joy Shull
Friday 2nd of October 2020
so sorry, it's been updated! 1 head of cauliflower :)