Oh good old cauliflower. The vegetable no one wanted to eat has now turned into everyone’s favorite veggie. I have made so many things from cauliflower: cauliflower gnocchi, vegan cheese, vegan coconut shrimp, mashed cauliflower. So we might as well add one more recipe to the cauliflower craze. These spicy sesame cauliflower wings are sure to make you fall even more in love with cauliflower.
To make the cauliflower wings is actually very easy. We use a chickpea flour “egg” wash (chickpea flour + water) to help the breadcrumbs stick. Chickpea flour is great because adds some good nutrition to the recipe and it is also gluten free if you have an allergy.
For the breadcrumbs I used a combination of panko breadcrumbs and a finer, regular breadcrumb. So why two kinds of breadcrumbs? Mostly, because I felt like it. Combining both of them will help to get a more evenly coated cauliflower wing while still getting the delightful crisp of the panko. If you are gluten free obviously use gluten free breadcrumbs.
Finally, let’s talk sauce. These are coated in such a delicious sauce. But you can of course use any sauce you like. If you have a soy allergy swap the soy sauce for tamari or coconut aminos. Also, if you are oil free you can leave the sesame oil out.
Ingredients
Crispy Cauliflower
- 1 head cauliflower broken into florets [around 650-700g]
- 3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs [45g]
- 6 tbsp fine breadcrumbs [60g],about 1/3 cup. *if you want to just use 1 kind of breadcrumbs you can use 1 and 1/4 cups
- 1/2 cup chickpea flour [60g]
- 3/4 cup water
Sauce
- 3 tbsp soy sauce low sodium [45ml]
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar [15 ml]
- 1/4 cup maple syrup grade A [60ml]
- 1 tbsp sesame oil untoasted [15ml]
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes or to taste
- 1 cup water
- Cornstarch slurry 2 tbsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water
Garnish
- 2-3 stalks green onion chopped
- sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F (218C).
- Cut the cauliflower in half and cut the green bottom off.
- Break the cauliflower into medium sized florets. Then cut the stems off. The florets should all be around the same size.
- Prepare chickpea flour “egg” wash by adding chickpea flour and water into a bowl and mix together until smooth.
- Add the breadcrumbs into a big bowl.
- Using one hand add a floret into the chickpea flour “egg” wash and drip off excess.
- Then using the other hand coat the floret in the breadcrumbs. I also like to sometimes shake the bowl to coat it. Using a wet hand and dry hand will help make the process more efficient.
- Place the cauliflower on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Once they are all on baking sheet place in the oven for 20-25 minutes. They will be golden and look dry when they are done.
- While they cook prepare the sauce. First, make the cornstarch slurry by adding the water and cornstarch to a small bowl and whisking together.
- Then in a big bowl or measuring add all of the sauce ingredients (not the slurry yet). Whisk together.
- Once it is whisked add the slurry in and whisk again.
- Heat the sauce up on a low heat in a pot on the stove. It should start out light brown and milky looking and turn dark and slightly more transparent. Stirring it every so often for about 5-10 minutes.
- Once the cauliflower is done cooking let it cool for 15 minutes before tossing in the sauce.
- In a big bowl add some of the green onion, half of the sauce and the cauliflower. The add a little more sauce on top and coat. I like to add some sauce and then toss to make sure everything is getting evenly coated.
- Place in a bowl as an appetizer or serve with rice for dinner. Garnish with more green onion and sesame seeds.
Video
Nutrition
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2 thoughts on “Spicy Sesame Cauliflower Wings”
Can I use regular flour if I don’t have chickpea flour?
It works for most recipes, but haven’t tried it on this one myself!
The rule of thumb is usually to use 3/4 cup of regular flour for every cup of chickpea flour.
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